CCCADI Makes Diasporic Connections Through the SOMOS Conference in Puerto Rico
Connecting the African Diaspora and engaging in exchange is an important part of creating unity and solidarity to achieve cultural equity for African descendants. The invitation to collaborate on the November 2021 SOMOS, Inc. conference in Puerto Rico provided CCCADI with an opportunity to make such connections.
SOMOS, Inc. is a nonprofit organization committed to uniting the Latino community and raising awareness, advocating and elevating social consciousness on public policy in collaboration with the New York State Assembly/Senate Puerto Rican & Hispanic Task Force; and to ensuring the upward mobility of Latino youth through educational empowerment, mentoring programs and scholarships. Annually, SOMOS, Inc. organizes conferences to bring together legislators, scholars, business and labor leaders to address concerns pertinent to the Latino community. Understanding the importance of maintaining open lines of communication with our local leaders to ensure the needs of our Diasporic community are vocalized and heard, CCCADI has built and maintained a relationship with SOMOS, Inc. over the years.
CCCADI Executive Director Melody Capote greets Day of Service attendees at La Goyco.
Invited to collaborate on the Day of Service for the November Puerto Rico conference, CCCADI worked with conference organizers to map out a Day of Service for attendees that would serve and honor two of Puerto Rico’s Black communities, Santurce and Piñones. The Day of Service was broken up into two service sites, one at Taller Comunidad La Goyco Centro Cultural Comunitario (La Goyco) in Santurce, which would be a “labor of the mind” as local historian Lester Nurse Allende explained it, and the other served Piñones Aprende y Emprende (PAYE) in Piñones through physical labor.
The Day of Service led to invaluable exchange between the community of attendees, largely Brown and Black, who traveled to the island and those on the ground who are serving their communities.
Lester Nurse Allende, Santurce Historian.
Lester Nurse Allende, Santurce Historian shares local history with attendees.
Many people who visit the town of Santurce do not know its origins as being founded by a Black community, before slavery was even abolished, and its original name, San Mateo de Cangrejos. On a hot day in the courtyard of La Goyco, Lester Nurse asked participants to work their minds, as he shared the history of the town and of the Black families that settled there. He educated them on the contributions made by generations of Cangrejeros, as town natives refer to themselves, to protect the land from various invasions and on the disenfranchisement the town’s people have had to endure, even today as gentrification threatens to displace the community.
The message to conference attendees was clear, if you want to serve communities in Puerto Rico, you need to learn and listen to the people and support grassroots initiatives like La Goyco. Residing in a historic school building that was closed, La Goyco is making a statement in a town that runs the risk of seeing such buildings converted into luxury hotels. This space ensures the community has access to art, culture, and resources: an act of resistance. Attendees wrapped up their day at La Goyco with a tour and an opportunity to engage and support some of the local artists.
While service at La Goyco was a labor of the mind, just a few miles away a separate group of conference attendees engaged in physical labor, helping to restore another closed school that has been taken over by locals to provide resources for the community in Piñones. Knowing well that when resources are limited, Black communities like Piñones suffer scarcity the most, it was important for CCCADI to connect SOMOS with PAYE.
PAYE is dedicated to serving the youth of Piñones through tutoring, educational workshops and experiences that cultivate a strong sense of identity. However, the space they seek to operate out of is in dire need of physical restoration. With hundreds of hands on deck, the SOMOS conference had the people to provide some of the work that was needed. To show the value of maintaining space for art, culture and education, the day of service at PAYE wrapped up with a demonstration of Afro Puerto Rican Bomba dance and music by local artists.
Conference attendee receives a Bomba dance introduction from local artist.
Local artists share Bomba with Day of Service attendees in Piñones.
Both organizations, La Goyco and PAYE each received a donation of $6000 from SOMOS, Inc. in support of the work they do for the community.
The final CCCADI contribution to the SOMOS conference was to connect the organization with Defend PR who hosted a film screening of “The War Against Our Schools” followed by a panel discussion. The film and discussion provided the context necessary to understand the damaging effects of the Department of Education’s closing of 500+ public schools and why community leaders throughout Puerto Rico, like those of La Goyco and PAYE, are making it a priority to reclaim these spaces.
Michael Cordero introduces film to conference attendees.
Panel discussion after “The War Against Our Schools” screening.
For CCCADI, this is the value of connecting the Diaspora and creating an opportunity to support grassroots organizers who, day in and day out, take a stance for their community’s wellbeing against a system of disenfranchisement. This is the work of advocacy. This is how cultural equity, racial and social justice for African descendants advances.