this-is-not-taino:reclaimingthelatinatag:Mural “Tres Razas y Una Cultura” located in San Germán, Pu
this-is-not-taino:reclaimingthelatinatag:Mural “Tres Razas y Una Cultura” located in San Germán, Puerto Rico (via ganjarasta/misformisandry)Why would you reblog this garbage when the hegemonic narrative on the island is that everyone is “mixed” when that’s not the case? And even when it’s so, it’s distant to the point of irrelevance. This image reiterates what mainstream Puerto Rican thought maintains: that the Native has disappeared and that Black people are a(n ugly) thing of the past like slavery (see common statements about “mejorando la raza”, etc). Look how the other women’s faces are put in the back, to serve as a foundation left behind by the emerging white woman’s face. The idea of this racial hegemony and modernity through intermarriage is lightness, whiteness, European cultural heritage. Then white Puerto Ricans make claims to the land and deny anti-Blackness, despite continuing violence and erasure/revisionism.A very popular example is how non-Black Puerto Ricans feel comfortable in claiming the island’s Black culture as their own: mainly because the island’s European/white cultural heritage is overwhelmingly a void aside from language, religion, and racism.The reality is there are people of many races on the island, multiracial as well, and we did/do not serve as fodder/building material for a so-called culture that excludes us. Moreover, there are clearly multiple cultures on the island. Black/Afro-Rican culture is distinct (in a large part due to the segregation, isolation, and impoverishment impressed upon them by the rest of the island) and their dance, songs, and other cultural practices and LIVES are not anymore yours to claim than our own. -- source link