Meet Dr. Sandra Andino Cultural anthropologist
My family is from Puerto Rico and I was born in Long Island but at the age of 5 my parents decided to return to the island and there I was raised until I graduated from college and came to Philly for graduate school. It's been 28 years I've been living and working in Philadelphia. I obtained an Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology from Temple University and I've focused my professional career in the field of cultural arts education and development as an administrator and also an educator.
At AL DÍA's cover photo shoot
My work explores the self-expression and self-representations of Afro-Latinos/as when it comes to race and ethnicity, and their personal stories in and outside of their communities in regards to racist behaviors and attitudes, but also pride of being Afro-Latino/a. Through photography and audio recordings I intend to connect the viewer with the experiences and lives of the people portrayed in the exhibit, and create self-awareness and a common human understanding about racial equity.
I don't tweet so I'm not familiar withhashtags but I do understand the BlackLivesMatter movement because as Latinos in the U.S., unless you look "White,"are affluent and privileged, you end up in one category in the U.S. —"black/brown" person. Injustices are inflicted on Latinos as on African Americans. There are no exceptions, therefore Latin@s need to fight racial/ethnic injustices whether it's Black Lives Matter or any other movement.