This Latinx Heritage Month we are highlighting movement leaders and organizations working to challenge latinidad by organizing racial affinity group spaces. Organizing along racial affinity groups allows us to move beyond the limits of Latinidad which centers white and lighter skin folks. When we organize in more racially and geographically specific spaces, our movements can be stronger by centering the needs of those most impacted by harmful systems of oppression. Check out these amazing collectives and groups – make sure to follow and support their work!
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- Kilomba Collective is a collective dedicated to centering the perspective and realities of Black Brazilian people, especially Black women and girls in their multiple identities, in the international scenario, connecting with other Black women’s movements in the African Diaspora. We do so by developing advocacy, capacity building, and international solidarity strategies on issues around social justice, gender equality, and human rights.
- Centro de Mujeres Afro Costarricense (Asociación para el Desarrollo de las Mujeres Negras Costarricenses) Association for the Development of Black Costa Rican Women, better known as the Afro-Costa Rican Women’s Center works on issues related to gender, political participation and race. It was founded in 1992 and is made up of leaders, professionals and grassroots women in various fields, in charge of encouraging fair development initiatives that seek to eliminate all forms of discrimination, especially Ethnic and Gender Discrimination.
- Jumko Ogata is a fourth-generation Nikkei from Veracruz, is currently working toward a degree in Latin American Studies at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. Her research focus is Japanese immigration to Veracruz, as well as identity and biocultural diversity. Jumko is also the host of Yo Soy Negra, a podcast creating a space to talk about black people of African descent in Mexico in all its complexity; share the variety of experiences of the community and seek to leave behind the idea of blackness as a homogeneous experience or monolith. The voices of black people in Mexico or migrants who have arrived or left the country are prioritized.
- MILPA Collective (MILPA) is, first and foremost, a movement space designed for, and led by, formerly incarcerated and system-impacted individuals. We are committed to supporting next-generation infrastructure and leadership within communities, organizations, and systems. We center cultural healing, racial equity and LOVE in our practices and advocacy.
- Junta de Prietas is a Decolonial Antiracist Feminist Collective based in Dominican Republic of black women, brown women, from the countryside and the city, from marginalized neighborhoods and from the edges of the city, who believe in a transformative political project on the island that questions all racist, sexist and classists of our society.
- Red de Jóvenes Indígenas LAC / LAC Indigenous Youth Network is a regional platform of indigenous youth organizations, indigenous organizations with focal points for youth issues, and indigenous youth leaders. Our objectives are to promote, protect and defend the rights of indigenous youth.
- Black Indigenous Liberation or BILM is a movement composed of grassroots communities, organizations and social movements of Abya-Yala (America).
