Kenzo James and Stevie Martinez Prof. Shaka McGlotten New Black Ethnographies December 4, 2019 La República de Choco-Cafuzo Final On April 23, 2022, Andrew Cuomo’s plans to build a bridge was authorized by state legislators in what was Albany, New York. Multiple crews of construction workers and urban planners started production on what would essentially be a PJs (project housing) to prison pipeline. Due to malpractice, in the process of building the bridge, an oil pipeline was accidentally struck near the East River causing a huge oil spill that led to the poisoning of the surrounding boroughs, directly killing people and wildlife in low-income communities and eventually, destabilizing the entire ecosystem of all of New York City. Geologically, the East River area is surrounded mostly by NYCHA (New York City Housing Authority) homes. Cuomo had been building the bridge as a part of his campaign promises to be “tougher on crime” (which of course just means, mercilessly imprisoning black, brown and/or indigenous folks) in order to salvage his reputation following The Excelsior Scandal (a series of screen-capped “private” forum conversations between Cuomo and Bill DeBlasio as well as, other political elites joking about how The Excelsior Scholarship isn’t attainable because of its lack of planning). However, with the oil spill directly resulting in the death of majority black, brown, and/or indigenous people, the desperate attempt at salvaging his reputation did fall through but no justice (to no surprise), was served.
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That of course, was until, in response to the oil spill, a series of protests broke out. Thousands of black, brown, and/or indigenous people started grassroots organizing, which resulted in the emergence of a liberation front by the name of La Mano NegreX or L.M.X. The leaders of L.M.X. declared on May 23, 2022 that since people of color were disproportionately suffering directly and indirectly from the effects of environmental racism, climate change, and were unethically forced to serve as guinea pigs for the white upper-class minority, they felt that it would only be fair that the United States government allow black, brown, and/or indigenous people to create their own estate, succeed from the union, and provide them with the funds both owed to African-Americans and the rest of the African diaspora in the US as reparations for slavery and the continued trauma of institutionalized racism. The front’s manifesto-proposal caused turmoil and tension between people of color and white nationalists and pacifists alike. Because of this, on Reddit, there was mass production of the images of the missing black girls from the DC area, captioned with the phrase, “See, N*ggers don’t belong here.” The Reddit posts caused national outrage, and a race war began to break out. Black, brown, and/or indigenous people were being blatantly harassed on the street, physically attacked and yet another viral video circulated on social media of a white woman antagonizing a Hispanic boy she believed to be Mexican by taunting “Go the fuck home, aliens.” After this, the front felt a heavy wave of discouragement from revolution and a lot of interpersonal squabbles started to manifest themselves between members. Thankfully, the front’s leader Kenzali Quibdo, a non-binary queer abolitionist, academic and environmentalist was able to remind the front of its roots and its main prerogative, freedom for all black, brown and/or indigenous people. After
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this, the front came together much stronger and overthrew New York state’s legislature and succeeded from the Union, solemnly renaming the land La Republica de Choco-Cafuzo. 11 years after the establishment of Choco-Cafuzo, an intergovernmental organization was created by L.M.X., they named it The Pan-African Global Organization (PAGO) which is essentially a freedom coalition of countries and estates with heavy black presence who have signed a treaty agreeing to prioritize the earth and one another at all times, Choco-Cafuzo plays a large part in funding PAGO but the organization, unlike the country, is not hierarchical. I, Stevie Martinez, of Sambo Creek, Honduras, have had my research funded and was sent by my village to La Republica de Choco-Cafuzo to study their revolution and repurpose what I have learned in order to ultimately emancipate the Garifuna people from Spanish colonial influence. Under the jurisdiction of The Pan-African Global Organization (PAGO), I was allowed to execute a study that simply focuses on the economic and socio-cultural ways of living that have made Choco-Cafuzians one of the most economically advanced and socially tolerant people in the world. Kenzali Quibdo agreed to oversee my studies and act as an informant as well as the inherent subject. They agreed to allow my residency into the country for a year also with hopes that I can get back to Honduras and provide the necessary information for what will be our own succession and revolt, through the protections of PAGO. I was most interested in how their socialist structure and vanguard has affected the lives of the people who live there and how the agriculture industry has curated La Republica de Choco-Cafuzo’s economic boom. I was given the chance to explore Choco-Cafuzo’s afro-indigenous populations, and their conceptualization of certain western concepts like gender, spirituality, sexuality and class structures.
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After the successful succession, L.M.X. famously drafted their first laws of order, immediately tackling the issue of a clean water supply for the newly established Choco-Cafuzians. They established solar energy and wind power as the sole ethical ways of harnessing electricity, giving birth to a very different wave of technological advancement following the later years, air quality in only a year rose 70%, dramatically lowering rates of asthma attacks. Project housing residents were moved out into nicer homes or apartments throughout the country, and NYCHA homes were destroyed to make way for farmland. L.M.X. functions as a socialist vanguard government structure where a small group of local people represent the whole, in accordance with the law. Choco-Cafuzo is a country with a slight social hierarchy where queerphobia, transphobia, misogyny, and all other forms of hate, intolerance and injustice of any kind are dealt with by re-education centers (also called “Love schools” as a joke commonly amongst the people) being that a few of the L.M.X leaders believed that prison abolition would also be an essential part of this countries accomplishments. Being that Choco-Cafuzo is a socialist country, it’s people are generally protected by insurance, universal healthcare, and social mobility is attainable. The environment is prioritized, the currency is all digital and is weighted by gold which has made Choco-Cafuzo one of the richest countries in the world. Each law, I noticed, is written to reflect cultural differences amongst ethnically and racially varied Cafuzians in order to maintain equilibrium amongst our people. According to Tíchema (and affirmed by Kenzali), Choco-Cafuzians have developed cult-like beliefs over time influenced by eco-womanist ideology and non-Abrahamic religions. Working on farmland that used to be grounds for public housing has caused a bunch of teasing myths to surface, one being that if they allow for the state to fall, the projects will grow back out
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of the soil and they’ll have to return to life before the succession of 2022, living forever in aimless state-sanctioned poverty- This joke is also a jab at mostly The United States but also other countries and their disregard of the poor. They do not eat meat by principal, though it is not illegal. Animals that die of natural causes are returned to the earth, acting as fertilizer during the growing seasons. Being that there is plenty of land, the animals in Naki graze peacefully and are protected by Choco-Cafuzian law which ensures animals who have died of natural causes are not experimented on (past what the government deemed necessary) but are turned into fertilizer and are returned to the soil. There are many laws protecting animals against any form of cruelty including using them for sport ex: cockfights or caging them. Meat and dairy consumption is not illegal but regulations for how to handle, clean, care, and sell animals are so extensive that most people simply decide against it unless they are in ritual. Cafuzians blame their advanced technology on their disinterest in organized religious practices, though they do have countless farms dedicated to indigenous people to grow sacred spiritual plants such as Palo Santo and other various forms of sage for spiritual plants. Apothecaries are very popular and holistic self-healing is encouraged. They are incredibly spiritual collectively, being that over time African, Native American, and other colonial religious teachings molded together to create Cafuzian moral code. They seemed to all respect one another heavily, even in anger. That being said, education is a highly decolonized and treated more as an addition to their already existing knowledge than a 9-5 obligation as it has in Honduras. La Republica de Choco-Cafuzo is separated into three major estates, La Mano NegreX operates at the center. The Southside is Munsee which is mostly the southern area, the Northside, Naki, is a more suburban area, and the central estate, Seba, operates as more of a city as well.
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Northern Choco-Cafuzo is mostly large plots of farmland with some populations who decided to live there instead of in Munsee, the Southern city. The Northern portion is grave and extensive but as I mentioned before, L.M.X. ensures that all of the Choco-Cafuzian citizens have equal access to resources and technologies. The Northern farm City, Naki, is the largest estate and is largely known for its kale, spinach, carrot, and fava bean farms. Naki is also known for it’s deer, bunnies, skunk, and raccoon populations, it was the coldest city I visited. Munsee, the southern city is situated to aesthetically have/be more of an “urbanized” version of Naki. The climate is shockingly a bit more hot and mildly humid and has a vibrantly diverse animal population that is able to bring life to the urban areas, due to the effects of global warming before the establishment of Choco-Cafuzo. This warmer climate is habitable for animals like ferrets, squirrels, owls, and other animals. Here is where Tíchema lives and farms blueberries and cares for a small plot of Bursera trees that have been genetically modified to withstand temperature changes. Seba is most similar to Munsee in that it’s climate is dry but it operates as a sort of middle-ground. The trees here were the most vibrant in color, unlike anywhere else. Kenzali’s son Kaleb calls Seba “Home of the fox” being that a few live here and have been genetically modified to be vegetarian. Genetic modification of previously carnivorous animals is normal and has been done to alleviate stress from farmers who wish to protect themselves. Kenzali has told me that La Mano NegreX wishes to ensure me that the genetic modifications were done to conserve human life and they understand that it may have consequences but trust that natural deaths will hopefully undo any damage done.
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The various climates are looked after and controlled by L.M.X. The creation of the Adesol, a forcefield that purifies the air quality by stabilizing excess carbon dioxide, monoxide, and oxygen levels, cleaning out incoming water streams and ridding the rivers of oil without harming any of the animals that live inside- it became obvious to me that animal rights were a huge thing here. According to Kenzali, a lot of that has to do with energy transfer and believing that the land and animals are sacred and must be protected, not hunted. Adesol a lso creates rainfall when it’s needed and lessens the impact of hurricanes, and other water-based natural disasters. It was created by graduating students at the Solé Institute of Science in 2028, after most of the newly established nation’s money went to funding ways to quickly invent cleaner energy sources. Adesol’ s forcefield around the border of La Republica de Choco-Cafuzo is invisible and doubles as protection against invasive species that could possibly harm Choco-Cafuzo’s vegetation. Kenzali told me that the main creators of the Adesol were promoted by L.M.X., and were established to be it’s Conservation Committee. Jadíel Ramirez (pronounced: Ha-díel), who is a queer trans farmer is a member of L.M.X’s Conservation Committee and was one of my informants. I was also reminded that the working class in this socialist country was not a struggling class. Poverty didn’t seem to really exist here, the only hurdle people faced was not being able to afford excessive amounts of luxury if they didn’t have the means for it. However, I was able to live rent-free. At first, I thought Kenzali had just been nice but I quickly learned that shelter was a basic right gifted to people through L.M.X.’x declaration and constitution. I mostly spoke with Kenzali Quibdo to try to get a grasp of how the Choco-Cafuzian people think. Being that so many cultures have been creolized together on this land, it was likely,
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to me, that the different belief systems would either fuse together and become one or there would be some social Darwinist phenomenon where the most influential belief becomes that of the whole and the others would die out. I came to discover that neither thing was true. Choco-Cafuzians, no matter which city they’re from, don’t seriously believe in a lot of their superstitions. However, for those who are devoted believers, there are a few temples where religious folk can congregate and worship as long as the teachings are tolerant of other people’s lifestyles. As a gift to my informants, I bring Rosquillas, a delicacy that my father has shown me how to make- it is a sweet bread/cookie. Mostly because it’s the only traditional thing besides mangaña that I know how to make. I find gift-giving to be most effective as a sign of respect. As an afro-indigenous person myself, it was easy to connect with most of the people I interacted with intimately. I spent a lot of time in Munsee, which I later learned was named in honor of the language of a Lenape tribe. All of my informants are either mutual friends I have through Kenzali or people I’ve run into through my days of loose wandering and being a tourist- to say the least- on the days where Kenzali was busy with their political work. Tíchema was one of the first people I met through Kenzali- He wanted me to say that he is a self-identified “man” but only as a joke- he later explains that men are “iconic” in the states and it didn’t take me long to learn that he and I have the same sense of humor. Like Kenzali, Tíchema speaks is a strong accent that I can understand clearly yet it is unlike anything I’ve heard before. Their English is much like creole and patois. He explains things mid-story which I actually appreciated. I invited Tíchema over to my apartment, he stopped by at around 10 AM but we had planned for 9:30- Kenzali saw that I was given a place to live where I could cook and
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have informants over- and he removed his shoes at the door upon entering without me having to ask. He said it was okay for me to record our conversation. The following is a transcription of his response to me jokingly asking for a brief synopsis of his life. As I whipped up the batter for the rosquillas, he spoke:
Even as a child, I couldn’t get away from the damn farm, maine. My father used to say we’re tied to the land, she’s my mother and I have to care for her just as I care for the person who birthed me- We call them Nin- our non-binary parent who gave birth to us. Anyway, I was a good kid, stayed out of trouble- though me and my sister Sifa were sent to Love school once because we read about the word “faggot” in an Amerian magazine in the third grade and we thought we was cool going into school the next day and saying it to our teacher- shit wasn’t nice. Now I stay away from US shit- those people need love… I’m a blueberry farmer, most of us are, you know! And write in your notes that we’re the only people who have been able to maintain a stable environment- I personally designed the forcefield! Take that back to Honduras… Can you teach me how to say “May I please have water” in Garifuna one more time?
Tíchema, a proud descendant of Afro-Panamanian immigrants, spoke briefly about his upbringing. When I asked him about what he believes in, he said:
Well, I pray. We have held onto a lot but La Republica is so into inclusion that for me, personally, it’s been hard to keep shit too traditional. Like, my mom would tell me that her grandmother was a super religious roman catholic but her mother, my grandmother, practices
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Afro-Caribbean spirituality. She a whole Santera… with regards to queerness though, my grandma insists that homophobia was never part of the foundation of her religion specifically since she welcomes everyone with open arms. I brought my ex-boyfriend home one day and she goes, ‘Finally!’ I couldn’t believe it. Anyway, Stevie, my ancestors watch over me. A “God” makes sense but doesn’t have to all of the time. How can you be everywhere at once and then say you hate magic? Of course, this is if your God is white, but mine is definitely black and gay. As a masc-of-center agender “man”, I had always wondered if there was a religion that would exist to exalt me as I am. A religion that would allow me to accept that I am not flawed and in need of saving, but that I am a complex individual that wants to embody the holiness I possessed all along. When I started doing research on African spirituality, I was compelled strongly by Ifa, a Yoruba religion and divination system. God here exists with multiple forms of self and strengths. I was so intrigued in particular with Osumare/Oxumare/Oshumare. They’re a gender-fluid entity that is “femme” for half the year and “masc” for the other half and exist to teach us that transness/gender variance is inf fact Godly and divine. They represent wholeness and constant change and all that I want to be. I finally feel seen since my initiation as a Priestx and it’s an experience I am so grateful for.
Tíchema was an interesting person, always smiling, very flirtatious after what wound up becoming a three-hour conversation, he left, telling me that he hoped I would liberate my people. I had a lot of moments with Tíchema and Kenzali in particular where they would say really sweet things that validated my reasons for being there. For example, Kenzali stopped by while they had a little down time to catch up at around 2:00 after Tíchema left, they asked me to share
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some of my research and asked a few questions over some Chiceme, an indigenous corn drink made by sugar, cloves, cinnamon and non-dairy milk(s)- we used Oat milk. I had noticed when they went to reach for their mug their wrists were covered in keloided tattoos. I had never seen them on anyone else before. When I brought them up, Kenzali smiled and replied: When I came to terms with my non-binary identity, I started to seek body modifications that expressed who I was outside of the ideas of binary gender- I wanted to express the magicality I felt outside of constructs and wanted to act autonomously on my physicality- I was 16 when I got my first “tattoo” and I felt a euphoria that was unshakable. I was morphing into who I’ve always been and I haven’t stopped since. They let out a genuine giggle and I realized that we were establishing a friendship. I asked them a few questions about their thoughts on the existence of the class structure in Choco-Cafuzo and if they were comfortable with how things are and they said: I felt it was imperative after succession that we as a newly-emancipated people, do the work to decolonize aspects of how we live, especially since we were raised to very much buy into and protect white supremacist, capitalist patriarchy. I then spoke with the fellow founders of Choco-Cafuzo and further elaborated on what economic style would best be sustainable enough to implement now in this sort of buffer period we are in. We settled on democratic-socialism and I was a little skeptical at first. I wanted for there to be less government surveillance and more self-governance but I do understand that we need some order, for now, to help our citizens slowly decolonize their way of life without the shift being too off-putting. Eventually, our society would love to be anarcho-socialist.
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Kenzali, their partner Niko, Tíchema, and Jadíel took me to Night Muse, which is a queer bar at the center of Munsee. The music was vibrant and everything was done live, after an amazing musical group performed (who’s name I failed to make out in between the many drinks), the club started its poetry slam. The bar was incredibly chaotic - in the best way possible. Queer people, it seemed, from all walks of life were there; queens, gays, lesbians, bisexuals, non-binary people, trans people, cis people, and Two-spirited identified Native people (Jadíel told me that its important to differentiate Two-Spirited from “queer” when referring to Northern Indigenous groups). Niko, Kenzali’s partner, is a non-binary transmasculine second-gen immigrant of Jamaican, Trinidadian and Bajan descent. We hadn’t spoken as often but the small moments we had shared together were very fun- they were very funny. They also seemed very family-oriented- constantly telling me about Kenzali and their three adopted children Kaleb, 9, Chauncey, 5 (and a half), and Nia (Ny-Ah) who recently turned 3. Kenzali had informed me that they had wanted to start their family sooner and had already started looking into fostering children and have met up with various adoption agencies in New York, but the revolution was underway so their personal plans to start their family with Niko had to be postponed. However, during the revolution, one of the primary acts of business was to abolish the old foster care and adoption systems that neglected children and LMX housed thousands of children and re-modified the protocols for those of them without any legal guardianship. Two years after the succession when the political climate had stabilized, Niko and Kenzali finally caved in an act of bravery that has seemingly blessed them both. While raising kids after a revolution (or at all) is no simple task, a testament to Kenzali (but especially Niko’s happiness) is seeing how great
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genuine leisure now is. Niko was the most relaxed I had ever seen them at Night Muse, “ stay at home dad mode” was turned off and they just wanted to have fun. Many popular black and/or indigenous poets performed. One poet in particular seemed to have singled me out during their performance, staring at me through and through. Kenzali lightly nudged me, giving me a suggestive glance and I considered that maybe I wouldn’t sleep alone tonight --that’s how I met Luna, an Indigenous Northerner. In the morning after we had admittedly life-changing sex, she agreed with hesitation to have an interview with me, saying that L.M.X. might not love what she has to say, I immediately felt alert, worried about what she might mean. She clarified. The following is a transcription of a recording of our conversation at her apartment in Munsee January 4, 2030: Me: How has life been for you here? How have things changed for you? Luna: I’m just gonna come out and say it because I like you. The whole revolution was stupid. LMX literally has no idea what the fuck they’re doing and I don’t see why we succeeded… Me: Why didn’t move back to the States? A lot of people feel that LMX has helped them out of homelessness and poverty. Luna: Alright but why worry about them when I wasn’t homeless? People look at me and think they know my story but I didn’t live on no reservation. I didn’t want to move because my parents had me living in a fucking mansion in the Palisades. Me: So what it is, is that you miss capitalism? Correct me if I’m wrong. Luna: Like I just feel like LMX came in and people like [Kenzali] Quibdo went on and on about ‘economic freedom and queer rights’ and all of this shit and yes, poverty doesn’t exist here but I think things were fine, that’s all I’m saying. Listen, if wanting to continue to live in luxury
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without getting my hands dirty on a farm makes me a ‘colonizer’ then whatever. I don’t care much for the identity politics stuff. Me: I’m not understanding- You literally have everything here, this is quickly becoming the richest and most abundant country in the world… Luna: It’s just… I feel disconnected from this place, like I’m waiting for the US to take us over again… I feel you’re being irrational. If we become communist then people will get lazy. I’m tired of paying high taxes. Me: Did seeing poverty not bother you at all? Is there anything about the country that you love? Luna: Of course, I love how much we’ve taken care of the environment and I’m obviously comfortable living here, I’m just saying that under capitalism… I just miss the rush. I was shaking after I left with my heart beating quickly. I wasn’t ready for this kind of backlash, especially knowing that people back home in Honduras may feel and think just how she does. T he interview was cut short because I honestly annoyed. I didn’t think it would have any value to me but after speaking with Tichema, we agreed that a different perspective that shows how a few people feel is important and although we may get frustrated with what someone has to say, we shouldn’t silence Indigenous voices. After the conversation with Luna, I went on a small eco-friendly bus ride to clear my head. Kenzali called me and after I told them what had happened, they said that re-education schools weren’t always enough to deal with people’s bigotry in the grand scheme of things. Although that wasn’t the answer I was hoping for, it did assure me and encourage me to speak a bit more to Jadíel who is also wealthy but seemed to have the opposite values:
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Stevie… I am sorry you didn’t agree with Luna and were disappointed by her perspective. That’s the best that I can do to validate your feelings. However, I am not surprised in the slightest by the fact that it seems all individuals who critique L.M.X. and - rightfully so seem to also inhabit a passivity with their discontent. I believe that passivity comes from the fact that these individuals really just miss the previous system because they benefited from it while others suffered. I am not concerned with feeding the egos of those whose mouths have eaten swell from silver spoons while we’ve gone hungry. She’ll live. And eventually, I hope she learns to embrace happiness that isn’t attached to the burden of others. I know I have and I am beyond grateful. L.M.X. gave me hope. They allowed me to seek wisdom of myself in ways that help others and gave me a career rooted in decolonizing my field and allowing me to connect with the world around me. I’m an herbalist, I run an apothecary on my own farmland and I am able to heal people outside of the pharmaceutical industry that conspires on and thrives off of death and the fear of it. I am the freest I’ve been and if there are individuals that still want to bind themselves to capitalism despite its treachery, I can only hope they see their chains and feel the key in their back pocket.
Being in Choco-Cafuzo and having had the privilege of meeting so many wonderful people has inspired me to liberate my own people down in Honduras. I am especially grateful for Kenzali and Niko Quibdo (as well as their children), Tichema Naqvi and Jadiel Ramirez who have made this experience the most memorable. I am thankful for Luna Ciqala for allowing me to interview her. I am also grateful that La Mano NegreX and The Pan-African Global Organization has funded and supported my travels by way of solidarity.
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