Gabriel Torres Colón

Legacies of colonialism and racial ideologies have structured Piñones contemporary existence. Piñoneros report experiencing some form of racial discrimination and see themselves as a racialized people regardless of their strong identification with the Puerto Rican nation. The Corporación Piñones se Integra (COPI) has been the primary community organization addressing social problems and promoting Black pride. However, although Piñoneros believe that COPI has the capacity to address community needs, there is a significant disconnect between the cultural understanding of “community problems” and COPI’s mission to solve those problems as an extension of a political commitment to anti-racism. COPI aims to solve this disconnect by continuing documentation of their projects and better informing the community of their achievements. The most important public policy achievement was COPI’s renegotiation of the co-management of the mangrove forest agreement with Puerto Rico’s Department of Natural Resources. COPI now has equal authority in making decisions for how the forest is managed and protected. Moreover, to demonstrate how Afro-Puerto Ricans both resist structural racism and flourish, we documented how the bomba music plays a significant role in disseminating COPI’s anti-racist mission and conservation efforts.