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Brown is Beautiful
By Zayda Rivera

"Zayda, get over this Puerto Rican thing...You're Black!" Of course we all laughed but I felt that comment deeper than my close Jamaican friend could have ever known back in my college days. Growing up as a boricua in Connecticut who didn't speak fluent Spanish and didn't conform to what seemed to be the Puerto Rican girl criteria, I was often shunned by my own ethnic group. Whereas my Black friends didn't seem to care it was the opposite for the other Latinos in my high school and college. I remember being referred to as "Zayda Jones" by a few Latinas in college because I felt more comfortable hanging at the African American Culture Center than the Puerto Rican Latin American Culture Center. But in my mind it wasn't a racial divide it was simply a preference of hanging out with my friends as opposed to hanging out with people I didn't know and didn't care to know much about me.

The racial divide continued at home where my Puerto Rico-bred father made it blatantly known that having a Black boyfriend was out of the question-even though he did have "Black friends." As a young woman coming into my own I didn't understand why Blacks and Latinos couldn't be one with each other. After all weren't we going through similar struggles? Aren't we still! The divide made me very confused as a girl. Was I choosing one group over the other? Was I a traitor to my own race?

As I grew up and became the woman that I am today I realized something...I could have both! I am a Puerto Rican woman who loves her rich culture filled with flavor and sassy rhythms but in the same instance I was born and raised in Connecticut and my American upbringing blessed me with the option to learn about other cultures, befriend people from other backgrounds and discover other rich cultures.

Today, the unfortunate divide between Blacks and Latinos is still in existence but music has definitely helped to bridge the gap. Songs like Don Omar's "Reggaeton Latino" blurred the racial lines and spoke the universal language of a hot beat and bodies moving. An artist like Beyoncè who delivers English and Spanish hit songs continues to blur those otherwise invisible lines of divide.

In the end, we all need to dig deep in history and see that Blacks and Latinos are a lot closer than many of us think. Just read up on where our musical roots originated from. Open your mind to understanding the trade offs between the two races. Some Latin roots are embedded with African influence and vice versa. Whatever you discover remember that there is really only one thing you as the individual can do to further eliminate the divide and that is to stay true to yourself, embrace your culture and familiarize others with it. Who knows, if it's an even exchange of information maybe you can come away with a better understanding of someone else's world and eventually this world can become one.

Come Together
By Pojusolutions

Recently I was approached for an op-ed piece on the contemporary situation between African Americans and Latinos. And instinctively every nerve synapse in my mind ran rampant, hailing from the City of Angels there is a distinct tension between these two communities and the only dialog seems to be the exchange of bullet casings. But there is a very fine threshold when dealing with these immensely proud cultures, and I fear that my ideals might catalyze feelings of injustice, or bias. You see, when given this assignment I was told, "You'll be repping for African-Americans." Although most see me as simply an African American, truth be told I can just as easily be classified as Asian or "other." My intent is not to "rep" for any particular side, because devoid these "race" classifications we are simply just humans.

So disclaimer aside, what is the present state of relations between African Americans, and Latinos? There is none, and that is the unfortunate circumstance of the situation. Most African Americans that I know understand that there is a real presence within Latino gangs that are instigating violence on a racial level. Subsequently, African American gangs are retaliating in requisite force. Culturally, communities are not willing to accept outsiders. Stereotypes run as wild and as calculated as the intentional powers that be that breed animosity towards each other. This travesty isn't occurring on one side of the spectrum and that's the debacle, there is an equilibrium of ignorance.

Personally I condone neither sides, and I've seen both sides of the portrait. I know Brown soldiers that run with Avenues, and the Villa Boys. I also know Black warriors that step out with PDL, and Du-Rock and the truth is that they are both lost brothers, waging a war for their stolen heritage but against the wrong enemy. Africans Americans and Latinos alike have been pillaged by outsiders, had entire histories stolen, intellectual accomplishments marred and obscured. Millions of our ancestors subjected to similar atrocities, we both have suffered genocide and cultural declassification alike so why are we so bent on each others' destruction?

So much of our culture is regurgitated between us, from hip-hop, clothing, food, agriculture, architecture, religion, Cortezs, Chuck Taylors, Ben Davis, Jordans, slang, and I can continue on and on. So what is the answer? I say enculturation-a true understanding at a personal level, the experience of culture and the comprehension of our heritages and histories. We should always look to our forefathers for guidance and leadership. Our people have allied and respected each other from before Christopher Columbus touched America. We were once brothers divided by nothing but ocean, but now the ocean seems to be of our mind's ignorance--let us finally close this great divide.