(Image: Elayne Fluker/ChicRebellion.tv)
It’s been nearly a week since the article on Ain’t I Latina? dropped and I’m still somewhat speechless. As many of you know, I started this blog because I was fed up of not seeing women that looked like me (my whole life) and identified the way I do in today’s media. While I figured one or two women like me would resonate with the message and content, I had no idea the impact Ain’t I Latina? would have on myself, but, most importantly, you. If I can make one Afro-Latina, Blatina, Latinegra or however you choose to identify feel embraced and celebrated, I’m fulfilled.
So when Cosmo for Latinas reached out about doing an article on this here blog, I was A) shocked and B) close to tears. (Yes, I’m low-key emo when it comes to these things.) I started this blog because such sites don’t typically feature women who are Latina and Black. Now, they reached out and I was so surprised. I guess, I say all of this to say I’m extremely humbled and thankful. With that being said, below is part of the interview:
When Honduran-American Janel Martinez was growing up, she didn’t see people who looked like her in the media. Whether flipping through ABC or Univision, the Bronx native and Afro-Latina became frustrated with the lack of diversity she kept seeing on her screen. So at 24 years old, Martinez, a tech journalist, started Aint I Latina?, a popular blog where women like her can celebrate their identities. Martinez talked to Cosmopolitan.com about diversity in the media, what being Afro-Latina means to her, and what it feels like to be the only woman in a room of full of tech reporters.
You describe your site as a site for Afro-Latinas by Afro-Latinas that came about when you realized you didn’t see yourself in the media. Do you think things are changing at all?
I do think things are changing. Are they changing fast enough? No. But I am happy to see some change. Flipping through the channels and stopping on Telemundo or Univision, or picking up Latina, as a young girl and teen, I didn’t see women who looked like me. Now we’re seeing one or two brown/tan/black faces on the screen like anchor Ilia Calderon, or on ABC 7 Carolina Leid, or Reagan Gomez, who was on Parenthood back in the day, with her web series Almost Home. I can now pick upLatina as well as Cosmo for Latinas and see Zoe Saldana, LaLa Vasquez Anthony, or Rosario Dawson. That’s great, but I’d like to see some diversity within even that image of the cover girl, and see more everyday women, career women, or game-changers. I’m not sure if we’ll ever see that shift in traditional media, but we are 100 percent seeing that shift in new media. There are so many Afro-descendants/Afro-Latinas online that are celebrating our beauty, identity, and Latino culture.
