Growing Up Afro Latinx In New York: A Battle To Get Educated and Stay Healthy In the Face of Racism

12/04/20 • 105 min

In this week's episode of the Techqueria podcast, our host Jose Fermoso speaks to Matthew Zayas, a young father who has spent a lot of his adult life reconciling with the racism he experienced as an Afro Latino child in New York's Staten Island. From fights in the back of the school bus in his teens to his work in psychology with new businesses, Matthew opens up about his fears for the first time and looks forward to the future.

Featuring analysis and conversations with the following Afro Latinx experts:

Kia-Fiara Melendez, a Founding Social Worker at New York City's School on the Square
Dr. Adolfo Cuevas, the Director of the Psychosocial Determinants of Health (PSDH) Lab at Tufts University
Prof. Jill Richardson, the Associate Professor of English at the Borough of Manhattan Community College and The CUNY Graduate Center and author of The Afro-Latin@ Experience in Contemporary American Literature and Culture: Engaging Blackness

Don't forget to rate and review us on the podcast platform of your choice.

Thank you for listening.

Produced by Neil Godbole and Jose Fermoso, with editing help from Ami Icanberry.

Featuring analysis and conversations with the following Afro Latinx experts:

Kia-Fiara Melendez, a Founding Social Worker at New York City's School on the Square
Dr. Adolfo Cuevas, the Director of the Psychosocial Determinants of Health (PSDH) Lab at Tufts University
Prof. Jill Richardson, the Associate Professor of English at the Borough of Manhattan Community College and The CUNY Graduate Center and author of The Afro-Latin@ Experience in Contemporary American Literature and Culture: Engaging Blackness

Don't forget to rate and review us on the podcast platform of your choice.

Thank you for listening.

Produced by Neil Godbole and Jose Fermoso, with editing help from Ami Icanberry.

Previous Episode

The 2020 Election Jumbo-sized Pod with U.S. Rep. Escobar, Berkeley Dean Garcia Bedolla and More

In this mega-episode of the Techqueria podcast, our host Jose Fermoso speaks to experts on the Latinx vote, tech workers volunteering for political campaigns, a reporter digging deep into the gig industry and how it might affect the future of jobs, as well as the Latina U.S. representative who followed her friend Beto O’Rourke into Congress.

The order of guests:

Dean Lisa Garcia Bedolla, the Vice Provost for Graduate Studies and the Dean of the Graduate division at UC Berkeley, on the biggest Latinx voting trends nationwide.

Rep. Veronica Escobar, from El Paso, TX, on education, Latinx history, and a potential blue Texas vote.

Lauren Hepler, CalMatters reporter, on CA’s Prop. 22 battle and how it might affect labor in tech.

Nicole Rivera, a political campaign veteran, on why this election is more important for environmental reform than any other.

Paul McLachlan, a Mexican-American engineer, on the importance of volunteering.

Rodrigo Dominguez Villegas, UCLA’s director of research at the Latino Policy and Politics Initiative, on economic opportunity, community health, and democracy under a new Biden Presidency or a second Trump one.

UnLearn the World, one the Bay Area’s hottest rappers, talks about the importance of connecting to the social protest language.

Next Episode

The Importance of the Census Count and How Trump Tried to Undermine It

In this episode of the Techqueria podcast, Jose Fermoso talks to lawyers and academics about the United States Census, one of the most important civic events in the country. As we prepare to learn about the full results of the 2020 Census, we find out how and why the actions of the Trump administration likely severely and negatively affected the accuracy of the count, especially in Latinx communities, including how congressional apportionments may suffer.

Our guests include:

Dale Ho, the national Director of Civil Rights at the ACLU and lead counsel in the recent U.S. Supreme Court case New York v. Trump.
Jose Perez, the chief legal officer of LatinoJustice, one of the non-profits that submitted an amicus brief on behalf of Latinx communities in the above case.
Natalia Molina, a USC history professor, and 2020 MacArthur Foundation Fellow.
Onesimo "Ness" Sandoval, a St. Louis University Demographics and Computational Spatial science professor.
Lara Manzanares, a former enumerator who wrote a fun song about the importance of taking the census.

Produced by Jose Fermoso and Neil Godbole.