Amara La Negra Visits Black@NYT

Singer, Amara La Negra, who is most commonly known as a cast member of Love & Hip Hop Miami and a vocal advocate for Afro-Latinx people, stopped by the Times. As a guest of Black@NYT and The Latino Network, two NYT Employee Resource Groups, she joined us for our 2018 Black History Month programming.

We invited her to come speak with Sandra Garcia, a Times' journalist and fellow Afro-Latina, to highlight the plight of Afro-Latinx and bridge the gap for those who may not be privy to the fact that Black people exist outside of America.

In case I lost you, yes, Black people are not just here in the United States. Due to transatlantic slave trade, which involved most of the Western Hemisphere, including but not limited to the United States, the Caribbean/West Indies, South America, Central America and so on, Black people - as in, the race - are dispersed across the world, and together, we make up what is known as the African Diaspora.

The gag? Our experiences, though different in some aspects, are very much alike in others. From colorism and discriminatory practices to hair shaming and so on, black people are oppressed across the world, and as one of my good friends would say, "the [main] difference between black people in America and black people everywhere else, is where we got off the boat." 

For most of my life, this was unbeknownst to me, but after taking a few African American studies courses, one of which specifically focused on African Hispanic identity, I soon found out about our Spanish brothers and sisters.

That said, as one of the co-chairs for the Events and Networking committee, it was really important for me to treat Black History Month as a time to educate, enlighten and bridge the gap and Amara's role was integral in helping us doing so.

From the time she got there, she spoke nothing but facts on the struggles of Black and latina/latino people, sharing stories that made us laugh, stories that pissed us off, and stories that made us want to cry.

Watch these clips to see what she had to say:

Amara La Negra - "If we do a movie about a slave or something, we'll call you, but as a Latina, none of these roles are ever going to be for you."

"You're so pretty for being black."

Amara La Negra shares story about 5 year old Afro Latina girl who came up to her and said "I'm so sad, because..."

Amara La Negra talks about why she looked up to Cela Cruz growing up.

As you can see, this was truly an event for the books. Thankful this beacon of light squeezed us in to share a piece of her story!