{"id":3698,"date":"2016-09-01T03:11:41","date_gmt":"2016-09-01T10:11:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movimientoafrolatino.org\/2016\/09\/01\/they-yelled-at-me-black\/"},"modified":"2024-06-28T14:19:53","modified_gmt":"2024-06-28T21:19:53","slug":"they-yelled-at-me-black","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movimientoafrolatino.org\/en\/2016\/09\/01\/they-yelled-at-me-black\/","title":{"rendered":"“They yelled at me black”"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"IMG_5204\"

Valentina Gonzalez (left), Milvia Pacheco (middle), and Dora Oliveira (right)<\/p><\/div>\n

M\u00c1S Executive Director M\u00f3nica Rojas-Stewart participated as one of the lead artists in La Cocina , an art space created by La Sala in which Latino artists from various disciplines “cooked” different projects together. La Cocina lasted the entire month of August at the Good Arts building on Pioneer Square. As part of the “menu” Rojas-Stewart presented “Me shouted black” , a poem originally by Victoria Santa Cruz, considered the mother of Afro-Peruvian theater and dance, in which processes of racial awareness, self-esteem and empowerment are explored. The \u201ccooks\u201d who supported Rojas’ piece were Fernando Luna (theater), Xavier L\u00f3pez (visual arts), Tony G\u00f3mez and Rebecca Garc\u00eda (Music).<\/p>\n

The final product was the result of a creative process between Rojas-Stewart and the dancers Milvia Pacheco (Venezuela), Dora Oliveira (Brazil) and Valentina Gonz\u00e1lez (Chile), who weaved their own life story with Santa Cruz’s poem and the told through poetry and movement. “At first, we focused on Victoria’s poem but very soon this process took on another life, the life of the dancers and their own empowering processes,” says Rojas-Stewart. “This experience once again proved the power of art to reflect…and heal.”<\/p>\n

The first part of Victoria’s poem recounts the moment when “some voices in the street called me black” and continues “Am I black, I told myself? What is it to be black?” Valentina Gonz\u00e1lez tells how when she immigrated to the United States, people began to assume things about her and “label” her. It is there that for the first time she begins to question aspects of her identity. “Latina!” “are you illegal?” “You have passport?” “Do you clean houses?” Valentina shares “they once called me ‘Mercedes!’ That’s not my name”.
\n<\/em>
\nThe poem then recounts a stage of denial and then rebellion in which she decides not to let them humiliate her “So what? So what? Black, yes, black I am, black, black, black I am.” Dora Oliveira shared anecdotes about the humiliation she experienced due to certain physical characteristics, her struggle to study ballet at the University of Bahia in Brazil, the rejection by her teacher, and how she finished her studies despite the obstacles. She did it to show the world that “I can dance like you… and I can dance like me… because I carry the power of my ancestors… because I carry the heritage of my family. I’m black.”
\nFrom this stage of rebellion, Victoria Santa Cruz reaches her empowerment and ends her poem by saying “I finally understood, I no longer go back, I move forward confidently, I move forward and I hope…I already have the key!” Milvia Pacheco wrote<\/p>\n

“dance, dance that drum with love and reflection,<\/p>\n

raise your eyes to the sound and reveal the smile of your danz\u00f3n.<\/p>\n

You already have the key to your freedom,<\/p>\n

and you have found it with your awakening.<\/p>\n

That the feet do not tremble with fear<\/p>\n

dancing to the rhythm of dignity<\/p>\n

that inheritance calls and claims<\/p>\n

a just action to achieve equality<\/p>\n

Black, black, black wake up!”
\nBelow we share the poem by Victoria Santa Cruz.<\/p>\n

“They yelled at me black” (poem by Victoria Santa Cruz)<\/strong><\/p>\n

I was only seven years old
\njust seven years
\nWhat seven years!
\nIt wasn’t even five!
\nSuddenly some voices in the street
\nThey yelled at me black!<\/p>\n

black! black! black! black!
\nblack! black! black!<\/p>\n

“Am I black?” I said to myself.
\nYES!
\n“What is it to be black?”
\nblack!
\nI did not know the sad truth that it hid.
\nblack!
\nAnd I felt black
\nblack!
\nas they said
\nblack!
\nand backed up
\nblack!
\nas they wanted
\nblack!
\nAnd I hate my hair and my thick lips
\nand look sadly at my roasted meat
\nand backed up
\nblack!
\nAnd I backed off. . .
\nblack! black! black! black!
\nblack! black! Neeegra!
\nblack! black! black! black!
\nblack! black! black! black!<\/p>\n

And time passed
\nand always bitter
\nI kept carrying my back
\nmy heavy load
\nAnd how heavy!…<\/p>\n

I straightened my hair,
\npowder my face,
\nand between my entrails the same word always resonated<\/p>\n

black! black! black! black!
\nblack! black! Neeegra!<\/p>\n

Until one day when I went back, I went back and what was going to fall
\nblack! black! black! black!
\nblack! black! black! black!
\nblack! black! black! black!
\nblack! black! black!<\/p>\n

And?
\nAnd?
\nblack!
\nYes
\nblack!
\nAm
\nblack!
\nblack
\nblack!
\nI am black
\nblack!
\nYes
\nblack!
\nAm
\nblack!
\nblack
\nblack!
\nI am black<\/p>\n

From now on I don’t want
\nstraighten my hair
\nI do not want to
\nAnd I’m going to laugh at those,
\nthat to avoid -according to them-
\nthat to avoid us some disappointment
\nThey call blacks people of color
\nAnd what color!
\nBLACK
\nAnd how nice it sounds!
\nBLACK
\nAnd what rhythm does it have?
\nBLACK BLACK BLACK BLACK
\nBLACK BLACK BLACK BLACK
\nBLACK BLACK BLACK BLACK
\nBLACK BLACK BLACK<\/p>\n

Finally
\nI finally understood
\nFINALLY
\nI don’t go back anymore
\nFINALLY
\nAnd I move forward safely
\nFINALLY
\nI advance and wait
\nFINALLY
\nAnd I bless the sky because God wanted
\nthat jet black was my color
\nAnd I already understood
\nFINALLY
\nI already have the key!<\/p>\n

BLACK BLACK BLACK BLACK
\nBLACK BLACK BLACK BLACK
\nBLACK BLACK BLACK BLACK
\nBLACK BLACK<\/p>\n

I am black<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

M\u00c1S Executive Director M\u00f3nica Rojas-Stewart participated as one of the lead artists in La Cocina , an art space created by La Sala in which Latino artists from various disciplines “cooked” different projects together. La Cocina lasted the entire month of August at the Good Arts building on Pioneer Square. As part of the “menu” […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3174,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[109,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mas","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movimientoafrolatino.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movimientoafrolatino.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movimientoafrolatino.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movimientoafrolatino.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movimientoafrolatino.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3698"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movimientoafrolatino.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3698\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7736,"href":"https:\/\/movimientoafrolatino.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3698\/revisions\/7736"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movimientoafrolatino.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movimientoafrolatino.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movimientoafrolatino.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movimientoafrolatino.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}