Black Latin Americans want to be counted

Afro-Latinos from several countries gather here

Meeting on censuses' racial data
by Katie Zien

With six months remaining before Panama's new census is taken on May 16, 2010, concerns about the survey's collection of data on racial identity have motivated local and international leaders to pool intellectual resources in developing a national public information campaign. Over the first two days in December, representatives from civil rights groups across Latin America gathered in Panama City, stressing the need for coordinated efforts to train census-takers and educate the public about the potential impacts of the census's new questions on racial heritage and identity. While civil rights groups recognize the profound policy effects that the collection of racial data could elicit in Panama --- foreshadowed by the experiences of 11 Latin American countries currently documenting racially-linked demographics --- leaders also view the occasion as an long-awaited opportunity to raise public awareness of racial identity politics and revalue the labels "negro/a" and "afrodescendiente" (Afro-descendant).

Racial equity activists from locations including Uruguay, Ecuador, Argentina, and Panama met at the UN's Ciudad de Saber campus for an exclusive two-day round table titled "Rights of the Afro-Descendant Population in Latin America: Challenges of Implementation," followed by a public forum at the Hotel Roma in Panama City. The UN meeting commemorated the international observance of the abolition of slavery, and participants' comments were also influenced by 2001 and 2009 UN resolutions against racism at conferences in Durban, South Africa.

At the Hotel Roma information session, participants cited groundbreaking precedents for a racial census in Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, and the United States and called for an efficient program of 20- to 30-minute briefings for the 110,000 census-takers who will be implementing Panama's survey. The session's featured speaker, Costa Rican vice-presidential candidate and economist Epsy Campbell-Barr, stressed that the first steps were to find out "dónde estamos, cuántos somos, y cómo estamos," so that this data could be related to factors such as poverty, resource allocation, and political representation. Other panelists included: Armando Nuñez, assistant to the director of the Panamanian government's consorium on black ethnicity; Enrique Sánchez, Panama Canal engineer and president of the non-governmental Council on Black Ethnicity; Eunice Meneses Araúz, National Coordinator of Panamanian Black Organizations; Beatríz Ramírez Abella, director of Office for Afro-Descendant Women in Uruguay; Sonia Viveros, director of Fundacion Afroecuatoriana AZUCAR (Ecuador); and Elida Obella, representative of the Afro-descendant Advisory Council for the National Institute Against Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Racism (INADI) in Argentina. Ricardo Mejía, director of Panama's National Institute for Women, was also present.

The speakers described their experiences implementing a racial census and listed important outcomes of the survey. The overarching message communicated was that before policy changes could be enacted, civil society had to be reoriented to the history of racial discrimination, supplanting centuries of shame with pride in African heritage, so that demands for civil rights reform would be fostered among constituencies in Panama.

Precedents and goals

In 2010, 13 countries will feature questions about racial heritage and self-identification on their censuses. Precedents for identity-linked surveys include the collection of data on self-described indigenous communities for land and other rights, as well as effective civil rights movements in Brazil and the United States.

Campbell-Barr noted that after including similar questions in 11 other Latin American countries' surveys, governments revealed a transnational community numbering over 150 million Latin Americans of African descent. In 2000, eight national censuses, including that of Costa Rica, asked racial questions, and yet underrepresentation was palpable, leading to a renewal of efforts to improve the census as a data-collecting tool.

In Panama, perhaps more than other locales, terminology remains at issue: in focus groups with Panamanian adults and children in Panama, census organizers found that younger generations did not find the term "afrodescendiente" particularly problematic, while older respondents were often stymied over issues of differences within Panama's population of African descent, primarily by the designations afroantillano and afrocolonial. Given this resistance, the participants suggested that they should follow the "Durban model," noting that those who had participated in Durban arrived as blacks from different places and returned to their respective nations a more unified body of Afro-descendants.

Meneses advised that reportage would be emerging on the educational campaign, including a publication forthcoming in January to shed light on different countries' respective experiences of implementing the census. Meneses also stated that over December 10-11, leaders would be meeting with schools and churches in Colon to publicize the census's challenges, followed by meetings in Darien province.

Sources of resistance

In every country in which a racial census has been developed, census workers have met with arguments against it: In Costa Rica, commentators have decried attempts to "blacken" the so-called "Switzerland of Central America." Obella recounted an experience that she had when visiting with feminists in Chile, in which the leader of a women's organization argued that Afro-Chileans did not exist, and any advocacy that she did for a racial census would be dismissed. Many panelists mentioned the common criticism throughout Latin America that the census was needlessly inciting trouble over what was essentially a non-issue --- the presence of race in a "mestizo" (or "mixed" --- the Latin American equivalent of "post-racial") nation. This "racial democracy" or "racial utopia" argument --- namely, that race does not exist in Latin America --- has an entrenched history in the intellectual traditions of many Latin American nations, and it is a primary obstacle to anti-racist policies and civil rights throughout the region.

Funding shortfalls remain another stumbling-block. Eunice Meneses noted that the Panamanian Comptroller General's office did not allocate any funding for an outreach program to educate census employees and publics, although UNICEF has agreed to dedicate funding to the program.

Although participants recognized that challenges to the census would be legion, they concurred that Afro-descendant Panamanians must put aside doubts about the census's efficacy and take the first step toward visibility, political inclusion, and full citizenship.

Individual testimonials

Speaking in the case of Uruguay, Beatríz Ramírez noted a variety of ways that the census data had been mapped geographically and in terms of population density, health, gender, and employment. Ramírez stated, for example, that the census had revealed Afro-descendant Uruguayans to be virtually invisible in her nation-state because they were concentrated in small towns on the nation's economic and geographic peripheries --- areas not often visited or graced with infrastructural support. Sonia Viveros observed that data collection in Ecuador had proceeded surprisingly smoothly, accounting for 11 percent of the national population of African descent, a substantial increase from the 3 percent initially reported. Viveros offered examples of the political and technical components of the surveying process and stated that populations under survey were occasionally skeptical of racial inquiries, asking whether outside organizations would use data gathered to penalize them. Foreseeing these questions, the census-takers had scripted responses to these inquiries, which aided the process substantially. For Viveros, the fact that substantially more Ecuadorians of African descent were recorded than percentages projected by government was a major boon, as, she reminded the audience, there was power in numbers.

Elida Obella began her comments on Argentina's civil rights process by joking, "You know, there are no afrodescendientes in Argentina." Although this comment produced a chuckle, Obella noted that she was making reference to the actual statements of past president Domingo Sarmiento, who had enacted an aggressive campaign to whiten the Argentine nation-state during the nineteenth century, emanations of which still linger in the public's attitudes toward racial "others." Obella highlighted her organization's efforts to make cities "free of discrimination" by hiring lawyers to represent victims of racial prejudice, a successful campaign that has won the backing of the national government. She also pointed out that public elementary and high schools now teach the history of Afro-descendants in Argentina. A self-described afrocolonial, Obella concluded her notes with the statement that "blacks like me are many, compañeros."

Representing Panama, Eunice Meneses concluded the session by emphasizing the need to form strategic alliances with other groups in Panama in the absence of governmental resources and support. She advocated non-confrontational outreach in the style of ethnic groups and the use of role models and oral communication (song, performance, and other publicity methods) to lead with youth involvement. Meneses stressed the importance of visibility, noting that blacks in Panama have been pushed to the margins long enough and stating that "this [census] cannot wait ten more years." Finally, Meneses cited the words of past Colombian president Ernesto Samper: although the census would inevitably encounter resistances, "we will keep moving forward."

news