Afro-Latino cultural highlights
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An occasional series from Hola Cultura’s SPEL Afro Latino storytelling team
An Organization on the Rise
For a new organization, the Dominican Professional Association is quickly becoming a networking hub for connecting local businesses, professionals, and the community. Founded in November 2021 by Hendres Kelly, Johanna Figueroa, Cynthia Ramirez, Oliany Mendez, Robinson Mateó, Camilla Sánchez, and other Afro Latinos of Dominican descent in the Washington area, the group has hosted mixers and other events throughout the past year.
In commemoration of Hispanic Heritage Month this fall, the group hosted Noche Latina’ at the Francis L. Cardozo Education Campus. The event featured live performances by local artists, trivia contests and games, food from different Latin American countries, and of course lots of networking. Organizers also held a Hispanic Heritage Month fundraiser to assist victims of Hurricane Fiona in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. The Association has also held community activities, such as a panel discussion on the impact of culture on women in the workplace, and specifically those who identify as Afro Latina. The group also organized a coed kickball game in collaboration with La Union DC @launiondmv), a D.C.-based nonprofit organization focused on youth, leadership, and community. Learn more about La Union DC ont its Twitter account, @launiondmv, and look out for what the association has in store next by connecting with the Dominican Professional Association’s Instagram account at @DPA.
–Ramona Santana
Afro Latin Jazz in Your Living Room Every Sunday Night
Live online this Sun., Dec 4, at 8:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. ET
Using rhythmic patterns of sound, Grammy award-winning Arturo O’Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Ensemble bring their rich Cuban heritage both to the stage and computer screens every Sunday night with a Virtual Birdland concert. A project by the Afro Latin Jazz Alliance that O’Farrill founded, Virtual Birdland was born from the pandemic. The online performances have been so successful that the band has continued performing every Sunday, live at 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time ever since, with the concerts transmitted virtually to people around the world.
Encompassing a mixture of colorful tunes and musical notes, Arturo O’Farrill and his ensemble play a variety of instruments including pianos, saxophones, trumpets, trombones, drums, violins and many more instruments, resulting in natural motions that move the audience to dance to the vibrations. The ensemble brings together a combination of Cuban culture with influences from many parts of Latin America and the United States. His album, “CUBA: The Conversation Continues,” won a Grammy for Best Instrumental Composition in February 2016. The beauty of Virtual Birdland is the opportunity it provides to enjoy the Afro Latin beats regularly, right from home.
–Shanique Lovelace
New Book by an Afro Latina Author Explores Racism in the Hispanic World
Law professor Tanya Katerí Hernández has a new book out that explores racism in Latino culture. “Racial Innocence: Unmasking Latino Anti-Black Bias and the Struggle for Equality,” is her third book on the topic. It’s based on her academic research and informed by her life experience as someone who identifies as Afro Latina and queer. She found insights in her time as a college exchange student in Brazil in the 1980s and her Puerto Rican and Cuban family background. Today, she is the Archibald R. Murray professor of Law at Fordham University School of Law and associate director of the Center on Race, Law, and Justice in New York. “Latino communities deny anti-Black bias because they claim that their racially mixed cultures immunize them from being racist. I call this the ‘Latino racial innocence’ cloak that veils Latino complicity in U.S. racism,” Hernández wrote in the first chapter of the new book, published last August by Beacon Press.
Hola Cultura interviewed her while she was at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library in Washington, D.C., in November to deliver her lecture titled, “Racism in the Barrio: Addressing Anti-Blackness in the Latino Community,” as part of the League of United Latin American Citizens’ LGBTQ+ Unity Summit 2022. Stay tuned for the upcoming interview with Hernández, coming to HolaCultura.com in soon!
– Marco Cerqueira and Shanique Lovelace
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