Oral history interview with Arturo Griffiths

General: Associated documentation for this interview is available in the Anacostia Community Museum Archives.; Title created by ACMA staff using text written on sound cassette, contents of audio recording, textual transcript, and/or associated archival documentation.

Interviewer: Corporan, Héctor, 1945-
Names: Griffiths, Arturo; Shaffer-Corona, Frank
Collection Creator: Smithsonian Institution. Anacostia Community Museum

Place: United States -- Foreign relations; Panama; Canal Zone; Mount Pleasant (Washington, D.C.); Washington (D.C.); United States

Topic: Afro-Panamanians; Black West Indians; Latin Americans; Black people -- Latin America; African Americans; Community activists; Community organization; Riots; Race relations; Racism; Segregation; Emigration and immigration; Government and politics; Black power; Cultural pluralism; Race; Identity; Interviews

Interviewer: Corporan, Héctor, 1945-

Culture: Panamanians; West Indians

See more items in: Black Mosaic: Community, Race, and Ethnicity among Black Immigrants in Washington, D. C. Exhibition Records; Black Mosaic: Community, Race, and Ethnicity among Black Immigrants in Washington, D. C. Exhibition Records / Series 2: Research Files / Oral History Interviews

Extent: 2 Digital files; 1 Sound cassette

Date: 1992 December 23

Archival Repository: Anacostia Community Museum Archives

Type: Archival materials; Digital files; Sound cassettes

Citation: Black Mosaic: Community, Race, and Ethnicity among Black Immigrants in Washington, D. C. exhibition records, Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution.

Collection Rights: Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.

Note: The total playing time of interview recording is approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes.

Scope and Contents: Arturo Griffiths spoke about the creation of the Community Coalition, Multicultural Leadership Summit, and Multicultural Leadership Council after disturbances in the Mount Pleasant neighborhood in Washington, DC to address the needs of the Latino community and the Black community, and to bring communities together. And later, the creation and evolution of the Afro-Latino institute because the Latino community was not addressing their lack of inclusivity in regards to the Black community. Griffiths explained United States foreign policy, including why Central Americans flee to the US; Latinos' goals living in the United States; Latinos' lack of understanding regarding United States history, current events, racism, and inclusivity; the isolation of the Black community in the US which led to a lack of knowledge regarding Black people from other parts of the world; the lack of relationship and connection between the Black community and Latino community as well as between the Black people in the US and Black people from the rest of the world; and the attempts by the Black community in the US to reach out to other communities in the US and their efforts were not reciprocated. Griffiths spoke about Latinos' struggle for empowerment and lack of voting power; Frank Shaffer-Corona, the first elected Latino in DC area and first Latino on school board; racism within the Latino community; the Latino community leadership's lack of Black representation; and how people from various ethnic groups identify themselves and which groups feel isolated. Griffiths also spoke about his extended family history and ethnic background, which included West Indian and English ancestry; the racial segregation system, imposed by the United States, in the Canal Zone of Panama; the tension between Blacks of English descent and Blacks of Spanish descent; his politically active Afro-Panamanian father, who was forced out of Panama City and arrived in the United States in the middle of the Civil Rights movement; and his father's work in the US, including the organization of the Washington Ghetto Industrial Development and Investment Corporation to empower the ghettoes and Black communities economically through controlling the distribution of goods. Griffiths spoke about his childhood in Panama City as a Black West Indian kid who spoke Spanish and was raised by his mother; his school experience; racism within his family; and his family's economic instability. He described what he knew about the United States prior to arriving in the United States; his family's migration to the United States, including their migration preparations in Panama; his first impressions arriving in the center of the Black community in northwest Washington, DC during the Civil Rights Movement; and the segregation and discrimination he witnessed in the US. Griffiths talked about playing basketball when he was young; clashing with the Black kids in the US because he was a foreigner and spoke Spanish; being a part of one of the gangs to survive; learning English; and living in both and between the Latino community and the Black community. Arturo Griffiths was interviewed by Hector Corporan on December 23, 1992. Interview is in English and minimal Spanish. Digital audio files include white noise and static, and minimal background noise. Interviewee's voice is intelligible for the most part.

Collection Restrictions: Use of the materials requires an appointment. Please contact the archivist to make an appointment: ACMarchives@si.edu.

Oral history interview with Arturo Griffiths

Black Mosaic: Community, Race, and Ethnicity among Black Immigrants in Washington, D. C. Exhibition Records