So I am Afro Latina. Afro Latina means that I come from African distance, which means

that I am black. Without you having to see me, if I say I'm Afro Latina, you're all

already.

When the Dominican American singer Amara LaNegra was on the podcast, she called out anti-blackness

in the Latinx community.

I know that nobody wants to talk about it, but we suffer a lot of racism. We suffer a

lot of colorism amongst ourselves. It's just awful. Somebody, somebody needs to say

something like, are we just gonna keep hearing it and not do anything about it?

And one thing she added that really stuck with us was that as bad as it is here, she says

it's worse in Latin America. Amara used media representation to make her point.

Afro Latinos make up about 25% of Latin America as a whole, but Amara told us that being black

and trying to break into showbiz, there is so much harder than it is here in the states.

It's definitely worse. That's not even a question. That is the truth. Movies, novelas, soap

operas, magazine covers, commercials, whatever the case may be, you barely ever, ever see

people that look like myself.

You're listening to Coast Switch, I'm Jean Dambi.

And I'm sharing Marisol Maragi and on this episode, we've got a story that gets into what

Amara LaNegra was talking about about Afro Latino representation in Latin America.

Meet Soldado Mikota, about love it TV character in Colombia.

Soldado Mikota, Soldado Mikota, the radio.

He's a soldier, so that'll.

And he's a soldier because the military is a part of everyday Colombian life.

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