Velia Vidal: “Access to writing is a historical tool of exclusion“

On the one hand, a place rich in biodiversity and exuberant nature. On the other, one of the most excluded areas in Colombia, with a high rate of illiteracy, homicides and a high rate of food insecurity. this last one is choco , a Colombian department on the Colombian Pacific coast, near Medellín and Cali and near the border with Panama. And it is in the midst of all these contrasts that the story of Velia Vidal the Afro Colombian writer, activist and cultural manager born in Bahía Solano, a municipality in Chocó.

It was in this place, where the majority of the population is black and indigenous, living with the sad reality of poverty and violence, that Velia found in reading and writing a way to give more access, autonomy and reduce the exclusion of the people who live there.

For 17 years, she has been leading the Motete project, which promotes literacy and reading in that region. It is precisely from this relationship between the writer and the word that the book was born. “Estuary Waters” , which has just been released in Brazil by Jandaíra. During his visit to the country, Velia Vidal spoke with the CNN Plural and told more about his work and trajectory.

• His book “Águas de Estuário” (publisher Jandaíra) is a collection of letters to a friend. What were the themes of these letters and how was the process of creating the book?

The book was born from an exchange of letters in which we talked about life, about what we talked about with friends. I always like the analogy: when you work in the office or in a television studio and you think about making friends with someone, every time you go to the kitchen for coffee or something to eat, you build a friendship. We live this same process, but in letters. We got to know each other more and more, building trust until we shared the most intimate and personal things. When the publisher proposed that I turn the letters into a book, we found the theme that had been there all along: this relationship with my territory and also there was my story of how I found my vocation and how I reconnected with writing and literature. How I found myself, how the word became a tool and to freely assume all that I am. Finally, the book is the geography of the most distinct dimensions of the life of a black woman and what this means and represents in a territory like Chocó.

• What does it mean to publish this book here in Brazil?

It is very important to me that this book is published here in Brazil and, in particular, this book. He, to me, is absolutely authentic. I feel honored by this and it allows me a genuine connection with Brazil. We have much more in common than we think – between Brazilians and Colombians and, above all, between Afro-Brazilians and Afro-Colombians. I feel that this publication is an opportunity to establish that dialogue to connect us with those things that we have in common. I am also honored to be the first Afro-Latin American woman translated into Portuguese by the Jandaíra publishing house. For me, it’s a real privilege.

• How did you and Djamila Ribeiro meet? How was that connection? (the philosopher writes the preface to the book)

We met on a project at the British Museum at a Latin American festival. I knew her by her text and she by mine. This allowed us to see our common interests through reading. Afterwards, we met again at a festival in Cartagena (Colombia). And it was an immediate connection because we definitely have things in common. Our concern for claiming and, as black women today, for claiming our rights. Before meeting Djamila, I had already read her book “Lugar de Fala” which for me was an impressive revelation. I feel that all black women should read this book. It reconnects us with our pain and the need not to be invalidated.

• You dedicate yourself to teaching reading and writing. Hence, he created the Motete project. What does the project consist of?

It is a non-profit organization that was born 17 years ago to promote critical thinking in our territory. We are a little tired of being told and taught how we have to see the world and how we have to do it. Basically, we propose to show families that we have to create our own autonomous and critical thinking and reading allows us to do that. We are focused on access to reading so that through it we can free imagination and critical thinking. We are currently working with approximately 2200 children and young people in our department. We’re already going to the seventh reading party. We are absolutely committed to guaranteeing the right to culture, reading and imagination.

• How can reading and writing help social inclusion and the fight against racism?

First, you need to relate it to inclusion. It is linked to the white man, it is linked to literacy and reading. Therefore, for us – who were enslaved – they denied this right to read and write. So, access to writing became a historical tool of exclusion. It is no coincidence that we have few writers and that our representation in writing is small. We were taught that what is not written does not exist. There is no citizenship without writing. Without the possibility of signing a document, of writing our name. We need to strengthen access to writing and access to reading written texts to claim this citizenship. To claim this existence in a written world. As well as a tool of exclusion, it was also used as a racist tool. We found texts across Latin America designed to perpetuate stereotypes. In the past, in Colombia, for example, they wrote disastrous things that created our imagination. So we have to write our own stories. We also have to decolonize ourselves because, sometimes, black writers ourselves are perpetuating some form of racism and exclusion. Lack of literacy is an act of structural racism.

• What do black women in Brazil and black women in Colombia have in common?

What we have most in common is victimization. When I arrived last week in São Paulo, on the first day I saw graffiti on a wall that showed the number of feminicides here. It’s the same in Colombia. The following day, they murdered a social leader in Salvador. In the early hours of Sunday, they murdered a musician in Cali. I understand what goes on with women. Even with those who are not black, but it is indisputable that we – black women – weigh a greater number of variables. So, when we look at victimization in the Colombian armed conflict, for example, it gets worse when it comes to black women, it gets worse when we talk about black people. Blacks are the most murdered in Colombia as well. In addition to other practices of everyday racism, such as the questions we are constantly subjected to. What we suffer in Colombia is the same as what happens in Brazil. We are definitely in a fight that cannot stop, that cannot stop because we continue to be excluded and we continue to be murdered.

• Do we need to look at the racial issue in Latin America in a different way?

We definitely have to discuss the racial issue in Latin America in a different way. As discussed in the US or discussed in the UK or discussed in Europe. Latin America had a later process of abolition of slavery. The myth of racial equality reigned here, where everyone here would be equal. We keep trying to prove that there are no black people in Argentina, that we are all mestizos and that, consequently, we are all equal, because the law says that we are all equal. This is an absolute lie, how do you go from slavery to equality? It doesn’t exist anywhere. It was only after the 1970s that some social projects became visible to the masses and recognition began, in some countries, of the Afro population as a special group, with a special history and a need to claim. This resulted in a very serious hidden racism, which we continue to experience because of our hair, our skin, the shape of our extra noses, our mouths. But the discourse that we are all equal continues. This also implies that we approach this situation in a particular way. We can’t approach it the same way if we had different stories. We have to demand affirmative action. Our young people continue to have the least access to university, the least access to education. So we need a policy issue to address affirmative action.

• How has your trip to Brazil been and how was your participation in the Literary Fair in Ribeirão Preto (SP)?

I am delighted with the visit to Brazil. In Ribeirão, we had a wonderful event with more than 400 people. I signed many books and took advantage of a few days to experience the city. I’ve been to a maracatu, samba place… I’m very happy because we also have a cultural connection. I have an extraordinary agenda here. I’m going to São Leopoldo (RS), Rio de Janeiro (RJ). I hope this is just the beginning of a career in Brazil, a career in Portuguese and a very long-term connection, because I really feel that we have a lot in common and a lot to talk about.