Black, Brown, Queer, Trans, Gender Expansive, 2Spirit, Gay Lesbianes to the Front x Siempre 💛 One of the most special aspects about the collaboration between Sumo and I is the opportunity we individually had to enter into different worlds with and because of each other. Me, as a queer light skinned woman from the northern Mexican border of Tamaulipas, the opportunity to see, learn, and join a conversation about the disease of racism against Afro and Afro-Indigenous Mexicanes—as well as the countries efforts to erase those narratives. And him as a dark skinned straight male from Guerrero, the opportunity to see, learn and join a conversation about the violence against femmes and women as well as the cultural oppression of being a non straight femme in a violently machismo culture (the more mestizo, the more violent) that aims to specifically disempower Afro and Afro-Indigenous femmes first. At first, our conversations were tense in the ways that nationalism weaponizes trauma to keep each other either distant or at war. The south and the north don’t intersect we were told, similarly so the religions of Queerness and Catholicism. Quickly, thanks to whatever balance the frequency in our music was keeping between us, we learned to sit and listen in ways that transcended individualism, and healed Inter-generational trauma. His experiences became my injustices to solve and vice versa. Through our will to expand from an unknown, Sumo and I continue to be committed to bringing awareness and distributing platforms to people, places and issues that live in and in between Queer Love and Afro-Mexico. 📹 collage by @sumohair 🎶 “Nina” by @reynatropical