The CLACLS is Co-hosting this hybrid event with The People's Forum

Attend in person: The People's Forum, 320 West 37th Street (between 8th & 9th Avenues) New York, NY 10018 (mask and vaccine card required)

Livestream: Facebook Live and Youtube (with Spanish interpretation)

Description:

The founding members of the Organización Afrodescendiente para la Asistencia Jurídica y Formación (OAFRO), Argentina’s first Black legal aid organization, discuss the legal challenges facing Africans and Afro-descendants in the nation. These individuals are among the most vulnerable, disenfranchised, and invisible, due to their historic erasure in the nation. By providing visibility, rights and recognition, OAFRO counters the invisibility of Afro-Argentines while empowering all members of the Black community. Join us in person or virtually for this hybrid event.

In conversation with Judith M. Anderson, Ph.D. BMCC, CUNY

This event is FREE and open to the public. Please RSVP.

More about the panelists:

Madoda Ntaka, Esq.

As one of the only Afro-Argentine lawyers, Madoda Ntaka’s professional and personal mission is to increase legal aid and access to justice for Afro-descendants in Argentina. He cocreated with Dr. Judith Anderson the Argentine – U.S. legal initiative to empower the Afro-descendant community through legal aid and access to justice. He experienced many challenges while defending Afro-descendants who lack the resources to access qualified legal assistance. Madoda participated in the meetings of the UN Expert Group on People of African Descent that visited Argentina in 2019. He was also selected to be part of the International Visitors Leadership Program, in Washington DC in 2017 as the Director of the Human Right Unit of the Argentine Institute for Equality, Diversity and Integration (IARPIDI). He is a member of the Commission of African issues of the Argentine Council of International Relations (CARI). Madoda was the co-organizer of the First Meeting of Free Legal Services Providers in 2018 which was held to discuss challenges facing those who needed free legal assistance. He was part of the International Congress of African Studies lecturers, Indianapolis, IN in 2014. Madoda also lectures on Afro-descendant issues at the University of Buenos Aires.

Alí Delgado

Alí Delgado is an activist of Cape Verdean descent and a member of Afro-descendant youth organization Agrupación Xangó. He is a member of the 8th of November Commission, an organization which brings together more than 20 Afro-descendant groups in Argentina. He has been a member of the political group La Cámpora through which he exercised his activism at the University of Buenos Aires where he is in the final year of his studies in law. He currently works in the Government of the City of Buenos Aires as an auditor. Ali wants to use the professional practice of law as a tool for social transformation. In 2019, he participated in the Regional Meeting of Young People of African Descent, which took place in the Province of Buenos Aires and provided workshops on youth, culture, and education.

Patricia Gomes

Patricia Gomes, an Afro-Argentine lawyer, black feminist activist, and member of the Cape Verdean community of Argentina. Since 2005 she has been part of the advisory committee for the Cape Verdean Mutual Aid Society "Unión Caboverdeana," an institution founded in 1932 and the oldest existing African organization in Argentina. She is also part of the gender section of ​​the organization the 8th of November Commission’s “National Day of Afro-Argentines and Afro-descendant Culture” and the organization Everyone with Mandela. She works at the Institute against Discrimination and the LGBT Ombudsman of the City of Buenos Aires in claims management, complaints, and legal advice on discrimination and sexual diversity, specializing in Afro-descent and racial discrimination. She has also worked at the National Institute against Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Racism (INADI) and at the National Women's Council. As part of her activism, she teaches and lectures on Afro-descendant issues in Argentina.

Ndathie “Moustafa” Sene

Ndathie “Moustafa” Sene is a Senegalese immigrant who migrated to Argentina at the age of 22. He is a former student in the Literature Department of the Faculty of Literature and Human Sciences of the Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar, Senegal. He studies law at the University of Buenos Aires, with a focus on public international law. Moustafa is a founding member of the Association of Senegalese Residents in Argentina (ARSA), former president of the association, and current head of institutional relations there. He is also a member of the Argentine Institute for Equality, Diversity and Integration (IARPIDI), advisory committee of the Argentine Federation of Collectivities, and the Africa Week organizing committee. He is also the deputy coordinator in the Secretariat of the National Commission for Refugees.

Mailen Lamadrid

Mailen Lamadrid is a seventh generation Afro-Argentine, a second year law student at the University of Buenos Aires, and a paralegal at Allonca Abogados. She has been an activist for over 10 years in the struggle against racism and discrimination for the visibility of Afro-Argentines, Afro-descendants, and Africans. In 2006 she joined the organization Africa Vive (Africa Lives), founded by activist María “Pocha” Lamadrid, who inspired her in the fight against the constant denial of Afro-Argentines in Argentina. In 2010 she collaborated with the organization Africa and its Diaspora in the promotion of the Afro-descendant question census question. In 2011 she participated at the National Meeting of Young Afro-descendants of Argentina. In 2012 she took part in the Meetings of Afro-descendant, African, Afro-Caribbean, and diaspora women carried out in the National Foreign Ministry. Mailen was the coordinator of the Afro-descendant youth group Agrupación Xangó. In 2018 she was part of cultural exchange program that visited the U.S. where discussion and workshops were held regarding the problems that Afro-Argentine communities face. She also participated in the Regional Meeting of Young People of African Descent, which took place in the Province of Buenos Aires, providing workshops on youth, culture and education.