Colectivo Ilé

Through community organizing, workshops, and educational processes, Colectivo Ilé seeks to dismantle racism and reclaim and strengthen the diverse histories and identities of the Puerto Rican people.

Based in the Afro-Puerto Rican community of Loiza, Colectivo Ilé is made up of women who recognize that the prevalence of gender injustice intersects decisively with that of racial injustice. They see the racism and white supremacy fostered through colonialism as the root causes of many current inequities. Those who are visibly Black are the targets of discrimination and violence – at the hands of the police, in the workplace, and in other settings. These lived experiences of Black Puerto Ricans are often dismissed, since the dominant ideology is to invisibilize blackness and consequentially deny racism.

The impacts portend high indicators of inequality: 47 percent of Black women live below the poverty line, and 60 percent of them are unemployed. Racism is additionally directly related to gender violence. Femicides, murders, and disappearances of women (especially trans women) abound, and high numbers of those murdered and/or disappeared are Black.

In response, Colectivo Ilé engages in organizing, education, and research aimed at strengthening antiracist and decolonization efforts in Puerto Rico and beyond.

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