Blacks and Latinos Together?

WASHINGTON -- "The reality is that a divide exists between blacks and Latinos that no amount of camouflage can hide," Nicolas C. Vaca contends in his 2004 book, "The Presumed Alliance." In it he discusses "the unspoken conflict" between the two groups, a characterization that, at first glance, seems overblown.

But news stories of prison brawls, violent conflicts between street gangs, and polls showing blacks' mixed views on immigration reform give us pause. Can African-Americans and Latinos get along?

If we look to culture, we see that the two can indeed make beautiful music together. Consider reggaeton, that increasingly popular blend of reggae, dancehall, hip-hop and Latin American styles such as bomba and plena. Will.I.Am, frontman for the Black Eyed Peas, told The New York Times that rhythm was the lingua franca when he worked with the reggaeton duo Luny Tunes. "Because of the language barriers, it was all about the music," he said. "I played keys and bass lines, they made beats, and we communicated through head nods."

If we go further back we'll run into Dizzy Gillespie, whose collaborations with Cuban musicians energized jazz. Venturing deeper into the past, we'll encounter Miguel Covarrubias, the great Mexican illustrator and caricaturist whose Harlem forays in the 1920s led to collaborations with Zora Neale Hurston and other brilliant black American writers. During an era in which many illustrations of blacks were racist and grotesque, Covarrubbias' lithe, swaying black dancers helped set a new standard. "He is especially successful in capturing the illusion of motion," Countee Cullen noted.

Go back further still, though, and we encounter far more than just mutual appreciation. We stumble upon a common heritage.

For years, Mexico celebrated its mestizo blend of Indian and European cultures. But 70 years ago, prominent anthropologist Gonzalo Aguirre Beltran identified African heritage as la tercera raiz , or the third root, of Mexican culture. Since then, more than 2,000 academic papers have been published discussing black contributions to Mexican music, ritual, dance and other cultural expression. Notable among these is son jarocho , a musical form becoming more and more familiar to audiences in the United States.

"The connection between Mexican culture and African American culture is more profound than is commonly supposed," Antonio Negrin told me. He is the director of the Cultural Institute of Mexico in Washington, co-sponsor of "Afro-Mex," a series of concerts and other events highlighting Mexico's black heritage.

When Mexico was still a Spanish colony, Africans and their descendants were the second-largest ethnic group after the indigenous inhabitants. We're not just talking about slaves, either, for free blacks had lived in Mexico since as early as 1609. In addition, leaders of the Mexican independence movement included Jose Maria Morelos y Pavon and Vicente Guerrero, both of whom were of African ancestry.

Eight years after winning independence in 1821, Mexico officially abolished slavery. Free blacks and runaways entered from the north during the decades that followed, establishing settlements such as El Nacimiento in the border state of Coahuila. "African Americans came to Mexico from the U.S. because they knew they would be free," said Antonio Garcia de Leon, a historian, linguist and expert on Mexico's black heritage.

Garcia de Leon told me that the blacks of Mexico soon met a fate difficult to imagine in the race-obsessed United States: They integrated completely into the general population. "Blacks as such almost disappeared by immersion in the larger culture," he said.

Today, according to Garcia de Leon, there are a half-million "self-recognized" Mexicans of African ancestry, living mostly in Afro-Mexican communities in Guerrero, Oaxaca and Veracruz.

Meanwhile, interest in Afro-Mexican culture seems to be on the rise. Garcia de Leon lectured to a packed auditorium in Washington last week, and musicians were scheduled to present a series of son jarocho concerts. At the Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum in Chicago, an exhibit called "The African Presence in Mexico" continues through Sept. 3. In less lofty settings, black and Latino organizations in Los Angeles and other cities are sitting down to hash out their differences and find common ground.

Said Negrin of the Cultural Institute of Mexico, "Any activity that contributes to a better dialogue between these minority communities in the U.S. is very important."

Amen. And as some barriers go up, others can come down.