It all started about four years ago. I had moved out of New York, and relocated to the south (Richmond, VA to be specific). I had a profile on a particular social networking site (MySpace), and I used to post blogs there. Apparently, my blogs caught the eyes of one of the people that I befriended on the site. I was contacted by one of the co-creators of an (now defunct) e-magazine called Blacktino.net. They had approached me to be a Contributing Writer for their site, so that they can add some original content.
Initially...I balked. I told them 'no'.
I don't do journalism. That bored me. I liked to read it; it's quite informative. But as far as actually writing it...? Nah. Plus, I had no practical experience writing journalism, save one class that I took in college (for credit).
Luckily...they were persistent. They made a compelling offer, so I bit. I decided to write for them. I wrote a particular article, and forwarded it to them.
It ended up being posted on their proverbial front page. I stuck with them after that.
Time went by, and a few more articles were written, and I was inspired to write a particular article series that put us BOTH on the map. The series was called "Black vs. Brown"; it ended up being an eight-part series. It spoke on the 'supposed' schism between the Black and Latino communities, and put that 'supposed' conflict in it's proper historical perspective. Basically...we were never enemies to begin with, and the whole beef between the two is utter bullshit. That particular series was inspired by an article that I had read in a local Black newspaper (Richmond Voice) about the impact of illegal immigration on the Black community. The article itself started off pretty good...then it devolved into utter bullshit and ignorance, basically blaming Latinos for the current plight of the African American community.
??????????
Okay...so, Joe Bob and Billy Ray have been fucking you over ever since before this country was even a country, but you want to lay the blame on Jose and Miguel who just got here six months ago?!?!?!?
Anyway.....
That lead to my second article series. That one is titled "Black Thoughts: A Political Ideological Perspective for Afro Latinos". That particular series was (at the time) a seven-part article series dedicated to explaining why Latinos of African descent should embrace the ideology of Pan Africanism/Black Nationalism. Alas...only the first three articles of that series was published/posted by Blacktino.net.
We had a falling out. It was very negative.
They were bullshit artists. Fuck 'em. One thing that I stated in that series (and subsequently in the book) was that most Afro Latino media is produced by three main types of people; activists, academics/scholars, and journalists. The people at Blacktino were none-of-the-above. They were business people; they were out to make the best business decision available. And the best business decision...? NOT always the right moral decision....
They did some real gutter shit that pissed off A LOT of people. The site soon went kaput after that. I just continued to write the remaining articles, and posting them elsewhere, helped by a number of friends that I had made while writing both series. The last article in that series was written in 2008.
Fast forward..
It was always in the back of my mind to eventually turn both series into a book. They both a got A LOT of feedback on the web; image what they could do in book form? Let's face it...the "digital divide" isn't a myth; it exists, and it exists in our communities (Black AND Latino). There were/are a lot of people who were unaware of both the two article series, and the website. Better to put them in book form, and make them readily available to the masses. Because of my advocacy for the literary arts, I learned a bit about the publishing industry (specifically independent self-publishing). I contacted a few POD publishers, put together my manuscript, and sent it off to the publisher I finally decided on.
By the end of this month, Book #2 should be dropping. This one is titled "Raise Your Brown Black Fist 2: MORE Political Shouts of an Angry Afro Latino". With that one, I've expanded the "Black Thoughts" article series into one complete volume. I'm going with a different POD publisher this time around. My old one fucked up; it's their loss.
So, there you have it; the genesis of the Brown Black Fist.
Keep the Fist raised!!!!!
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