Afro-Latino Community Having Identity Crisis?

MIAMI — For South Florida native Yvonne Rodriguez, being Black in West Miami means coming in frequent contact with her white Hispanic neighbors’ casual racism, be it in the form of “off-putting jokes” or uncomfortable appellations (“What’s up, mulata? What’s up, mi negra?”). Even as a second-generation Cuban American, Rodriguez finds her Latin identity, and her ties to her parents’ homeland, put under constant questioning. “It is psychologically exhausting to try to convince someone that you are just as much of a Latino as them,” she said.

In the summer of 2020, when a diverse cross-section of Miamians mobilized in near-daily protests to demand justice after the police killing of George Floyd, some Afro-Latinos expressed hope that a meaningful racial reckoning could be on the horizon for Miami’s Hispanic community. But Rodriguez wasn’t among them.

“I was not even mildly optimistic,” she said.

Read more about Rodriguez and the struggle with Afro-Latino racial identity issues in this MSN article by Lautaro Grinspan, The Miami Herald.