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AFRODESCENDANTS (COLLECTIVE DEFINITION)

Afrodescendants are people of African descent who are domiciled in the western hemisphere slavery diaspora (North, Central and South America, and the Caribbean).

The term Afrodescendant refers to people who descend from people who:

1. Were forcibly dispossessed of their homeland, Africa.

2. Were transported to the Americas and Slavery Diaspora for the purpose of enslavement.

3. Were subjected to slavery.

4. Were subjected to forced mixed breeding and rape.

5. Having experienced, through force, the loss of mother tongue, culture and religion.

6. Have experienced racial discrimination due to lost ties (or partially lost ties) from their original identity.


 * As a result, are experiencing Ethnogenesis, a re-birth.

HISTORY

The term Afrodescendant had been widely used by people in South America, Central America and parts of the Caribbean, to describe people of African descent who first arrived in the Western Hemisphere as a result of the Atlantic Slave Trade.

It was not until the Working Group on Minorities of the United Nations convened in La Ceiba, Honduras in 2002 to collectively give precise definition to the term Afrodescendant. Afrodescendant leaders from 19 countries throughout the Slavery Diaspora called for formal UN recognition of their self-chosen name, Afrodescendant.

The specific defining of the term, Afrodescendant at the UN conference in La Ceiba, Honduras (2002) was spearheaded by Silis Muhammad, CEO of All for Reparations and Emancipation (AFRE), an international NGO in consultative status and social council of the United Nations. Assisting Silis Muhammad in formulating the above definition was Attorney Harriett AbuBakr, Legal Counsel of AFRE and wife of Silis Muhammad.

The collective definition of the term Afrodescendant has become the international political identity for descendants of slaves throughout the Slavery Diaspora.

'''DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AFRODESCENDANTS AND SO-CALLED AFRICAN AMERICANS '''

Afrodescendants are specifically people who descend from people who fit the collective definition of an Afrodescendant (see definition above). Some so-called African Americans are of African descent but are not descendants of slaves as a result of the Atlantic Slave Trade. For example: A man from Ghana can live in the USA and be considered an African American because he is of African descent, however, he is not a descendant of slaves in the Western Hemisphere nor are his descendants Americans as a result of the Atlantic Slave Trade. On the other hand, he may marry a woman born in the USA who is the descendant of slaves in the Western Hemisphere and considered to be a so-called African American but also fits the above definition of an Afrodescendant since she has descendants who arrived in North America as a result of the Atlantic Slave Trade.

POPULATION

The population of Afrodescendants in the Slavery Diaspora is between 200 and 250 million.

LANGUAGES SPOKEN BY AFRODESCENDANTS

Primary languages: English, Portuguese and Spanish.

RELIGION

Primary religions: Christianity, Protestants, Roman Catholics Contemporary Islam and Sunni Islam. Secondary religions: various faiths are practiced throughout the Slavery Diaspora.

AFRODESCENDANTS IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE SLAVERY DIASPORA ARE REFERRED TO AS African-American, Afro-Brazilian, Afro-Caribbean, Afro-Chilean, Afro-Colombian, Afro-Costa Rican, Afro-Cuban, Afro-Guatamalan, Afro-Honduran, Afro-Jamaican, Afro-Mexican, Afro-Nicaraguans, Afro-Panamanian, Afro-Peruvians, Afro-Uruguayan, Afro-Venezuelan.

REFERENCES