Manuel Mendez on documenting D.C.’s Afro-Latino story
When Manuel Mendez was a teenager growing up in the 1990s in the District’s Columbia Heights neighborhood, he was a member of the Youth Action Research Group (also known as YARG), where he began to learn about the importance of storytelling in community organization. Today he’s president of the D.C. Afro Latino Caucus and continues to work in the community to foster understanding of the District’s Afro-Latino roots and tell the stories of the many Afro-Latino community leaders who came before him.
Manuel Mendez speaking with us via Zoom in 2020
Recently Mendez dropped by Hola Cultura’s S.P.E.L. program to talk to us about the District’s Afro-Latino past and present, and how his formative years with YARG led to his work today with the D.C. Afro Latino Caucus. Ramona Santana, Mendez’ sister and a Hola Cultura Fellow, guided the interview. Here’s what he had to say.
What was the Youth Action Research Group? Can you tell us about one of the coolest or most interesting projects you did while working with YARG?
The Youth Action Research Group was a youth-driven, membership-based, media and organizing project in Washington D.C. that supported young people in creating media, doing action research, building social and political analysis, and organizing around issues that directly impacted their lives and communities. We focused on making change by organizing to build our power. We used our own experiences and research to create change in our communities. We participated in community meetings and testified before the city council to have our opinions heard.
An interesting project that I worked on was our yearly reports, where we researched community sites and created a historical walking tour. It gave me an opportunity to conduct oral histories and learn about people and places in meaningful ways.
Do you think your early brushes with activism at YARG helped inspire the D.C. Afro Latino Caucus?
Of course. I met Arturo Griffiths while at YARG. I met him as a junior in high school and learned his story as an activist and organizer in the community. Arturo Griffiths was the founder of the Latin American Youth Center. Amongst the group members, we discuss Afro-Latinidad many times. Jackie Velez, who was our youth coordinator, was influential in discussing being Black and how we needed to address some of these identities through our youth work.
Please tell us more about the Caucus’ history and the projects you are carrying out.
The D.C. Afro Latino Caucus came out of an initiative in 2016 that started in the Mayor’s Office on Latino Affairs. Our biggest challenge was the lack of visibility and recognition of the Afro-Latinx community. One of the starting initiatives was to document the contributions of Afro-Latinos through panel discussion and oral history. The D.C. Afro Latino Caucus’ mission is to bring visibility and quality of life to the Afro-Latinx community.
That said, currently we are working on documentaries that explore the complex history of Black Latinos in D.C. We are working on the implementation of Casilda Luna Way, which would name a street in honor of one of the District’s first and most dynamic Latinx activists. We are developing a K-12 Afro-Latino Curriculum that D.C. charter schools could implement during Hispanic Heritage and Black History months. Finally, we are at work to correct the records of institutions that Afro-Latinos have made contributions to.
Why is it important to tell the stories of DC’s Afro-Latino community and document this fascinating history, especially as the District changes around us?
It’s important to tell the stories of D.C.’s Afro-Latino community because no one has taken the time to write it for us. Some folks have not been acknowledged but we must research and pen those stories. White Latinos have intentionally taken us out of the history of the Latino communities. This fact has given me energy because it needs to be written through our perspective.
It’s also urgent, because our elders are getting older and their contribution needs to be documented for a new generation. Folks like Néstor L. Hernández, a native Washington photographer of Afro-Cuban descent. Providencia Paredes, who served as a personal assistant to Jackie O. (Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis), and is believed to be one of the first Afro-Latinos to work in the (late) President’s circle. Juana Campos, who worked for decades supporting and organizing the community at Sacred Heart Church, in addition to events such as what is known today as Fiesta D.C. Another influential community organizer is Marcela Dávila (pictured above), who worked for decades on behalf of the community. They are forgotten (by the community) but it’s our responsibility as the Afro Latino Caucus to write about them, and know who they were and how they made a difference in our community.
To find out more about the Afro Latino Caucus, please visit the group’s Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/AfroLatino202/
Home page photo: Mendez interviewing Casilda Luna on Feb. 12, 2019 at a Mt. Pleasant Neighborhood Library event in her honor. Photo by Hola Cultura.
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Very interesting story