I know many people don’t know this but #Haitians are Latinx too, as are people from Belize , Jamaica , French Guiana , Guadeloupe , Martinique , Saint Barthelemy , Trinidad and Tobago , and Saint Martin.

Not all Latinx speak Spanish (cue Brazil ). 1/9

Despite how the media portrays us, you don’t have to be #white to be Latinx, and not all Latinx look like Ricky Martin, JLo or #Shakira . Latinx can be Black, with Afro-textured hair, Asian, Indigenous, brown, light-skinned and straight-up ethnically ambiguous. 2/9

#Haiti and other Romance-speaking countries in Caribbean are part of Latin America. We are bound together by our geography, cultures, and our extensive and painful history of colonization. That these countries are Black does not make them any less Latinx. 3/9

Latin America is arguably the most #African place in the world outside of Sub-Saharan Africa. We aren’t taught this in HS, but of the 11.2 million Africans brought in slave ships to the Americas during the Middle Passage, 95% settled in Latin America; only 5% came to the U.S. 4/9

Brazil , for instance, is the 2nd Blackest country in the world, 2nd only to Nigeria . And there are millions of Afro-Latinx across Colombia , Puerto Rico , Cuba , Venezuela , Peru and, yes, the Dominican Republic .

Brazilians speak Portuguese.
#Capoeira 5/9

In #Colombia, where I was born, about 1/4 of the population is Black. We have states like Chocó that are more than 80% Black. Relative to the population, the % of #Black people in Chocó is more than you will find in any U.S state or territory, including the #VirginIslands . 6/9

Indeed, travel to Cartagena (where I was born) and you’ll learn that the first ‘free town’ in the Americas, Palenque, which was founded by Black enslaved people who fled slavery in colonial times, has been preserved INTACT in Colombia. ()

Much of Colombian food, music, and dance is the result of the cultural mixture of indigenous and Black slaves on the Caribbean Coast during the Spanish Conquest. The same is true of other Latin American cultures.

Celia Cruz, the “Queen of Salsa,” is Afro-Cuban. #Azúcar

To my fellow Latinx: stop excluding #Haiti & other Caribbean islands. Stop depriving yourself of the beauty that is #AfroLatinx History. The independence of every other Latin American country would not exist without #Haiti, the first free Black Republic. Enough erasure already.

To my fellow islanders: embracing your Latinx identity does not distance yourself from your #African roots. It shouldn’t be viewed as an attempt to push away your #Blackness and/or nationality. Yes, you are Black— but you are also Latinx and it’s a beautiful thing. Embrace it.

Identity is layered and ever evolving. Identity is also intersectional. It is possible to feel connected to multiple cultures at once.

Thanks for listening.

Cue Salsa Music.