West African+Arawakan/Carib Natives=Garifuna

Thanks so much for this documentary. It was so sad to see/feel the repression in Cuba, and I know that from my personal experience. I am a Afro-Cuban living in the US and it is hard for me, sometimes, to understand why people don’t see me as Cuban, Often people ask me where am I from, even the Cubans, ask me if I am Dominican, or Brazilian, or from Panama. Because, the majority of Cuban that migrated to the US (Miami) were mainly white. So, today I am dealing the is blindness for a second time in my life, Still needs to proof my identity. (smile)

I will show it to my Afro-Cuban-American son. Thanks

Being Belizean, I think that this documentary is great because i’ve come across a lot of people who don’t realize that there are Blacks in Central America. Infact in all countres except El Salvador, most of the blacks on the Caribbean Coast are English speaking. Officially Belize is an English speaking country so we do get exempt from a lot of the stats but most of us are Bilingual and have a proud Caribbean/ Latin American Heritage and can definitely relate to this program. Thanks for letting the world know about us Black people that exist in Latin America….

Thanks to my wonderful professor, Doctora Zobler, for recommending this video. It is very interesting.

Have not yet seen the series but will certainly purchase it. It is important that we become aware of all the countries throughout Latin America where black people live and know the conditions under which they live as well as the gains they have made in academia, law, politics , sports, religion and business.It is important that either Dr. gates or some other researcher expand this work so that we can gain a greater insight into the life and times of mblacks throughout Latin America. I believe the English Speaking caribbean [ The islands] have a lot to teach all of us. The importance of blacks in the USA leanring two other languages is also highlighted here: Spanish and Portugese. It is also critical that successful blacks in the USA reach out to blacks in latin America by investing and holidaying in these areas.

I found this episode extremely refreshing, I had no idea like most Mexicans how deep African culture has influenced Mexican cultured. I’ve always wondered what happened to the African population in Mexico as most people in Mexico claim to be mestizos (part Spanish and Indian). I find a lot of entries of blacks and mulatos in the old baptismal and marriage records from churches in “La Nueva España” as I research my genealogy in Mexico city. Personally I haven’t found any mulatos or blacks in my genealogy but I wouldnt be surprised if there were given the history of Mexico. However I do have extended family in Mexico that have some African features but as always they attribute it to an Indian ancestor. I think as Mexicans we should be proud to be all three races and cultures.

Hello to everyone,
How wonderful to finally have such investigative reports on the Black race, it’s various cultures and the Origin of slavery. I was born and reaized in the Republic of Panama, I’m proud to be panamanian but also proud to be black, i’m a Afro Latino. The cool thing is that i have been using this expresion long, long before learning about all this investigative documentary that the wonderful Dr Gates has brought to the public’s knodledge. It was simple to me, if i’m black, born in latin america then i’m Afro Latino. Is that so hard to understand?
Anyway, somuch i have learned about my race from these reports and somuch more i want to learn. In the pass it was difficult to find information about the black race and black history simply because there was not much of it written in books and what was writte then was left up to the writer to convey what he wanted rather than facts and this is why i love this DVD reporting that Profesor Gates and PBS have made because not only do you have the facts about the matter but you also have a visual, you see the places and the people and their opinions or comments. My black history for the longest was every thing i had manage to learn in the USA with the black’s strugle for equality.
I have read most of the comments made here and one thing stands out in my mind, no one, absolutely no one has said at any time that any of what Mr Gates reported is false, and that’s the beuty of this documentary.
Children should be thought this in elementary school all the way up to hight school and college. I most certainly wish i had it growing up, something to make me understand better where I actually came from, something to make me proud. Even has a teenager, I never called my self hispanic like I see somany of my freinds and family do, I knew something about me was different from my fellow white skinned class mate, could it be that my skin was somuch darker? lololol.
Some say they never felt the racial difference back in their native lands in latin america until they came to the US but that’s not true. We all felt it and seen it but the difference is that back in latin america it is almost look down on for soemone to treat a black person in a discriminative way, we inter mingle somuch more in our daily lives that it is kinda stupid to even want to act that way but do not think for a second that it is not there and their aren’t people who feel that because of their color they are better. Were do you think expressions like Chombo and calungo or other degreding words came about? Yeah they probably had a different meaning in the beginning but eventually became of a negative connotation just like the word Nigger in the US.
I’m a man of African descent, born in latin america, raized in a mostly hispanic culture with a touch of african roots(food, dance etc). When i look at myself in the mirror i see the black race and that’s the race i identify myself with. I suggest everyone to do the same. It does not mean you cannot identify with what little Indian, french, italian or whatever else you have in you, just accept maybe the fact that you’re of afro descent also. But if after looking at yourself you see any other race then by all means you should be free to call yourself of that race.

I am an African Latino From, Cuban, Puerto Rican, Dominican, and Mexican Decent and my sister Refers to her self as a Morenita or a “Mujer negro fuerte”