Cinco de Mayo was Fought by African Mexican Maroons
According to Marco Polo Hernández Cuevas, between 55 and 85 percent of Mexicans can trace their family back to African slaves, but cultural leaders have actively shunned this identity. “It’s estimated that over 300,000 enslaved Africans were brought to Mexico during the colonial period which lasted 300 years, producing millions of offspring. Many of the major leaguers of the Mexican liberation movement were black themselves. "The last two top commanders of the movement, José María Morelos and Vicente Guerrero, as well as a significant number of other leaders and troops have now been identified as mulattoes pardos."The Black Virgin -- a representation of Virgin Mary with dark skin common throughout Spain, France and Mexico – is one example of African cultural influences. Hernández also points out that the battle commemorated by the national holiday of Cinco de Mayo was fought by African Mexican “maroons.”
Columbus was a Brutal Tyrant, say Documents
The documents, discovered in 2005 at the Simancas Archives in Valladolid, northern Spain, quotes 23 contemporary witnesses to Christopher Columbus's brutality after he subjugated what is now the Dominican Republic in 1492. They provide further evidence of the "hidden face" of the man lauded in the West as the so-called discoverer of America, according to Spanish historian Consuelo Varela. Varela stated the explorer "ruled the colony in a tyranical fashion" and demonstrated "great greed". In decades following Columbus' arrival, between 12 and 20 million native Americans were killed or fell victim to diseases brought in by the Spanish.
In order to avoid confusion between the name of the Republic of Haiti and that of the entire island, the United States Geographic Board decided, unilaterally in 1933, to name the island Hispaniola in homage to the Spanish colonizer, thereby erasing all traces of the Amerindians who occupied the island before the arrival of Christopher Columbus. The term Hispaniola refers to a geographic entity which consists of two political units, the Republic of Haiti and the Dominican Republic.” (Source: The United States Geographic Board. 1933. Sixth Report of the U.S. Geographic Board 1890-1932. Washington: U.S. Geographic Board, page 367). The American decision was highly regretted by Edmond Mangones in his article, “L' Île d'Haïti, une regrettable initiative de la U. S. Geographic Board” published in Revue de la Société d’Histoire et de Géographie d’Haiti, 1934, vol. 5, No. 15, Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
African Presence in Brazil
Except for the African continent, no other place has as large a black population, accounting for nearly half of the current population of nearly 190 million, according to official government statistics. However, Brazilians can choose from among 134 different color categories. Since the 1970s, the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics government agency asked people to identify their skin colors. The 134 choices range from acastanhada (cashewlike or caramel-colored), alva (pure white), amarela (yellow) and vermelha (reddish) to morena (tan), mulatta (mixture of white and black) quase-negra (almost Negro) and preta (black). Taken together, only 6 percent of Brazilians officially identified themselves in the black category, while nearly 40 percent identified as mulatta.
Presencia Negra en Panama
Según la profesora Aminta Núñez, la primera llegada de negros se produjo durante el proceso de conquista y colonización de la región, por los españoles. Fueron traídos en barcos como esclavos supliendo, un poco, la mano del indio que no tenía las condiciones para trabajos fuertes como el de las minas. En el caso de Panamá, Núñez dijo que muchos esclavos negros entraron por el Atlántico, desde el Caribe a Cartagena y de allí a Nombre de Dios y posteriormente, Portobelo, de donde los trasladaban a Panamá Viejo para ser vendidos en el Sur (Perú, Chile, Venezuela, Brasil, Uruguay, Paraguay y Argentina). Esos primeros inmigrantes negros a Panamá venían de pueblos africanos como los olofo, mandingas, achanti, okimano, congo, carabalí, o mozambique.
La segunda oleada, más pequeña, fue la de esclavos negros que llegaron con sus amos ingleses a Boca del Drago e Islas Pastores en Bocas del Toro y la última, fue para la construcción del ferrocarril Transístmico y el canal interoceánico. Se les trajo como fuerza laboral desde Martinica, Guadalupe, Santa Lucía, Trinidad, Jamaica Haití y Barbados.
The Black Parliament of the Americas
One of the main issues discussed at the Black Parliament of the Americas in August 2005 was the struggle to retain legal land ownership among Afro-descendants, many of whom lived for many generations on some of the best land of Latin America. Ecuador, Colombia and Honduras are cases in point. In 1993, Blacks in Colombia were officially recognized as a distinct ethnicity under Law 70 (Ley de Negritudes/Law of the Blacks), a law designed to protect Afro-Colombian communities in areas like the nation's predominately Black state of Chocó. Law 70 also ceded land parcels titles for community ownership.
In Colombia, Afro-Colombians represent more than 26 percent of the population. Regions like Chocó (85 percent Black), Valle del Cauca (60 percent Black), Cauca (39 percent Black) or Nariño (17 percent Black), with significant presence of Afro-Colombians have influenced the 1991 Constitution, which ratified the pluri-ethnic and multi-ethnic nature of the Colombian Nation. In Honduras, a major achievement was the recent 'Ley de Tierras', but still some Hondurans make fraudulent moves to neutralize its intended effects.
Costa Rica: InterAmerican Human Rights Court
NYIHA has been the leading regional advocate of immigrant children's right to nationality in the Dominican Republic and Central America. In a historic ruling dated 8 October 2005, an international court strengthened a fundamental right of immigrants: their children can gain the nationality of the country where they were born. The Interamerican Human Rights Court verdict rejected Dominican authorities' refusal to issue birth certificates to two girls of Haitian ancestry who were born in the Dominican Republic. The high court stated that “the condition of birth in the state territory is the only thing that needs to be demonstrated to acquire nationality.” The court ruled that the Dominican government must guarantee the rights of citizenship and education to all children born in their territory, irrespective of their ethnic origin. You can read the full text of the ruling in Spanish below.
Mexico: Memin Pinguin
The exaggerated black cartoon character known as Memin Pinguin reflects part of Mexico's culture," Carlos Caballero said. However, Sergio Penalosa, an activist in Mexico's small black community on the southern Pacific coast, said many Mexicans still assume all blacks are foreigners, despite the fact that at one point early in the Spanish colonial era, Africans outnumbered Spanish in Mexico.
Colombia: African Heritage
Remnants of African traditions can be found in Colombian music and rituals. The most African ritual in Colombian culture is the San Basilio de Palenke, which is a lumbalu religious funerary song of Palenque. Traditional musical types include Currulao, Juga-Arrulo and Bunde. The Currulao music is exceptional in its retention of African musical practices such as the complicated interaction between singers calling upon each other.
Originating in the Caribbean coast of Colombia, la musica champeta was propelled by popular music movements emanating from Africa in the 1960s. Champeta is more easily compared and associated with Congolese soukous. It is also similar to the Haitian fete champete. However, the term Champeta , as used in Colombia, may take various styles like calypso, socca, bomba, or zouk from other regions of the Caribbean.
India: Sidi Goma of Gujarat
The black diaspora in India has long been submerged in India's dense multicultural masala. Lately a Sidi performance troupe from Gujarat known as Sidi Goma is putting their culture back on the map. One of the strongest remaining links they have to their roots is the damaal or drum. The dancers' ecstatic performances are a combination of traditional African worship and Indian Sufi practices.
UNESCO: Prix Toussaint Louverture
L' UNESCO a remis le 3 décembre 2004 à Paris le premier Prix Toussaint Louverture au poète martiniquais Aimé Césaire et au militant des droits humains brésilien Abdias do Nascimento. Nascimento is reported to have stated that Afro-Brazilians lack everything to obtain equality promised by democracy.
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