Carmen Dolores Hernandez writes a profile of the Afrolatina academician and activist Miriam Jimenez for El Nuevo Día.

The article can be viewed here.

The article notes that Miriam Jimenez grew up in New York City in neighborhoods where African Americans and Puerto Ricans lived in close proximity. These neighborhoods helped her to understand herself as a puerto rican of African descent: an understanding which has influenced her work in places like the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Jimenez has just completed co-editing the book, The Afro-Latin@ Reader: History and Culture in the United States.

"The Statute of Racial Equality, soon to be signed into law in Brazil, is at the centre of a controversy between those who consider it a historical achievement, like the abolition of slavery in 1888, and those who see it as failing to satisfy the demands of the black movement," writes Fabiana Frayssinet in an article for IPS.

"The ceremony at which Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will sign the statute into law, scheduled for Jul. 20, will not be the brilliant occasion hoped for by the government's Special Secretariat for the Promotion of Racial Equality (SEPPIR).

"After nearly two decades of debate, the statute approved by Congress on Jun. 16 has not left everyone happy.

"It is 'a watered-down text that does not include some of the major demands of the social movements linked to the cause of black people' and also 'waters down political aspects,' the Collective of Black Entities (CEN) said in a declaration.

"CEN, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), was referring to the suppression of clauses recognising the nature and origins of racism, which it regards as decisive for 'properly overcoming it.'

"According to the state Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), 50.6 percent of Brazil's population describes itself as Black. In spite of this, the term "race" was expunged from most of the text, Marcos Rezende, general coordinator of CEN, told IPS."