Bolivia's First Black Elected Representative

Jorge Medina, Bolivia's first Black political representative

In Jorge Medina's office, the first Afro-Bolivian to hold political office in Bolivia's Parliament, are four pictures hanging from his walls; Bob Marley, Kunta Kinte from Alex Haley's novel “Roots,” Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King. 

He states that drums connect African descendants from all over Latin America and the Caribbean with our roots in Senegal, Congo, Guinea, and Angola as he often says in his radio show, African Roots. 

Every Friday, Mr. Medina uses his radio program to speak about issues affecting the Afro-Bolivian community. "There is still discrimination, there is still racism, there is still xenophobia here in Bolivia, he asserts. But if Barack Obama can be president of the United States, why should an Afro not be able to be in the parliament here in Bolivia?" he asks. "But let it be clear, we are not here in Bolivia only to make people dance to black music. We are here to make people think, believe, and consider the black people. “This is 'our' awakening!"