Rosa Clemente discusses her awakening to ethnicity and race and how education leads the path to liberation.
Video by Dash Harris.
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156 thoughts on “Video: Puerto Rican Activist Explains Why Some Latinos Avoid Identifying Themselves as Black”
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she is smart and knows her history very good wish most people knew. black is the race that white and the other ethnic groups come from over thousands of years due to migration, climate, etc.
Say it again sister, love you Rosa, for speaking the truth…
what u are is not a choice
Awesome truth!
Awesome truth!
It is good to know that she acknowledges her sub-saharan african descent from the slaves that were brought to Pueerto Rico. However I wonder if she is aware that Latinos are either pure black, white , indigenous and then alot of us are a mix of the three races. That's what makes us a nice melting pot. During colonial times there was a caste system and people were labeled based on therir level of admixture. She is definitely not a pure black puertorican but at least a mix of the three maon racial groups in Puerto Rico. Just like her I embrace my racial origins but I do embrace all of them since I have very good knowledge of my parent's background and not just one. That's the beauty of being Latino.
Eh, I have had exchanges with her. I have no problem with her Black identity, but she tries imposing it on others.
My email to her: I wrote to her:
Yes Puerto Rico is part of the African Diaspora. Even more of the Afro-Latin-Indigenous Diaspora. It is not only Black. It is creole, syncretic, mixed.
You were raised in the US. Not Puerto Rico. Hispanic is very much an ethnic term. There are cultural ties shared between all the latin countries. Even many that were Afro-Diasporic, but that Spaniards creolized with the Africans and spread to other regions. Even Spain already had African influence before Colonization. You may identify as Black which is fine for you and many who were raised with that identity, but in the same way you criticise those who try to impose a non-black identity on you, you are trying to impose a Black identity on others. In the end, you are just as wrong as those people you are critisizing. In Puerto Rico, they have had the opposite myth of the Dominican myth. There many claim there tan skin comes from Indian admixture and deny their African roots, in Puerto Rico, for a long time people denied their indigenous ancestry and just claimed the admixture was all mulato and thus the prevalense of medium brown skin.
As for the population of Puerto Rico, it was determined by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP), revealing maternal ancestries in this highly mixed population of 61.3% Amerindian, 27.2% sub-Saharan African, and 11.5% European." A preliminary study of the Y chromosome shows the opposite in the paternal line: Most islanders are descended from European forefathers 70%, with African heritage 20% coming in second and American Indian 10% third.
Combining these two studies gives us a good idea of Puerto Rican admixture overall:
41% European, 36% Amerindian, 24% African admixture.
Sure some parts are more admixed than others and some will have stronger African phenotypes who consider themselves Black, especially in such places where Africans lived the most like Cangrejos, Carolina, Loiza, Canovanas, Fajardo, Culebra and Vieques, but overrall, the identity in Puerto Rico is still what it historically is. Mixed, not Black or African. It is Afro, Latino and Indigena.
Her response was: I would encourage you to look at the first official census taken in Puerto Rico in 1846, at the time the African population of PR was 64% although many want to romanticize the indigenous peoples(Caribs and Taino's) population by mid 1500's there were less than 4% indigenous folks on PR and that is due to European colonialism destroying and killing indigenous peoples, as the population of indigenous people began to decline the Spanish Colonial govt did two things as it relates to Puerto Rico, begging the importation of West Africans, to the island and begging to pay SPANIARDS to stay on the island as the were fearing the population of "Negros" on the island as the term usage of Black and White as relates to American Social Constructions of race I call myself African as Black and white have no ethnic terms. nor national identity there is no land called Black, no land called white but in terms of race discussions in America I am clearly a person of African descent, a Black Puerto Rican I am not trying to impose anything on anyone in my article, I am asserting my own identity as opposed to have others define for me at the end of the day America does not see if we are Creole which we are not. Or Amerindian(what does this term actually mean) America sees black and white, and I with my wide nose, big hips, kinky hair and brown skin am not white.
My second response was: The San Juan 1846 census can be found in the "Fondo Municipal of San Juan" in the Archivo General de PR (AGPR). It is an incomplete census focusing on San Juan, not the entire island. Furthermore, the problem with censuses are that they are subjective to opinion, just like the inaccuracy of some places to claim less African admixture than there is. But in Puerto Rico, the Female contribution was overlooked. It had to do with the fact that the cultures of the time were and still are predominantly patriarchal. So even though Indigenous women contributed a huge amount to the population, indigenous men didn't. Thus the focus remained on the two biggest male admixtures. European and African. The huge Female contribution was silenced. You focus on pure indigenous population. The offspring of European and African men with predominantly Indigenous women were still present. The Spanish presence was low, the Mestizo presence was not.
The biggest fear was of the Creole mestizos and mulatos. Africans were imported because the male indigenous slave population had been exhausted. Many natives were actually shipped to the Americas to work in mines and what not.
As far as your claims of Black and White. While Black and White began as racial terms, many places that have lost their land based cultures, forged new ones together, and many times based on a common sense of 'race'. More so in Afro-Diasporic peoples than Europeans, but still to some degree, as places like Appalachia identified themselves as White having lost most of their older cultural roots. African is not an ethnic term, but an umbrella term for a multiplicity of cultures. Hispanic actually has roots in one culture that influenced many. Truly, the Afro-Diaspora shows more syncretism and similarities in the new World than the old as peoples bonded together through forced integration. In Africa, the Twa, and the Bantu, and the Congo, and what not are very diverse and rich cultures. it is the same with Europe.
As for your claims of ethnicity, You don't need a land to have an ethnicity. That is a nationality. Think of nomadic groups like the Romani. Yes, in the USA, that bonding of Afro-Diasporic people under the term Black was much stronger, and thus there is a strong ethnicity with the name that many mixed people ethnically belong to. many Puerto Ricans of African decent adopted and became a part of that ethnicity. But many did not as well. Your identity is very valid, and you have every right to claim it as it is your experience.
As for Creole, Actually in the strict definition we are. (Doesn't mean all should ethnically identify as such)
Creole (cre'ol) , Span. criollo (creol'yo) [probably from crÃo=child], term originally applied in West Indies to the native-born descendants of the Spanish conquerors. The term has since been applied to descendants of immigrants who mixed with the natives in new lands. The creoles were distinguished from the natives, the blacks, and from people born in Europe in that their culture was a unique blend of the new and the old. A sharp distinction of interest always lay between the creoles, whose chief devotion was to the new land, and the others, whose devotion was to the mother countries. Creole comes from 'criado' which means raised. As in 'raised here' We as Afro-Latinos are different from all our ancestries as we are a child born unique with a mix of all three.
How does creolization work? It is a way of forming a "native" identity in a situation where there is no homogenous natal society. The process takes place in the descendants of immigrant populations when the immigrants were drawn from more than one source. First-generation immigrants, undergo pidginization, a more tenuous and provisional process of negotiating linguistic and cultural practices in the face of multiple native identities. Children are often born into these groups, in a situation where there is no consensual identity. These children take an unstable polyglot cultural inheritance and create stable Creole identities from it. If and when natural increase overtakes immigration as the chief means of sustaining the population, then the process of creolization affects the whole society, changing it from a heterogeneous group to a homogenous Creole culture.
As for Amerindian, Well, there are two words. Indian, which was a misnomer of Columbus' assumption of being in India, but also indigenous, from Latin indigena, a native. I always wondered if the term had ancient roots to India in Rome as well though. Amerindian, just means people who are originally native to the Americas. (of course far enough back and we are all from Africa)
As for how people perceive you, You would be surprised. Depends on the region. In fact many Blacks with strong admixture hate the fact that they are constantly asked if they are Latino. Obviously the look of strong admixture isn't as commonly perceived as Black that many black identified multi-gen people are questioned of their right to their Black ethnicity. Like you they struggle to be accepted with an identity they were raised with.
She dodged responding after that.
Rosa is woking on her PH.D. That makes her brilliant. Don't sleep.
Jaime Carolyn Pretell-Samsey please-enlightenment me after you watch this video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYAYJEklql4
Jaime Carolyn Pretell-Samsey Actually Jaime Carolyn Pretell-Samsey, EVERYONE comes from the African….originally! But, you are totally correct about the homo sapien being the RACE of humanity!
Because we are NOT black..we are descendants from Taino Indians.The Taino Indians who were originally from South America were the first to inhabit Puerto Rico. If her family went and mix Taino blood with African,,then by all means call yourself black. We have straight or wavy black hair and cinnamon color skin. I am a TAINA.Our race got mix with african blood when the slaves traders brought slaves to the island.I went to school in PR until the 8 grade.I got MY history straight.My family is not Puertorican.My family IS from Puerto Rico. Pero mira a esta atrevida!
It's really sad that some ppl would say that they are not African they are no mixture do your research Africans were exploring the world I kno it's hard for many of you to embrace yes black Africans were the first man and woman point blank period
Well to be honest. African Americans can say the same.
What are actually trying to say?lol
She is right race is political. Traditional one drop of black and you were black.lol
I'm saying that she needs to shut up! http://seestjohn.com/history_taino_origin.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ta%C3%ADno
PHDs are brilliant?
Everybody should say the same!
Jaime. This is interesting. I read a DNA article and according to the study, the X chromosome that was predominant in P.R came from the Tainos, obviously it is not the only one, but it goes along with the pattern found throughout many Latin American countries.
Luis A. Rivera-Salazar Yes, the first women were Tainas, and the next women to marry the incoming Spanish, Africans, and local Mestizos were the local Mestizas.
Lucene D Simon The difference is level of admixture. Overall, Puerto Rico has a lot more admixture. There are pockets of Afro Americana that do have similar levels of admixture, but they are not the norm. And many get challenged about their Blackness at times.
Ribka Ysrayl Your point being? Ancient Africans mifrated out of Africa and evolved into separate sub species like the Denisovans and the Neanderthals, while in Africa others evolved into various sub species as well. One of the African subspecies of ancient humans traveled out of Africa anew and remixed with Out of Africa populations. They went on to colonize most of the world. SOme did return back and Neanderthal genes have been found in North Africa, but not below the Sahara. This is ancient news Most these subspecies either dissappeared or remixed into modern humans. ALL humans have evolved with time. No one predates the other. Some carry older gene strands than others, but overall, all humans have new genetic makeups and are equally evolved from those ancient people, no longer existent today.
Wole Ifa Africa is a territory, not a race. THat humanity had its origins there does not mean that modern Africans are original people. That is like saying that the grandchild that stayed in his grandfather's house is now the grandfather and the grandchild that left is somehow younger than the other grandchild.
The perception of race is different and to me, she seems to follow the one established as the norm in the U.S. I guess it has to do with the fact that she was born and raised here. Lucene, look into the Latin American caste system and it's collapse. It will give you a different perspective.
Ribka Ysrayl
http://news.discovery.com/human/evolution/neanderthals-modern-human-121101.htm
LOL. Psudoscience and PseudoHistory.
You are no more Taina than you are African or Spanish. You have Taino Roots. That is different. The Spanish culture was the one that controlled the most. Some are trying to recoonect with Taino roots, but that is different than that identity always being there. There is a value to the Taino roots though. They connect you to the land as a Native, even in Mestizo form.
I will and i agree she is following U.S. system. Still lets not forget she did say race identity can be more political.
black is African in it's purest terms. PPl go out of their way to try and denounce everything that is legitimate that pertains to the black race. Learn prehistory!!
Lucene D Simon I would say one US system. If you look at Jackson Whites, Melungeons and Lumbees, among others you can see other US systems as well.
Wole Ifa And I agree Homo Sapien is the race of humanity.
Denis Torres Yes. I have high respect for any Ph.D. Do you have one. Do you know anybody who has one?
Lucene D Simon She really doesn't know what she's trying to say…Lol
Many Boricuas are in denial and try to claim Taino when the Tainos were almost wiped out on the island. It's a shame to be ashamed of one's self.
Believe what u like this is truth Africans were the first don't take my words for it there has been discovery of all our great nations I don't have to make you believe a thing when facts back me up every time but a lie can be proven to be wrong every time have a gd life beloved!
or maybe she doesn't feel she has to explain herself any further.
The ones that matter did like Roberto Clemente
He was heavy off into the Civil Rights Movement..exceptional in every way
IF YALL ARE ASHAMED TO BE BLK AND WANT TO ESPOUSE UR INDIAN AND UR OTHER MAKE UP FINE.. HOWEVER, I BELIEVE THE ONLY REASON UR SO AGAINST SAYING UR BLK IS BECAUSE MOST OF U HAVE WHITE SKIN. SO KEEP IT AND ENJOY BECAUSE ONE DAY ITS NOT GOING TO HELP U…
AS FAR AS IM CONCERNED IF UR DOWN WITH BEING BLK JOIN US. IF UR PROUD OF UR MIXED HERITAGE THAN ENJOY THAT. BUT, ITS A SHAME U ASSOCIATE URSELVES WITH WHITE SLAVE MASTERS AND RAPISTS COLONIZING SPANIARDS. ALOT OF YALL ARE SO PROUD OF UR POSITION IN SOCIETY AND WANT SO MUCH TO BE IN THE DOMINANT CULTURE UR SELLING AND CONVINCING URSELF THAT BLK PEOPLE ARE TOO RACE CONCSIOUS WHEN WHITE SUPREMACY HAS BEATEN US ALL OVER WORLD. SO GO AHEAD AND ENJOY UR STATUS.. GOD WILL LIBERATE HIS PEOPLE AND THE REAL TRUTH WILL BE WRITTEN!!!!!!
I suggest you Open a History Book… SERIOUSLY… LOL Because not all of you have Taino Indian blood…. They had MORE Black slaves then Taino indians as they mostly tried to eradicate the Taino. And if you ever even bother to look at an old CENSUS in Puerto Rico when they openly called themselves WHITE, and categorized Blacks as well, and "other" (Taino) , ON the damn Census, you'd see just how little the Taino population was.
And since they did not bring Spanish white women with them initially, many of the white men took Black woman and bred with, and even Married when the law banning interracial marriage was finally lifted.
Doc Mananoff Not true at all. They just can't claim to be purely Taino or purely African. They are Mestizo with all three ancestries. Predominantly Afro-European in the male lineage and Indigenous in the female lineage.
Alia Gwen Casborné Or maybe she just couldn't dispute the facts.
And you often have no choice in how society will view you solely on the color of your skin
I'm Afro-Cuban (born in the states) and just really realized that we grew up differently in the house hold but picked-up the America ways. I will be going to Cuba in October 4 for the first time to study at Havana University, and then I will be going back to try to locate my family.
Lucene D Simon , you're right. I identify as Taino. But there are no PURE Tainos anymore. Yet, 3 in 5 people have it in their blood. But many Puerto Ricans hold the white race as supreme, honorable, desireable and privileged. Black is poor, bad, african, impoverished, sluggish, violent, etc. So many just ignore or deny. Some get angry even at the idea of being less than white or Taino. It's racism, but they simply deny it. Like Wanda above. Why she freaks out at the idea of having black in her just reflects her insecurities as an inferior being. People like that need to be told they are everything in the world, except black, as if BEING BLACK IS A BAD THING. I hate to say it but, even I who do not look black, ahve been racially discrimninated against in Puerto Rico, by those who think they are pure Spanish or European. May years was I called a Ni**er, Dirty Ni**er, Dirty Indian, you name it, just for chuckles.
actually Wanda by 1870 the population on the island of PuertO Rico was 64% African descendant, less 12% of the population at the time was of Taino descent as many in that population were decimated by the arrival of the Spaniards. I am not sure why you must tell me to shut up since my research is accurate. If you disagree you have a right, you are wrong, but not sure why the harshness of your tone and words.
Jaime Carolyn Pretell-Samsey actually historical fact, actually Wanda by 1870 the population on the island of PuertO Rico was 64% African descendant, less 12% of the population at the time was of Taino descent as many in that population were decimated by the arrival of the Spaniards. I am not sure why you must tell me to shut up since my research is accurate. If you disagree you have a right, you are wrong, but not sure why the harshness of your tone and words.
anyone who knows me for real know I never impose my racial identity on anyone. we are adults no one can impose an identity on another.
Rosa Clemente She wants you to shut up because the TRUTH you told stared her in the face and she couldn't handle it…smh
Thank you all so much for the good comments and bad comments. I am elated that we are at least having a conversation. The colonization of the mind is as bad as the colonization of our lands and for further reading check out my article Who Is Black? unfortunately my website is down at the moment, working on getting it back up but you can check it at by googling the title and my name. The fact that almost 10,000 people have shared this video really speaks to the movement to claim a Black racial identity as well as being able to claim our place within the Black Radical Tradition.
Doc Mananoff I was surprised to see some people get so offended over this.
Lucene D Simon I see it all the time. Truthfully it's disgusting.
Doc Mananoff it is crazy to me how offended others get by me stating who I am, its not like I am putting a gun to their head like you must call yourself BLACK, it really speaks to what Fanon spoke to over 50 years ago.
Lucene D Simon it is crazy to me how offended others get by me stating who I am, its not like I am putting a gun to their head like you must call yourself BLACK, it really speaks to what Fanon spoke to over 50 years ago.
Rosa Clemente Yeah, because stating who you are forces them to look at themselves and see a truth that they have been trained to avoid.
http://www.raceandhistory.com/Taino/ when Columbus arrived at Hispaniola there were no people who were called 'Arawaks', and there never had been. If you were to go to Santo Domingo today people would tell you that their Amerindian ancestors were the 'Taino'. Actually, Indians of the Greater Antilles did not call themselves 'Taino', no more than they called themselves 'Arawak' – that name was given them in 1935 by Sven Loven, a Swedish archaeologist, from the word denoting in the Indian lauguage the ruling class of their society.WE are BORICUA.
Wanda Colón I took a peek at your pictures and I'll say this: Although I can see the Taina features you claim, I can also see the African influence, I'm almost positive that sometime in your life… you have been mistaken for a 'light skinned' or bi-racial black person. Also, where do you think your naturally curly/wavy hair comes from? Tainos were no different from the rest of the native North and South American people, they had straight hair. It's a shame to see an attractive woman deny a part of herself.
I have seen Blonde Boricuas claim to have Afro roots…why can't you? :
Doc Mananoff One of the 1st thing i notice when i came to the main land U.S. is the difference in looks between a Mexican and Puerto rican. Yes the hair was the 1st thing i noticed. Honestly there aint no pure blooded Tainos. So like was said before some maybe mix but they are still part of the african slave route of the Atlantic slave trade. Argentina may have a better chance of denouncing black heritage than Puerto Rico. To me a lot of these responses are just prejudices.
I was raised in Puerto Rico.eating yuca and bacalao. I was never call black nor white.I was always call a Boricua.I was raised in Naguabo.When you sit in the balcony in our house the first thing you see es El Yunque.I grew up walking up the river where you still see Taino symbols engraved on the river stones.Whenever we wanted to see something African we will drive to Fajardo to visit Loiza Aldea. The Boricua legacy is to strong and is spread all over the Island..Yes we are mixed with African blood but that happen after colonization…Boricuas/Tainos are descend from South America..not Africa.
Lucene D Simon TRUE! Hair texture says a lot, and yes, Argentina is probably the ONLY country that can make that claim.
Wanda Colón I have relatives in Loiza and Carolina, and since you were raised on the island then there was probably not any reason to label you as such…but what about when you travelled OUTSIDE of Puerto rico? What did strangers assume then?
Yes, Tainos are mainly South American descendants BUT, you wouldn't be who you are today without those Africans in your bloodline, believe that.
Interesting conversation. I wonder if today so-called, "black people" were the ones with economic power, how many others would claim themselves as "black?" Everything goes in cycles and there have been periods of time in history when black people controlled all the wealth as well. It wasn't advantageous to be or identify as something else. All I know, for sure, is that we are all Gods (made in the image of God) and once we know the power that exists inside of us, and the truth of who we really are, "God man beings," coming from one energy we will no longer need to have this discussion. We are playing at the lower personality level and have no idea of what's going on at the top and in the back office. It's time to finally awaken.
Rosa Clemente That would be incorrect, as stated by my earlier, way earlier email to you, your statistics only address San Juan, not Puerto Rico. And the "Spanish" presence was mostly Mestizo, hence indigenous descent.
Rosa Clemente Actually, the harshness of those words was towards Mr. Owens who claimed that Puerto Ricans are not mixed and claimed that Africans came before, or the in correct claim that any modern human predates another.
Rosa Clemente you may have toned down, your beliefs with time. When I wrote to you was around 2002, when I lived in NY. At the time, I remember you were critisizing Puerto Ricans for not identifying as Black. Maybe not imposing, but feel free to use pressuring instead. I beleive in self identity. But if you no longer embrace that beleif, that Puerto Ricans should call themselves Black, over their other ancestries, and regardless of what their experience growing up was, then I am glad. For the most part, Puerto Ricans that grew up close to Black identified communities and embrace that identity are just as fine as Puerto Ricans who grew up near White identified communities or Taino identified communities and embrace those identities. That is because Puerto Ricans have all three ancestries. Of course, I favor recognizing all ancestries equally.
Rosa Clemente Of course, this is just socio-political debate. You may be the nicest person for all I know. I have many friends in multiple Pan African and Black power movements, as well as Creolite/Mixed/Mestizo movements. I just agree to disagree. on certain points.
Lucene D Simon Which varied greatly by region and time. In Puerto Rico, La regla del sacar basically said that if you could show a white ancestor in each of your last four generations (and they could be from the same rule as well, you were legally White. So you could have a person who had majority African ancestry that still identified as White. As you said, race is a socio-political construct. I prefer ethnicity and socio-geographical ancestry and cultural inheritance.
Not all 'Whites' were slave masters and not all Spaniards were rapists or colonizers. In fact, Spain, like many abused children, was first raped and colonized before it became a colonial power. Much of the conquistador zealot mentality came from the religious wars that lasted over 100 years. It is also why Conquistadors constantly refered to Native American temples as mosques.
Yes even if many didnt agree. I found this interesting.
I have known African Americans who visited South Africa during Aperthied and was considered Legally White. lol I personally feel if you only have 10 percent native indian blood in you ,70 percent black and 20 percent european. Its obvious you are mixed but all parts aint equal.
Lets say Obama or bob marley said he was white. Would you agree?
it sad about the Taino due to 85% of them died out before Africans came to take there place. So if you are a TAINA that's great. That means you come from the ancestor's of Asians who came from Asia who came from West Africa it's full fold it all comes back around. Take a picture of nelson Mandela or most Africans fro the southern and west and put them next to a Asian and you get this. http://g23deoutubro.blogspot.com/2010/05/negros-uma-historia-e-uma-pre-historia.html
Laquince Johnson Escape is futile…LOL
Our shame helps to hold our limitations in place.
Doc Mananoff Actually, most genetic tests show most Puerto Ricans can claim all three ancestries.
Laquince Johnson Actually, the ancestors of Asians came from South and then East Africa.
Laquince Johnson Actually the south has a lot of KhoiSan mixed people or Khoisan themselves. They are lighter because of the latitude and developed epicanthic folds because of the desert much like Asians probably did with snow reflection. Its called polytopic similarity.
Lucene D Simon And if you go to certain places in Mexico, you will find people that look very Dominican or very Puerto Rican.
Lucene D Simon 100 years ago, in Ohio, they would have been White.
Personally, I never want racial Black identity claimed as it is based on a scientific lie. But ethnic Blackness as a cutural bond when other ethnic roots were stripped is perfectly understandable. People create new identities as older ones are lost.
Mel Brown I know prehistory very well. THere is no evidence that anyone divided themselves by color. Ancient history where we have writing does not show it either. Many Africans do not accept the term Black as they see it as an imposed term by foreigners.
Spain is a white nation and are proud to represent that ideal! U can protect ur people and ur reasons for it. But u can't change the truth. U must have an age agenda to continually advocate for white supremacy stances on history and it's reasoning for their atrocities!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkexKLCak5M&index=8&list=LLUCKpPy3jumGgEfquRH5-1Q
If Mrs Rosa needs therapy because she has ethnicity issues she need to talk to someone about that.. People with PhD's go to therapy too.She also needs to check her facts before she speaks her mind. I wish her well living her life as a Afro Latina.I live my life as Boricua or you can call me Jibara de la montaña…because I am proud of my cinnamon skin culture.
Brenda Mercado Vice Yes and No. I was a bit turned off that they used modern humans without any alterations and did not specify that genetics cannot fully tell us how they looked, nor can physical anthropology when it comes to our earlier ancestors. They did come from Africa, and we are all equal decendants of those ancients. But those videos have started some foolish talk about how some modern Africans are the 'original' people over others. We are all equal cousins.
Rosa Clemente Actually, the 1840 census was only of San Juan
Doc Mananoff Who told you Natives only had straight hair?
Doc Mananoff I do have to say that Wanda defintely has African in her and it is quite noticeable in her features.
Wanda Colón Nothing wrong recognizing your indigenous culture. But you should also be proud of your African ones that are quite clear on your face.
LOL. Spain hasn't been truly a 'White' nation since its inception. It has had North African and Asian roots early on.
Amen Wanda!
Same or similar body types, hair, attitudes and even likes and dislikes yet people seem to forget that we are the same people.
The term Hispanic is a relatively new term coined sometime in the 70's. You will not find this word prior to the 70's on any official form such as birth certificate or census records.
This term was used to differentiate those who choose not to be associated with blacks or Africans. Those who did not want to be treated with the hate associated with being black.
In a press release in 2003, the Bureau of the Census announced with great fanfare that "Hispanics" had become the largest minority group in the U.S. As they are also at great pains to clarify, Hispanics, unlike "blacks" and "Asians," are not a "race.".
I love this!!!!! Too many of us dance around the topic of race and those of us who dare to dig deeper into our roots are ostracized for wanting to identify with our blackness. Something as simple as the netflix show orange is the new black had me boggled as to why the blacks and PuertoRicans were separated when most of them looked more black than Spaniard. It bothers me when latinos and even some blacks would prefer to identify with our slave owners and not the ppl who were the victims of rape. I am also black with a mixture of different latin ethnicities but I will always consider myself black because most of the mixture was not by choice but by force. Thank u for this!
Wanda darling, I was born in the south and have lived in NY most of my life, I'm Black. I too have the same type of hair (long, wavy), same color and my skin caramel rather than cinnamon. My grandmother is Cherokee ( you know, that's dark chocolate skin) with the same hair. Oh crap, hair and skin tone, really? all of that stuff doesn't matter. Just know and remember it all started in the Garden of Eden and boo boo, the Garden of Eden is in Africa. Deal with it.
To all.. You can't deny DNA and " Everyone's " DNA can be traced back to Africa, the beginning. That's a scientific fact! Therefore we are all African's " first ", weather you / we like it or not! Skin color changed to different colors depending on where the first African's went when they migrated from Africa, and populated the plant. That environment change, changed skin color for survival of the human species. That skin color change can take up to 10,000 years to occur. DNA is NOT a scientific lie! It's a scientific proven fact that we are all Africans.. for anyone to research. Check this.. Read or watch (PBS) "Journey of Man " the story of the Human Species, also The Search For Adam, both by Dr. Spencer Wells who is a Geneticist.. we are not from the caves of Europe, or from the jungle's of Asia, etc.. you have to go back further. DNA don't lie ! Skin color is not who we are. We are humans and OUR ancestry is African.. !!
The oldest DNA marker for humans leads back to Africa, a fact..
This women is no where near being Black. What is wrong with African-Americans? Are we really this self-loathing that we have to recruit people who don't even look like us into our group? Also, "race" is the result of gene patterns and frequency, not genes by themselves. In other words, if you don't have the traits of Blacks (which is the result of these patterns, etc) then you aren't Black!
Lucene D Simon The article you cited is skewed by the one-drop rule. According to more detailed studies 10% of so-called African-Americans are less than 50% African while the other 90% is much closer to about 87-90% African.
http://www.isteve.com/2002_how_white_are_blacks.htm
"Earlier, cruder studies, done before direct genetic testing was feasible, suggested that African-Americans were 25 or even 30 percent white. Shriver's project is not complete, but with data from 25 sites already in, he is coming up with 17-18 percent white ancestry among African-Americans…
According to Shriver, only about 10 percent of African-Americans are over 50 percent white. [obviously due to the one-drop rule]
"The admixture rates vary by region. The African-American populations with the highest average numbers of white ancestors found so far are those in California and Seattle. They average a little over one-quarter European ancestry.
In contrast, according to a recent article published by Shriver's team in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology, the Gullahs of the long-isolated Sea Islands of South Carolina and Georgia, who are famous for speaking a pleasantly African-sounding dialect, are only 3-4 percent white.
In the rest of the rural South, African-Americans tend to be not as black as the Gullahs, but still blacker than the national average. Shriver's team found that the white admixture percentage in four Lowland farm counties in South Carolina was 12 percent."
Lucene D Simon "Yet, from another perspective, a sizable degree of racial mixing is highly unusual. There simply aren't many African-Americans or European-Americans who are mostly white but also substantially black. Shriver pointed out, "There is a very small degree of overlap in the population distributions." In America, most of the whites are extremely European and most of the blacks are quite African"
"Thus, the "one drop" rule helped make African-Americans and European-Americans into two social groups whose members — despite sometimes being highly varied in ancestry — are perhaps more distinct on average in their family trees than the arbitrariness of the "one drop" would lead you to initially assume."
Long story short, African Americans are no where near as mixed as Gates would lead you to believe. Here's another study and presentation by Rick Kittles:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nnTxr49mKE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Av__kVz74KI
Note 11:35 of the second video:
30% White Paternal lineage, 5% white maternal lineage = 15 (half of 30%) + 2.5 (half of 5%) = 17.5% white Ancestry on Average. As for Native American ancestry, we have around 1.5%. In total African-Americans have 19% non African ancestry (with 10% of "Blacks" being less than 50% African as I said).
And? These people are not African anymore, they mutated and became their own group.
Let's define who is Black before we start designating people as such.
Watch the following videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJ3zlT9IdPw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYyenr0elSY
Doc Mananoff Thanks for taking the time to check my pictures.
Wanda Colón You have every right to. Sadly, many African-Americans have a inferior complex that drives us to try to seek out lighter skinned people. You should see how Blacks reacted to Keisha Cole saying she wasn't Black but Biracial. I respect other people for being proud of who they are. As for who's Black and who isn't, if you don't have African-textured hair and "medium" brown to "jet-black" skin, you are NOT Black/African. The one-drop rule is a RACIST RULE!!!
Doc Mananoff What African traits does she have?
Rosa Clemente You are not Black, why do you keep claiming this when it is obvious you don't have Black/African traits? I have nothing against people like you but I'm bothered by how you seem to have fallen for the one-drop rule. If you don't have the traits and more than 50% African ancestry, you can't seriously claim to be Black.
Rosa Clemente https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYyenr0elSY
http://lumumbaafrika.wordpress.com/2014/06/01/why-mulattoes-and-other-hybrids-are-not-afrikan/
That system, in some countries, can be likened to the Tower of Babel. For ex in Brazil I think they have about 38 grades of skin color. Who looks at people that hard.
Well i feel if your blood line wasnt fresh to Puerto Rico in the 1900's. You do have African blood in you. Its just up to you to be in denial. If Taino is in that blood, iam sure you can find a African somewhere. 🙂
Honestly why would you think anyone would have to lie about Puerto RIco being black or anyone in Puerto Rico being black. To the Colonizers it didnt matter if you were black or native american. Plus to black people they have many nations who are black already.
Jaime Carolyn Pretell-Samsey What about Cortez. Did he not wipe out the Aztecs. Spain became a power after 800 years of Moorish conquest. Have you seen the Moors? Spain suffered a intellectual brain drain after the Moors left. England was kicking them and they needed money. Isabella was greedy for gold and wealth because she wanted to compete with the queen of England.
What do you say to the parents of identical twins–one looks Black and one looks White. Both parents have White mothers and Black fathers. My point is just because you don't look Black does not mean you don't have Black DNA. There are Africans who carry the gene for blue eyes–so now and then bright blue eyes pop up in the population.
White mothers << LOL these half breeds are some sly people
Show me one tribe of Africans who carry bright blue eyes
Promoting the White mans one drop rule makes you as racist as he is!
Latin, Spanish, Hispanic are not Black…
Carolyn Broadbelt No, there are no Black people who look white. The whole idea itself is an oxymoron. That's like saying a dog can look like a cat, or vice versa.
Carolyn Broadbelt You do realize that identical twins ALWAYS look the same, right?
Abibi Fawohodie Naturally too. No Albinos or obvious mutations. Show pics where almost everyone is blue eyed and pure.
Carolyn Broadbelt Having a bit of Black DNA isn't enough (Idk why we have such low standards like this). We have to be exclusive as a group in order to effectively organize ourselves for power and liberation. You must have our traits and PREDOMINATELY African ancestry. Whites are on top because they don't allow their identity to be devalued and "watered" down by grouping any and everyone into their "club." The same is also true for the Asians.
Carolyn Broadbelt if we continue to be over-inclusive and subscribe to the one-drop rule, we're going to end up being "represented" by people like this (the boy): http://www.inflexwetrust.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/IFWT_thicke_patton9.jpg
See what happens? Black people CAN be breed out of existence!
The kid (1/4 black) looks even whiter (paler skin) than Robin Thicke. Is this REALLY what we want?
Thats what most BLACKS WANT… They want to be bred into the White gene pool… Farrah Gray is calling Jessica Alba black… Dr. Umar is calling Jennifer Lopez black… Black African beauty is being wiped out… Even Dr. Barauti makes excuses for this non sense. The one drop rule will be the DEATH of the African Genome in America…. in Africa…
PUERTORICANS – THE RACES OF THE ISLAND and the mixtures
THE EUROPEAN SPAINARDS and Other sources of European populations are Corsicans, French, Italians, Portuguese (especially Azoreans), Greeks, Germans, Irish, Scots, Maltese, Dutch, English, Danes, and Jews.
Africans and Taino indians
Sister?
Love you rosa. You speak the truth. Yes she is sister…..
Even Marcus Garvey said the African American is mixed. So i guess by your standards they not black.
Honestly we all are considered inferior races. So the most your theory can do is cause more fiction.
The problem aint the mixing of the race. For those who want to mix into the white gene pool they need to learn to be proud to black and the responsibilities that goes with it. And where did you get that information that most black people want to mix with the white gene pool?
Brother you have done the worse thing ever to the black race. I will say this much MOST BLACKS ON THIS SIDE IS MIXED. It could be 10 percent or 50 percent. Still they aint full african. To me your point is pointless.
All it is you causing is division and black is black.
I had to laugh when i saw Malcolm X in your Video. It reminded of the story Jesus Christ and Peter. Now Malcolm you want to deny and say he isnt black? Honestly stop it.
I have Puerto Rican cousins who used to claim that "pure Spanish or Taino" bull. They did until a little genetic test by 23andMe shut them up. On average, they were shown to be 40% Sub-Saharan African, 50% European (Iberian) and only 10% Native American/East Asian. Unhappy with the results, they had a different test done at AncestryDNA. The results were pretty much the same. Just as in criminal cases, DNA doesn't lie. Denial is a very powerful tool. Now, they claim to be "Latin". Yet, another inappropriate misnomer.
actually she is from the tribe of Ephraim, black is not a nationality nor is Puerto Rican nor is African American, these are names giving to us by our oppressors after they conquered and renamed the lands
She is very knowledgeable. She is spreading a good word. America has racist roots and white privilege, this is why the the "one race" is the human race attitude will never work. Black's must stick together because we are the forgotten. We have distant relatives all over the world, different afro and indigenous cultures. 🙂
We can overcome white supremacy if we united as are predecessors
As someone who actually went to school in Puerto Rico, we are taught we are balck , white, and Indian – African, Spaniard, and Taino. Anything that exhaults one rave over an another ignores the historical reality of the Island.
However, black history is under taught on the island and Taino and spanish histpry is taught more openly. That too undermines the historical reality of the Island.
today the top immigrant group to PR are Dominicans. Will the history books of tomorrow erase and eradicate them like Africans, Spaniard, and Taino are been eradicated today?
I am a Puertorican American born in Harlem, raised in Puerto and the Bronx and have white, black, and Taino blood.
But glad to Rosa, a former school mate forcing us to discuss racial identity here and abroad.
OMG, ¿què demonios es eso de afrotainos? Las à reas a donde ubicaron las poblaciones negras no eran las mismas à reas donde vivìa el taino en su mayorìa. Las aportaciones tainas a nuestra cultura es poca en comparaciòn con otras aportaciones culturales como fue la cubana, dominicana, venezolana, colombiana y de las antillas menores. Por eso es que geogrà ficamente hablando, cuando se viaja al interior montañoso central se observa gente con piel màs blanca y ojos màs claros porque los negros se concentraron en las à reas costeras donde habìa cañaverales. recuerden que eso de que la cultura puertorriqueña se formò de la taina, negra y blanca es la tesis doctoral de Ricardo Alegrìa, hay otras grandes aportaciones culturales a nuestra historia.
I can't watch the video because it keeps repeating the Spiderman commercial. Look at your birth certificate, they tell us who we are. No matter what you call yourself you will always be at face value unless they know better. I'm labeled African American until I put my turban on my head. I don't care what I'm called or labeled. My group has our own credit union, land, farms, and businesses. Since we own our own, we can't be denied anything because of our color. You all need to build teams, get the proper education, and form your own corporations so the racial ticket becomes obsolete. Me and my group were just poor kids from Kansas City MO.
From what I can see she mixed with some white. It not right gor her not to recognize her with Spanish side of her family
She is not black she's definitely Latino
I don't what she is jabbering about. She's mixed race. Anybody can tell that. Don't need to go to college.
What Rosa Clemente y bringing up is very important. There are so many divisions from all sides, but first it is important to honor all of who we are. I myself have struggled to raise consciousness in my community of LoÃza, Puerto Rico about this issue and there is a long way to go. The fact that there are no universities on the island that offer African studies as a major speaks volumes. The division between African Americans and Afro Latinos must be healed so we can gain more advances for all of us.
Gracias, Rosa Clemente! Gracias, Dash por tu entrega a esta causa.
The Puerto Ricans are Israelites from the tribes of Ephraim. Here's a complete breakdown of who are true Israel by blood Israelites in the earth God's chosen people. Here the chart of the 12 Tribes of Israel.
Biblical Names ….. AKA……………Slave Names
1. Judah (Jews)………………………….African Americans (Negros)
2. Benjamin…………………………….West Indians, Jamaicans,
3. Levi…………………………………… Haitians
4. Simeon……………………………… Dominicans Indians
5. Zebulon……………………………..Guatemala,Panama, Equador (Maya)
6. Ephraim……………………………. PuertoRicans(Tahinos-Boricua)
7. Manesseh………………………….Cubans
8. Gad…………………………………..North American Indians
9. Reuben……………………………..Seminole Indians (Florida Everglades)
10. Napthal…………………………….Argentina and Chile Indians
11 Asher………………………………….Brazil, Peru, Uruguay Indians (Inca)
12. Issachar…………………………..Mexican Indian (Aztecs)
This is an AWAKENING of YSRAEL, plain and simple.
Finally, comments of educated individuals, I won't even put my 2 cents in because some of you have already given the whole dollar.
Quite an experience watching the video and reading the comments as a Yoruba person . That history the latinas are running away from is mine.
Very nice. Very informative.
mucha gracias rosa for your vid…i too identify as a black boriqua…most people seem to think we are white and should look white like j.lo…but those that don't understand our cultural roots will never see, we are a multi shaded group of latinos…so I am ecstatic when people like you stand and have us darker latinos get acknowledged…so thank u.
There is only two things in this world Truth and Falsehood and Falsehood is that which seems to be. The dark olive hue people here in the Americas long before Christoper Columbus were of Moorish Descent. Please read about the Moors Sundry Act of 1790. A case decide right here in on of the several states of the union. Please read about the The Iroquois Federation Government here in America. That was before the U.S. Constitution was even thought about. The U.S. Constitution was adopted. From whom was the U.S. Constitution adopted from? Think about that question. You do not ADOPT something that is yours. There were Nations here already. When you research, you should discover the Nationalities of these five so called Indian tribes. I, said so called because Indian is a misnomer. Moreover, the people here before 1774. In 1774 the Nationality of Moors was taken form them. By no means did this happen over night. It was planned that way. They did not identify themselves as BLACK, BROWN, YELLOW or any other COLOR under the rainbow. This COLOR code originated by professor Blumenback, of Germany. Also, there is no WHITE Nationality either. Where is White land and please identify there Flag. There is not a Black land nor a Black Flag. What people on earth, has had, several different names GIVEN to them, by slave holders, for the purpose of identification. Those who call themselves BLACK, NEGRO, PEOPLE OF COLOR, AFRICAN-AMERICANS and ALFRO-AMERICANS. These people who strongly identify themselves as such, are truly misrepresenting themselves. Please look up what blackamoor means. They added the adjective black, to blackamoor, than dropped the noun moor and just call us BLACK. "True wisdom is less presuming than folly. The wise man doubeth often, and changeth his mind; the fool is obstinate and doubteth not; he knoweth all things, but his own ignorance." To be a true citizen of any government you must proclaim your national descent name. Otherwise you are out of law. No true protection by the U. S. Constitution. Law governs all events. Peace.