The Black Latina Movement was invited to speak and give a screening of the film “Memoirs of a Black Latina” at The Pan African Women’s Action Summit August 2011.
Check out CEO Crystal S. Roman’s speech…
2011 PAWAS Thursday Afternoon Plenary from African Women’s Devt Fund USA on Vimeo.
read more about The Black Latina Movement’s role at the summit here…
So we are proud to announce that coming this Winter our Off-Broadway hit play The Colors of Love will debut as a TV Series on a select number of NYC cable channels, including MNN (Manhattan Neighborhood Network).
In addition to its network debut The Colors of Love will be streamed online for viewing both domestically and abroad. Since the show’s initial run the writers of the Movement have been working day and night to create a series that is actually the prequel to the play. Unlike most shows this series will go back in time and chronicle each couple both prior to their meeting and of course the beginning of their relationships.
We are teaming up with several other people and production companies that will really take the piece to the next level. What’s even more unique is the final episode of the series will lead into the play and The Colors of love will return Off-Broadway to captivate its audience’s attention in a multi-media fashion come spring 2012.
The Movement continues to move!
Is it considered acceptable to condone a behavior as long as you are not the one that is the actual perpetrator??
So many instances come to mind when I think about this.
Originally the thought came to mind when I was I thinking about society as a whole and where we stand in comparison. When do we hold ourselves accountable for the way our neighborhoods are run, or do we find it easier to just throw our hands up carelessly?
The notion that most residents in many of these neighborhoods are not permanent could be a contributing factor; or more importantly that in low income, lower middle class parts of the city the residents have no control over what is put in their neighborhoods to begin with. For many of us it’s just that we don’t care enough to put the wheels in motion to start the change. We actually take advantage of the late night craving for greasy Chinese food, or a bottle of something from the corner liquor store. Now don’t get me wrong, I am all for supporting local businesses that will flourish and make our communities better. In this case maybe the Laundromat is the least harmful, but one on every other block may be a bit much.
Frustrated yet again in a Black and Hispanic neighborhood (that is now sprinkled with a few white people, but that’s another story). There I stand in the corner bodega; I asked the man stocking shelves for something in Spanish and he directs me to the front counter.
About 5 minutes later I return, again dealing with the attitude of the “I hate my life, or hate my job, or I simply hate any non-Spanish speaking person” man behind the counter. I explain to him that I needed to change the expired can he sold me. With no apology at all he hands me another can, expired, I hand it back and then another….expired…. I hand it back. And then he hands me my money. Nothing said.
When he returns with my new can the man behind the counter rings me up and smiles, saying “I didn’t know you were Latina”.
So a Black girlfriend (I say her race for a reason) of mine and I were hanging out along with the President of the Movement and we were having “girl talk”.
Frustrated yet again in a Black and Hispanic neighborhood (that is now sprinkled with a few white people, but that’s another story). There I stand in the corner bodega; I asked the man stocking shelves for something in Spanish and he directs me to the front counter.
Please excuse our appearance as our talented designer gives us a much needed face-lift.
In the mean time please check us out on twitter ; facebook and tumblr
thanks! 
Recently I met someone who unbeknownst to me was a Black Latino but only claimed to only be Black because the relationship they had with their Latino parent was tumultuous, therefore they did not associate themselves with the culture.
I thought what the heck does the culture and ethnicity have to do with the parent. Yes I understand it may be a constant reminder of that parent and whatever was wrong between them but how can you deny your genealogy. My great grandmother (the original black Latina in my family) use to say “el sangre sabes” meaning the blood knows. Referring to it being so embedded in your mind, body and soul that it would just come to you. You would automatically enjoy the food, dance to the rhythms and so on.
Now this isn’t the first time I have experienced this. I know of a few people that have denounced a race/ethnicity due to an experience with their parents and upbringing. But I can’t help but wonder if there was an opportunity for advancement at a career would they then accept the race/ethnicity selfishly for the betterment of themselves and take advantage of it to their convenience.
Why do we refer to eachother a colors?
Were we raised that way, did our parents refer to others the same way?
And how will we teach our children, is this right or wrong?
I sat on the infamous NYC subway the other day and watched two Latinas talk, proudly they spoke bits of spanish but mainly english which lead me to believe they were a later generation. They were young, couldn’t have been no more than 23yrs old. They talked about men or are they still called boys @ that age?..anyhow there was one thing in particular that made me think about this color war.
When referring to their black friend they said he’s cute for a moreno ( translation he’s cute for a black
guy).Now I by no means want to single these latinas out but what did they mean for a black guy. The term moreno is a whole different topic, but since when did black suddenly become the ugly yet again.
I know we refer to other races as colors i.e. White ppl, but this was very interesting to hear on so many levels.
We have been honored at the Movement be showcased at the Pan-African Women’s Action Summit
Conference in Minn. Minesota August 10-11. On the 10th our film Memoirs of a Black Latina be screened with a panelist discussion and on the 11th we will be Keynote Speakers to young women within the ages of 21-35.
I must say when we started the company we knew it was a social and to certain extents a political statement. But in essence all we wanted was for the media to acknowledge Black Latinas. As actresses we tackled the entertainment industry and created production companies. But now it is taking a different turn which I
guess sub-conciously we knew the power and impact this was going to have. We did the film Memoirs of a Black Latina to showcase beautiful Black Latinas and show the world we do exist but also tell our stories. We never knew it was going to be used as an educational piece one that would be used at topics of
discussion in conferences.
We are so honored and taken back by that.
Although we are blown away we are tremendously humbled, switching gears and broadening our mentality as to how far and big we can take this. We welcome it… Thank you!
