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Marco Antonio Ramírez, Peru

By Pierre Losson

Pushing for more

 “In Peru, blacks are soccer and volleyball players, musicians, dancers, or policemen, but they never become doctors, mayors or presidents,” says Marco Antonio Ramírez. “We need to change the mindset.” At just 23, Ramírez is the president of Ashanti— an Afro-Peruvian youth organization dedicated to combating racism and discrimination against Afro-descendants—and believes his community can aspire far higher.

Ramírez, who was raised in El Callao—Lima’s main seaport—is no stranger to the racism that pervades Peruvian society. The only Afro-Peruvian in his private high school class, he...

Read this article on the Americas Quarterly website. | Subscribe to AQ.

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