I’d been on a Twitter break trying to be present with family because my dad is sick and I haven’t seen him in months, but coming back to all this positivity about our Grio/Puerto Rico doc is beautiful

I’ll have more organized thoughts soon, but to answer any initial questions: I pitched a reporting project about Afro-Latinos, race and the census to @pulitzercenter at NABJ 2019 as #rickyrenuncia was in full effect. Big thanks to the NYT editor who believed in the story.

Once it got approved, I immediately packed my bags for PR and began the work of reporting and connecting with sources. Reporting on PR wasn’t part of my job description at theGrio, but I truly believed in this series and the power of Black diaspora stories. We sadly live in silos

Stories from the Afro-Latinx series @pulitzercenter ran in @nytimes @guardian @oprahmagazine @theGrio @NPR @futuromedia. It hit me that despite the pandemic, we had too much great footage to not turn this into a doc. I went back to Pulitzer and they agreed to support again!

Although it’s a short doc, it required additional research, shooting and updating to reflect how the world was changing (or really history repeating) before our eyes with George Floyd’s murder, BLM protests and more. We also had day jobs, but it got done

Being supported by @pulitzercenter meant we could bring in brilliant and needed minds like @InADash and @zairedinzey to look critically at every image shown or word narrated. Very grateful to them. All journalists should vet what they publish with intention.

I was adamant about this documentary being bilingual. Black people speak Spanish. And many languages. Not surprising. Spanish-language media does not often center/include Afro-Latinx or Black Spanish-speaking voices. So we centered them in this doc.

We’ll send updates once the doc is officially live globally via Amazon Prime, but you can subscribe to @theGrio and show it love via YouTube in the meantime