Arts & Culture Black in the Green Room; Views on Color, Community and Comedy from Aida Rodriguez
April 27, 2023
By Keith L. Underwood
“I am a Black person who speaks Spanish. That just means the boat stopped a little early. A Puerto Rican girl is nothing but a Black girl who speaks Spanish.”
This is an excerpt from critically acclaimed comedian Aida Rodriguez during one of her performances. It is also commentary from Rodriguez about being Afro-Latina in this country.
The star of her own comedy special, “Fighting Words,” currently streaming on HBO Max, Rodriguez would argue the term has just recently become popular.
“Within the Latino community, there is a big rift in this Afro-Latino experience because it is being appropriated by people who have never identified with their blackness,” said Rodriguez.
Her belief is that prominent African American women of lighter hues like a Halle Berry, Salli Richardson, or Quincy Jones’ daughters [Rashida and Kidada] are never put into question about their Blackness.
“In the Latino community, there has been an erasure of Blackness,” argued Rodriguez. “The anti-Blackness has been so prevalent, I do have some Latinos that say, ‘Why do you want to identify with Black people, why do you love them so much?’”
Rodriguez attributes that love of Black people to her grandmother, who was a Puerto Rican woman of African descent. “I tell the truth,” said Rodriguez, “my grandmother was a Black people, she was a Puerto Rican Black people, my uncle was a Black people.”
Rodriguez points out the fact that Afro Latino people do not have to choose between being African or Latino, they can be both. “Nationality, race and ethnicity are totally different things,” emphasized Rodriguez. “Blackness is something that is all over the world.”
Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Rodriguez then moved to the Dominican Republic when her father was deported. From there, she lived between Miami and New York, and she is currently based in Los Angeles.
Rodriguez says she grew up in predominately Black and Brown neighborhoods in Miami. There, people understood there was not much difference between the two cultures.
“People are more alike than different no matter what the propaganda tells you,” said Rodriguez. “We were all colonized differently, but we have that thing that makes us all people of the sun.”
The phrase, “people of the sun,” is Rodriguez’s own reference to melanated people, including Latinos.
Rodriguez recently directed HBO Max’s current batch of “Entre Nos” specials, the streamer’s series featuring the best and brightest up-and-coming Latin comedy talent, including Ian Lara (Romantic Comedy) and Marcella Arguello (Bitch Grow Up!).
She said anti-immigrant sentiment and anti-Black sentiment all comes from the same place and that it is strategically motivated by a desire to keep the two groups separated. “Why we have issues is so strategic -- to keep this tension going and I was like, we’re all the same,” Rodriguez exclaimed.
“People can’t have a basic conversation about fundamental rights. We’re in this dark void right now and we must see our way through it, and the way to do it is education,” said Rodriguez.
Her way of educating comes through comedy and making audiences laugh, even sometimes at their pain.
“There are some people who want to be lighter and bring levity to the world, which I think is great and necessary,” said Rodriguez. “Then there are comedians who are a mirror of society, and they take on social and political issues.”
She continued, “Comedy is a way to tackle some of the most difficult issues occurring in our society in a way that is more palatable to land for some people. There’s a lot of truth in a joke, and if a joke can resonate with someone in a way that a discussion can happen, then it’s a win.”
Rodriguez argues that if she can show you how racism has affected her life, how sexism has affected her life, or how homophobia has affected her life, then perhaps we can see each other as human beings through her comedy.
Rodriguez’s comedy special, “Fighting Words,” currently streaming on HBO Max, is her way to help make change in our world.
“I did that special during the pandemic. We were not only quarantined, but George Floyd was murdered and Breonna Taylor had been murdered,” said Rodriguez. “There was so much going on in the country.”
She continued, “I was angry, I was tired, and I was frustrated. But I will fight and I will stand up on the front lines to fight for humanity.”
For more information on comedian, actress, director and producer Aida Rodriguez and her upcoming performance dates, visit www.funnyaida.com.