Last November, the Peruvian government issued an apology to Afro-Peruvians for a history of “abuse, exclusion and discrimination” spanning centuries. This announcement marked an important acknowledgement of past and current racially-motivated discrimination. But Afro-Peruvian activists and leaders, aware of the need for more concrete political and cultural changes, have pushed for more.
LUNDU, a MADRE partner and an organization of Afro-Peruvian youth combating racism and sexism, has launched a campaign for the addition of Afro-Peruvian identities in the national census. They have pointed to other policies in neighboring countries like Brazil and Colombia that provide space for the voices and leadership of women of African descent, and they have called for such inclusion in Peruvian policies.
The director of LUNDU, Mónica Carrillo, recently appeared on a web TV show to discuss the changes they are calling for. The video in Spanish is included below.
Regular readers of this blog may recall that Mónica appeared in one of myMADRE’s very first blog entries! She talked about the work of LUNDU and performed a spoken word piece.
To read more on LUNDU's blog (in Spanish), click here.
Posted by: |