It is estimated that more than one million Mexicans can trace some of their ancestry back to the African slaves brought to North America by the Spanish conquistadors in the 16th and 17th centuries. This documentary short by Tiffany Walton and Lizz Mullis focuses on a community in the Los Angeles area of Afro-Mexican heritage.
These individuals face a near-daily among the local Mexican community and the wider society that find it impossible to believe that they are Mexican simply because of their appearance – and several recall how they are constantly requested to speak Spanish in order to verify their ethnic descent. The film provides an overview of the history of the Afro-Mexican population, as well as the differences in speech, cuisine, spirituality and the challenges of self-identity. There is also brief presentation of the colorful La Danza de los Diablos ceremony in the traditional Afro-Mexican costuming – that alone would warrant its own film.
Although the filmmaking is a bit shaky at times and the English subtitles could have benefitted from a larger font, the production provides a fascinating glimpse into an overlooked aspect of Mexican culture while confronting the still-lingering racial and ethnic divisions that define contemporary U.S. society.