These Afro-Latino Visionaries Are Changing Society Right As We Speak
People of color have always been the ones to push culture forward. Whether it is creating societal change or using art to create conversations, people of color draw from their own experiences to change society. During times of strife and tension, art flows and activism flourishes. Leaders are made and elevated during times of social unrest, and our current social unrest is surfacing new people. Here are a few Afro-Latino artists, activists, and politicians rising to the moment.
Representative Maxwell Frost – politician
Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla. 10th) has been a vocal member of Congress fighting back for the people he represents. Rep. Frost was encouraged to get into politics to create change because of the growing gun violence epidemic. At 15, he watched as students at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, fled for their lives. Four years later, Rep. Frost was at a Halloween celebration in downtown Orlando when an argument escalated to gunfire. He was forced to flee for his life.
Rep. Frost dropped out of college and started work as an organizer and activist. He was an organizer for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and worked in support of Florida’s 2018 4th Amendment. The amendment restored voting rights for people with felonies. Rep. Frost was a national organizer for March for Our Lives. He announced his candidacy for the House of Representatives in August 2021. He won the election and was later re-elected, allowing him to continue representing his constituents in Congress.
Elizabeth Acevedo – author
Elizabeth Acevedo has been educating and writing for well over a decade. She has used her talents and eye-opening perspective to change the culture and steer conversations. She reached a new level of acclaim when she released “Poet X” in 2018. The novel follows a Dominican-American teenager in New York as she navigates her first love and family expectations. All of this happens while she discovers slam poetry.
Acevedo has continued to write and educate with her latest novel being a debut into adult fiction. “Family Lore” dives into the lives of four Dominican-American sisters leading up to a living wake. The story jumps between events in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and New York, capturing the Afro-Latino experience.
Ramon Contreras – activist
Ramon Contreras is another person who wants to eliminate gun violence against innocent people. Moved by the continued gun violence epidemic, Contreras founded Youth Over Guns. The organization frames gun violence in the United States as both a public health crisis and a structural issue. Gun violence disproportionately impacts marginalized communities, and Youth Over Guns wants to amplify voices and stories to foster advocacy.
Indya Moore – LGBTQ+ activist
Indya Moore rose to fame as Angel Evangelista in the FX original series “Pose.” The trans actor has used her voice and her platform to unapologetically advocate for the LGBTQ+ community. As a member of the Afro-Latino community, Moore’s perspective is dictated by her own experiences with racism, transphobia, and misogyny. The intersectionality of her advocacy pushes forward the work needed to transform the world we live in.
The Afro-Latino community is growing
According to the Pew Research Center, the Afro-Latino community is the fastest-growing group in the US. The research shows that about 6 million people in the US identify as Afro-Latino, about 2 percent. Furthermore, the number represents 12 percent of Latino adults in the country. The Latino population is no stranger to intersectionality when fighting for rights. The Latino population touches all other identities, races, religious beliefs, and political affiliations.
