Naming ourselves without fear, toward full youth participation. The Afro Wave from Mexico

Juanita, as she calls herself, warns: "Being Black should not mean having no opportunities to be outstanding, to fulfill yourself like any other human being." Is it important to keep strengthening Afro identity? she is asked. "Yes, of course it is. It's the only way we have to value, to value everything," she says with a steady gaze, and she speaks of stamping rhythms on the artesa, of their own way of speaking, of picardía and rechura, all the way to taking up space in schools and public life.

Beatriz García, Melody Martínez, and Anaís Silva are three Afro-Mexican women; the first two from Santiago Pinotepa Nacional and Santiago Tapextla, respectively, in Oaxaca, and Anaís from Cuajinicuilapa, Guerrero. As adults, they recognize the value of self-identification—and, for that, of access to knowledge. "Even though many people have the phenotype, they don't identify that way, but I think it's a lack of information, because maybe they don't identify as Afro-Mexican, but they do as Black. We need more education about this," Beatriz reflects.

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