Kicking off Hispanic Heritage Month, the Latina Expo took place on September 13th-14th in Chicago. This year, the expo featured a panel dedicated to amplifying the Afro-Latina voice, titled #Iamenough: Afro-Latinas Celebrating Identity, History, and Representation.
The panel featured influential Chicago-based Afro-Latinas who are driving change in their respective fields. Led by Sol Flores of Knight Impact Partners, the panel included notable guests such as actress and playwriter Melissa Duprey, Maria Drell, founder and president of the Brazilian Cultural Center of Chicago, actress and filmmaker NK Knight Gutierrez, and journalist Katherine Tinsley.
Transparency was palpable during this panel, where the women shared their experiences with colorism amongst the Latinx community and their struggles to have their voices heard in Hollywood. The ladies spoke on holding space at the table and how they have been able to create opportunities for women of color in the stories they tell while being unapologetically themselves.
“We have to start thinking about the spaces where we can build from the ground up because if you’re trying to put a Black and Brown narrative within the existing model it’s not going to be authentic and it’s not going to have the same outcomes. I don’t wait for anyone to give me the space time or stage, I think that what I will have to do is make the space myself” Melissa Dupree on representation in Hollywood.
As conversations about inclusivity unfold on larger platforms, the focus often centers on the inclusion of Latinos, while the broader Latinx community tends to overlook the challenges faced by all its members. There are roughly 6 million Afro-Latinos of the Latinx community in America, yet their opportunities are often limited, and their voices frequently misrepresented. What do you do when inclusivity doesn’t encompass your experiences? You take action and become the change you wish to see. “
“This panel is important because even within our global majority population we are still marginalized within our communities. Not believed, not heard and not visible. So, my job in this world as an Afro-Latina is to be as loud as I fuckin can” says Dupree.
The dialogue focused on the Afro-Latina experience while also serving as an opportunity to educate each other about breaking the cycles of anti-blackness that many in the Latinx community benefit from. NK Gutierrez Knight shares her experiences with XL Film Festival, a Black-owned film festival aimed at fostering connections within the diaspora.
“You can think you’re doing the upright thing do to and be completely missing the mark. For XL Film Festival specifically, I was like I can’t be the only voice in the room. My Black experience is not everyone else’s Black experience. We can look exactly alike and have very different experiences. Within my Latinidad I know that my story is different than someone sitting next to me. So, it’s so important to have different voices within the room.”
A special thank you to the Latina Expo Chicago for organizing a panel dedicated to Afro-Latinidad, which fosters dialogue and creates a space for Afro-Latinas to unite and share their experiences. For more info on next year’s Latina Expo Chicago log onto chicagolatinaexpo.com
