urged his nearly 6 million followers to educate themselves on racism in both the United States and Latin America, where several countries have significant populations with African heritage that must navigate a uniquely complex set of experiences. “When you’re Black in different places, there are nuances to your identity,” says Katelina “Gata” Eccleston, reggaetón historian and founder of.
In June, YouTube announced a $100 million fund for Black creators and artists around the world. “It’s important for us to address all the challenges and racial justice issues that Black artists face,” says Sandra Jimenez, head of music partnerships in Latin America at YouTube.
Whether these initiatives will lead to substantive change remains to be seen. Pandora launched new stations Afro Colombia, Afro Boricua and Afro Cuba in July, but Marco Juarez, the platform’s head of Latin music, says labels and distributors have mostly been interested in highlighting catalogs of legacy Afro-Latino artists, not promoting new voices.
Loren Medina, owner of Guerrera Marketing & PR and co-founder of Conciencia Collective, worries that visibility for artists is not enough. “Diversify your staff, on-air personalities; invest in the community. This goes for labels, too.” Co-founder Cristina Novo is more optimistic: “Afro-Latin artists who weren’t placed in any other Latin playlist will now get the visibility they deserve.”
Four months after speaking at Sony, Martinez, too, feels progress is imminent — if these initiatives continue long after the summer’s protests. “The change will be slow, and we should be patient,” she says. “But the real change starts with us and how we perceive each other. This isn’t just my fight. It’s our fight.”
Blessed Roberto Clemente, pray for us.
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