An Intro to We are Black and Brown

Photo credit: Tim Mossholder via Unsplash

Welcome to We are Black and Brown

By Elena Gaona

When we first moved to Washington DC almost 15 years ago, I took steps to start an online space called the Black and Brown Coalition, but life got in the way, and I never finished it.

Recently, when the country heard the racist statements made by former L.A. City Council President Nury Martinez, and her two Latino colleagues who played along and contributed, my husband and I spent all week talking about Black and Brown relationships and how the divides and fault lines in our communities hurt us but painfully still exist.

Then I saw Serena Williams dancing full of joy to Selena’s “Bidi Bidi Bom Bom,” and was overwhelmed by the power of love that can exist between our Black and Brown communities if we let it.

This new blog we’re launching, We are Black and Brown is a simple but authentic attempt by my husband, who is Black and from NYC, and myself, a first generation Mexican-American from Texas, to share small and large news and personal stories, observations, thoughts and history of our life together, and our communities as we see them – full of power, history, joy and life – and what happens when we come together.

We will invite contributors to help us tell these stories, so if you have thoughts to share about the people, places, emotions and events around Black and Brown communities and the places where they meet, please drop us a line. Sometimes we won’t agree with each other, and that will be ok, too.

We hope to contribute to the fullness of feeling seen in our own spaces, and to building the bridges that can keep our Black and Brown communities from being apart. Because when we really look, we think we’ll find much more in common than we think, and move forward from there.