Description: About 30 mails southeast of Cartagena Colombia sits Palenque a community whose residence are descendants of African maroons who escaped slavery under the leadership of Benkos Bioho to establish the first free black town in the Americas in 1607.

Today, palenqueros celebrate and preserve the African cultural traditions that freed their ancestors. Through language, spirituality, food, and art, they use these traditions as weapons and tools to fight current social and environmental battles, strengthen their connection to the rest of the diaspora, and assert themselves as Africans

This short documentary is my attempt to highlight voices of Palenqueros who are articulate the importance of their African identity