Karen Ortiz was born and raised in the Bronx, New York to Dominican immigrant parents.  Growing up in an Hispanic community, Karen provides us with an intimate perspective on how Blackness works in the Latinx community.  Being mixed and Afro-latina herself, Karen has first hand accounts on how the Black identity is at times diluted or even totally erased from the Latinx identity.  This, in spite of the millions of Africans brought to Spanish colonies through the trans-Atlantic slave trade and the many Afro-Latino people who still exist and contribute to society today.  For Karen, she experienced anti-black sentiment in the form of subtle (and not so subtle) messages from her family to suppress the parts of her physical appearance that were undeniably Afro. In the community at large, intentional distancing or denial of Latin America’s Afro people and their influence can be seen in nearly all elements of the culture, from food, to music, to fashion.  In recent years, voices have been getting louder to reclaim Afro heritage in Latin America and celebrate the community’s Afro roots. Karen’s thoughts, perspective and intentional efforts to decolonize herself provide for an invaluable and riveting interview that I was honoured to record. Have a listen below.