[Image Descriptipn: Twitter thread by user @/MigrantScribble]
1. To be Afro-descendent and [Latine] in the U.S. is not always the same as being black. I am both Afro-descendant and Black. Some of my family members are Afro-descendant but have never been racialized, identified or thought to be black.
2. What does this mean? This means that they are not read as “Black” in the United States and will, therefore, move through the world in different ways than I (and to complicate this, I am also light-skinned AF, so this convo is very important).
3. Recently, I have met many non-Black [Latines] who are of Afrodescendant lineage claim themselves as “Black,” when in reality, they just happened to have had a relative who was Black back in the day, and they assume that because they have a Black relative that they are Black.
4. Race isn’t something we claim (re: Rachel Dolezal). We get racialized, we are identified as “Black.” I understand that some [Latines] want to make claims to Blackness because they have been called “moreno/morena” or “negro/negra” in their households.
5. However, this experience is unfortunately common in non-Black [Latines] household that are predominantly White [Latine] or very light-skinned Brown, and one person happens to be a tad darker. They are called “moreno/morena” or “negro/negra” because of colorism, not because they are Black.
6. Race also changes as you move through different countries and states. Race is tied to the ways in which the idea of race was formed in that particular location / geography / land, etc.
7. For example, 2 years ago, I met a White Colombian who identified herself as a Black Latina. She mentioned that she had a great-grandparent who was part Black and that growing up, she was called “morena” by her aunts.
8. However, this young person could easily be identified as a White American in the street. She was brunette, pale-skinned […] she was conflating her Afro-descendant reality with a claim to Blackness.
9. Afro-Latinidad seems to be a trendy topic in the U.S. […] But, the reality is that all of a sudden people are “discovering” that there were slaves in Latin America and the Caribbean and that there are Black people in literally every country.
10. In the midst of this trend on “Afro-Latinidad,” I am noticing a plethora of [Latines] who will not be racialized as Black in the U.S. claim that they, in fact, are “Black [Latines].”
11. I understood I was Black when someone called me a “n**” in public transit; when people would approach me speaking Haitian-Creole; when non-Black Mexicans refused to speak to me in Spanish; when clubs refused to let me in claiming that my Mexican ID was fake because I am Black.
12. Someone who is Afro-descendant, but does not get racialized as Black will not experience the above. (Maybe they’ll experience the first because to be honest White Supremacy makes it so that anyone who is non-White may get called a slur whether or not they are part of that community)
13. I am both Afro-descendant and read as Black in the United States. My sister is also Afro-descendant, but not read as Black in the U.S. My mother is Afro-descendant and sometimes read as Black in the U.S.
14. When I meet Afro-descendant [Latines] who identify as “Black” just because some relative happened to be Black, what they are doing is actually a bit hurtful. Their intention may be to honor their Black ancestor, but they are claiming to know what living as Black in the U.S. is like…
15. Hey, Afro-descendant non-Black friend, it’s incredibly difficult to be Black in the U.S. Blackness is not a trend you get to theoretically wear. People live this reality, & global anti-Blackness and White Supremacy makes our reality incredibly difficult.
16. All to say, there are other ways you can be in solidarity and also honor your ancestors without claiming to live a life that you simply haven’t experienced. So yes, you can be Afro-descendant and not be Black.
17. P.S.: I didn’t make this thread because it was fun, but because I am tired of all the violence that people are causing & the ways in which Afro-descendants who are not Black are using afrodescendencia as a tool to enact anti-Black violence & not be held accountable.
Ignisfilimundi 