Es jodido hacer todo bien, pero lo más jodido es tratar de que todos estén contentos contigo todo el tiempo, así que no lo hagas y solo enfócate en ti.
I have known about Victoria Santa Cruz's work about as far back as secondary school but this is truly the most thorough and comprehensive article I've read on her work that does a great job of situating her in a broader, cross-cultural context; or in other words the "why" her work matters beyond borders.
Some powerful quotes that struck me:
"In a 2007 interview, Santa Cruz described how as a little girl, she had been playing with a group of friends when a new girl with blond hair joined them and stated that if Santa Cruz remained, she would leave. Her friends promptly told Santa Cruz to leave, which to her, exemplified who held power and who had the right to wield that power."
The author does a great job building context with this line:
"In the 1960s and 1970s, Black activists in the United States, like Santa Cruz in Peru and Paris, redefined and recreated what it meant to be Black. Black with a capital 'B' is about self-naming, self-defining, and self-determining, which can be seen in the work of Santa Cruz. It is, at times, biographical, exhibiting the arduous process she has endured to form an identity that isn’t controlled or concerned with outdated stereotypes and instead honors a rich heritage inherited and a [sense of self] not founded in shame."
Victoria Santa Cruz is originally from Perú, not the Caribbean, but as I touched on in a previous post, sharing this work is a part of a broader personal initiative to expand the narrative when talking about Latin America and the Caribbean and its diáspora.
Santa Cruz understood the importance of being able to see oneself in their culture and the value of identity. Through her work, she was not only able to disavow the way that Blackness was seen, but she redefined Blackness. She refused to accept the position that Peru and the broader American society continuously forced Black individuals into and, by writing and producing plays, allowed others to reject those roles. [x]