BLACK IS GXLD: On Afro Columbian Coffee and the Legacy of Slave Trade Latin America

Apr 01, 2021

“ACROSS CULTURES DARKER PEOPLE SUFFER MOST. WHY?”- Andre 3000

 

 It’s a strange thing that black people, wherever they are, tend to be at the margins of society. Coffee is no exception to this pattern. In many ways it’s part of reason why. The legacy of the slave trade and colonialism, combined with the rush for cash crop exploitation exemplified in the theft of Coffee in 1616, has created a hole of poverty and marginalization that many black folks worldwide have yet to get out of. 

 

The first African slaves were brought to Colombia in the 16th century, where they were forced to grow cash crops and mine for gold as enslaved laborers. Far from unskilled labors, these Africans were taking because of there expertise extracting beauty from the ground, whether in the gold minds of Ghana, Mali and Sierra Leone, or the coffee Forrests in East Africa. 

 

Against all odds, the enslaved Africans of Colombia gained their freedom, only to find themselves in the scope of another colonial gold rush—the CIA-funded War on Drugs. Coffee, one of Colombia’s largest exports, has the potential to liberate the birthright of these formerly enslaved Africans, this time in this community in Suárez, Cauca, and in doing so, help them find a true Black Gold. 

 

As descendants of the slave trade in the American South, we are honored to partner with our diaspora cousins in Colombia to slang you this legal hope: from Africa, to Colombia, to the hoods of Memphis, and now to you. 

 

Ever since we started Cxffeeblack in 2019, our goal was to follow the story of Africas stolen seeds through the lives of its stolen people. I remember the first time I realized the slave trade brought black people to counties outside of America. It blew my mind. And since then we’ve been in search of afro latino producers we could collaborate with with. We finally found them in the Afro Columbian producers in Cauca Columbia. 

 

Imported by @cosecha_traders , designed by @browngirllettering and @rjv_collectives , and named by our homie @ozay_moore in celebration of his new collab with @tallblackguyproductions ,this coffee is exclusively produced by Yailton Caicedo in Cauca Colombia. 

 

Along with two other of his childhood friends, he has decided to make a stand for their community and begin exporting their coffee as new origin in Columbia. 

 

We know a couple sacks of coffee ain’t gon change the world. (Tbh we had three but coffee subscribers already got some) But we do hope that it can bring attention to the dope ness of the Afro Columbian community, who’ve been fighting for their community alone for too long. 

 

This coffee means a lot to us y’all, and we only have two sacks of it. We’ve decided to offer it exclusively as dime bags for now so that 1) Money of every bag goes back to Yailton to support his growing coffee business. 2) it allows us to talk to folks about how dope the movement he and and his homies is for a long let time. Keep your eyes out for a blog on this later today. We’ll be going live to share our favorite ways to brew it too. Grab this one while you can fam. It’s a vibe.

 

Best enjoyed black, while bumping Cumbria and Memphis rap. No sugar and no cream needed.

 

Notes: Orange Drank, Whoppers (them Malted chocolate junts), and fig newtons. 

 

BLXCK IS GXLD (Colombia Yailton Caicedo) - Diaspora Collection

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