Chocó general strike reaps results
By Karen Juanita Carrillo

A Chocó general strike that took place on February 19, 2009 has reaped results.

Some twenty thousand Chocóanos took part in a Feb. 19 general strike against the government.

Following a massive 24-hour general protest the Colombian government of Álvaro Uribe Vélez has signed an agreement and claims it will begin paving the Quibdó-Medellín road immediately with the funds it currently has at its disposal. By April, the government also plans to ask for bids from companies who wish to complete the roads’ pavement.  The terms of the agreement can be read online at the website, Chocó 7 días.

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Barbara Starr and Bill Mears write about a man in the United States, who was one of many enslaved Africans to work as a spy against the Southern Confederacy:

"William Jackson was a slave in the home of Confederate president Jefferson Davis during the Civil War. It turns out he was also a spy for the Union Army, providing key secrets to the North about the Confederacy.

"Jackson was Davis' house servant and personal coachman. He learned high-level details about Confederate battle plans and movements because Davis saw him as a 'piece of furniture' -- not a human, according to Ken Dagler, author of Black Dispatches, which explores espionage by America's slaves.

A double minority

"If there is one thing that unites Latinos — regardless of the color of their skin — it is the language," Maria Elena Salinas notes in "A double minority," an article that talks about Afro Latino identity. "Angie, who was born in Santo Domingo and raised in Venezuela, married a U.S.-born Black man of Dominican descent who did not speak Spanish. She says at first she did not identify with her husband’s family because of the language barrier.

"For Carmen, it was somewhat of a relief to see that in her daughters’ school, there was a choice between 'ethnic origin' and 'race' to identify the children, which allowed them to be both Hispanic and Black. Now they can celebrate Black History Month as well as Hispanic Heritage Month."