The Identity Puerto Rico Can’t Separate Itself From
In honor of black history month, I’d like to talk about the Afro-Caribbean identity in my island. Afro-Caribbean identity has not only been woven into the fabric of Puerto Rican history, language, music, aesthetics, and everyday interpersonal relationships, but for decades, it has also carried an ambiguous legacy within Puerto Rican culture. It is both unified and suppressed within the national discourse.
The current generation, which includes college-age students, is challenging and reconfiguring how Afro-Caribbean identity is expressed in music, social media, academic research, and activism by making colorism, racial identity, and cultural ownership more visible and salient.
To understand Puerto Rico today is to understand the African roots of Puerto Rican culture and society, and the stubborn legacy of racism that lies below a myth of racial unity.
The Myth of Racial Harmony and Its Consequences
Puerto Rico has historically promoted the idea of mestizaje (Spanish for ‘racial mixing’) as a harmonious amalgamation of Spanish, African, and Taíno ancestry. Mestizaje can be viewed as an ideological response to suppressing debates about race and anti-Blackness.
For decades, most Puerto Ricans contend that racism is a “U.S. problem,” not on the island. Afro-Puerto Rican academics and activists have pointed to racial hierarchies within the structural inequalities of the island’s beauty standard, media portrayal of Afro-Puerto Ricans, and inequalities in opportunities and work between the races.
The current generation of college students is the first to have access to the Spanish language, the Afro-Caribbean dimension, and the lived experiences of darker Puerto Ricans, and they have opened the discussion of Afro-Caribbean identity beyond “we are all mixed” to issues of privilege, representation, and diversity.
Colorism: The Unspoken Hierarchy
Colorism is one of the most persistent forms of discrimination in Puerto Rico, where racial markers are avoided. Still, color is one of the key determinants of social perception and desirability.
Historically, lighter skin and Eurocentric features (including straight hair) have been promoted as beautiful and associated with professionalism and social mobility. In contrast, blackness, darker skin, and Afro-textured hair have routinely faced stigma in media and corporate contexts. For example, some Puerto Ricans call curly hair “pelo malo” (bad hair) since they find it difficult to manage. You would see girls with curly hair in school get straight perms, get their hair gelled down instead of properly styled and much more. Instead of instilling confidence into these boys and girls on how to highlight and style their curly hair they would just teach them how to control their hair to make it look straighter; suppressing their roots.
However, younger Afro-Puerto Ricans are trying to change the narrative through natural hair movements, Afro-centric fashion, and discussions over anti-Blackness on Puerto Rican college campuses. Social media has also provided a platform for young Afro-Puerto Ricans to celebrate their identity and represent their culture.
For many of today’s students, identity is not something to de-stress, but to reclaim.
Culture as Resistance: The Survival of African Heritage
While African cultural practices were not erased by centuries of colonial rule but rather transformed and adapted, bomba and plena are two musical and dance genres rooted in the experiences of enslaved Africans in Puerto Rico that have persisted as cultural practices and symbols of resistance.
Contemporary cultural movements, animated by dance collectives, university cultural programs, and individual artists, have reclaimed these practices not merely as heritage but as active, living traditions that interrogate and remake Afro-Caribbean rhythms.
Language, from slang to intonation, reflects African influences throughout Puerto Rican Spanish. Fashion and community festivals also continue to show these dispersed ties throughout the Caribbean.
Music: The Deafening Expression of Afro-Caribbean Identity
Music is one of the main expressions of Afro-Caribbean culture in Puerto Rico. Reggaetón and Latin trap, both of which are now international phenomena, are derived from Afro-diasporic music like dancehall, hip hop, and reggae.
Unlike earlier examples of Puerto Rican music that sought to sanitize or distance themselves from their Black Caribbean heritage, the Africanity of these genres has been emphasized by artists and scholars alike. Afro-Latinidad, racial pride or consciousness, has often been evoked lyrically by contemporary musicians as well. Some examples of musicians are Rauw Alejandro and Bad Bunny. Rauw Alejandro’s on his last two albums Cosa Nuestra & Cosa Nuestra: Capitulo 0 showcases in his songs, videos and wardrobe the importance of our African heritage. And of course, following his 2026 Super Bowl Half time performance, Bad Bunny on his album Debi Tirar Mas Fotos also represented this genre with songs like DtMF, Cafe con Ron, and El Club
Outside of commercial spaces, independent Afro-Puerto Rican artists create spaces of unrestrained Black and Afro-Puerto Rican identity, whether using customary percussion with contemporary production or music as a mode of celebration and commentary.
For many Puerto Ricans, music is a space where identity is made visible, emotional, and collective.
Social Media and the New Wave of Afro-Puerto Rican Consciousness
On TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, Afro-Puerto Rican TikTokers and content creators have shared their voices in reclaiming the Afro-Puerto Rican experience and learning about subjects such as hair discrimination, colorism, and Afro-Latina identity, allowing younger audiences to learn about these topics for the first time if they had not learned them in school.
As a result, Afro-Caribbean identities among students have become more common, and ideas about them are shared through fashion, recommended music, and the construction of online communities. This allows for ideas that were once only vocalized on the street and through activism to be rapidly disseminated in these multiple, often unavoidable networks.
The Role of College Students in Redefining Identity
On TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, Afro-Puerto Rican TikTokers and content creators have shared their voices in reclaiming the Afro-Puerto Rican experience and learning about subjects such as hair discrimination, colorism, and Afro-Latina identity, allowing younger audiences to learn about these topics for the first time if they had not learned them in school.
As a result, Afro-Caribbean identities among students have become more common, and ideas about them are shared through fashion, recommended music, and the construction of online communities. This allows for ideas that were once only vocalized on the street and through activism to be rapidly disseminated in these multiple, often unavoidable networks.
Conclusion: A Future Rooted in Recognition
Afro-Caribbean identity on the island of Puerto Rico is situated at the crossroads of continuity and change, where the realities of colorism and systemic inequities still exist alongside a cultural awakening of recognition, pride, and accountability.
Today, Puerto Rican youth create and tell the Puerto Rican story through music, activism, social media, and academic research that acknowledges their African ancestry.
There have always been rhythms, beauty, stories born of African ancestry in the island, and what changes now is not the existence of Afro-Caribbean identity, but the willingness to see it, name it, and celebrate it as something present in Puerto Rico’s past, in its present, and in its future.
