With so much violence affecting Black males, stereotypes and everyday pressure you can start to feel like the joys of life are not for you. But what happens when 13 brothas are determined to not let the world take away (all of) their joy? A trip, in this case to experience Colombia.
We decided to experience Colombia for several reasons:
They have about 30% Black population with a history that is not unlike most of us from the U.S.
We were able to rent a mansion on the beach for cheap
We knew Black tour guides there that we could support
Shout out to The Alex Rocha Youth Center
Escape Artist found us a flight for $300 roundtrip!
Colombia is a great place to visit but it is important to note that Black people experience Colombia in a much different way than their white counterparts; they extremely oppressed. Racism is so bad there that if you bring up racism as a reason for anything, people will cll you racist for even bringing it up. Yeah. But despite the racism the Afro-Colombians have their own culture which can mainly be found throughout the Pacifico:
If/when you go experience Colombia, if you visit Cartagena you should do these things:
Contact Alex Rocha to help you plan your trip
Spend a good amount of time at the beach, Playa Blanca was great
Possibly visit an island
You may want to bring your own hot sauce to liven up the food a bit… in my experience Colombia does NOT do spicy food
Salsa dance
Visit San Basilio de Palenque
Listen to champeta
Explore inside the walled city
Buy some souvenirs, make sure to bargain for a good price
Brush up on your Spanish before you go
And with this trip… the League Of Brothas (L.O.B.) was born. If you enjoyed the video, please share it with friends.
Music:
Grupo Socavon — Homenaje a Justino (uproot andy rmx)
CHOCQUIBTOWN – Somos Pacifico
Interlude – Ice Cube – Today Was A Good Day
El Presidente Negro De Colombia – Melchor Perez & Ángel De La Tinta (Champeta)