Yamberlie M. Tavarez

Reclaiming Identity & Struggle:

A Review of Roberto Carlos Garcia’s Traveling Freely

In Traveling Freely, Roberto Carlos Garcia offers an unapologetic exploration of race, identity, and the complexities of being a Black, Afro-Latine Dominican man in today’s world. Through thorough, straight-talking essays, Garcia engages with the intersection of his personal experiences and the broader societal issues of systemic racism, colorism, and cultural contradictions within the Dominican community. With an intellectual lens and emotional vulnerability, Garcia demands reflection and action, challenging readers to reconsider how they understand their own identities and complicity in systems of oppression.

One of the most perceptible aspects of Traveling Freely is Garcia’s straightforward and blunt manner. He does not shy away from confronting the Dominican community’s internalized racism, anti-Haitian sentiment, and the discomforting realities of Blackness in the Dominican context. Garcia’s refusal to soften his critique forces readers, particularly Dominicans, to reckon with their history of denying their Blackness. As Garcia writes, “We need to reexamine our sociohistorical selves. I completely agree that race is a construct, but identity is a necessity.” This juxtaposition of race as a social construct and identity as an undeniable truth becomes the backbone of Garcia’s argument. Through his unapologetic prose, Garcia demands accountability, urging readers to reflect on their roles in perpetuating oppression.

Garcia also tackles the torturous terrain of racial identity within the Afro-Latine community. His struggle to claim his Blackness within a society that marginalizes it reflects a broader experience shared by many in the Afro-Latine community. The tension between Garcia’s heritage and his experience as a Black man drives much of the narrative. Growing up as a child of Dominican immigrants, Garcia reflects on how deeply ingrained racism—both internal and external—shapes his understanding of self. He writes, “We cannot continue to refuse to see our own reflection in the struggles of others,” calling for solidarity across racial lines. In his critique of Dominican anti-Blackness, Garcia urges his people to embrace the full spectrum of Blackness in all its forms.

Garcia addresses the divisiveness and colorism that pervades Latinx spaces and calls for a reconciliation of shared histories of Blackness that extend beyond race and identity to encompass the fractured relationships between Afro-Latines and African Americans. One particularly moving passage discusses the need for collective action: “We’re not creating a brand. Your identity is not a marketable widget. We do want to move closer to a reunification of displaced African people: a political, social, economic, technological, and global reunification.” This call for reunification is intellectual and emotional, confronting painful truths while envisioning a future of unity.

Traveling Freely is Garcia’s meditation on the dynamics of race and class in the United States. By exploring issues like gentrification, capitalism, and economic disparity, Garcia delves into the intersectionality of race and class. He writes, “Injustice travels freely across America, more freely than even her citizens,” offering a sobering critique of how systemic injustice persists despite the façade of progress. Garcia’s perspective on the inequality embedded in American society provides much-needed context for understanding how race and class intersect convolutedly.

Garcia also tackles the issue of toxic masculinity with a rawness that invites vulnerability. His reflections on the pressures of manhood and the rejection of emotional depth reveal a desire to transcend traditional norms of masculinity. In one passage, he references Audre Lorde’s concept of “the erotic” as a path to true freedom, stating, “True freedom comes from embracing emotional depth and rejecting the confines of traditional masculinity.” This exploration of gender roles within the context of race offers a fuller understanding of the emotional and psychological burdens borne by men of color.

While Traveling Freely is, at its core, an intellectual exploration, Garcia’s use of personal anecdotes makes the book deeply human. One particular section discusses his family’s trip to the Canary Islands, where Garcia experiences not-so-subtle forms of racism that force him to confront the ubiquity of discrimination. These and other encounters with racism are not just abstract concepts but tangible, lived experiences. Garcia writes, “Tears are a physical response, one born from emotion. The journey to deconstruct the obstruction—the one that prevents tears, sympathy, empathy.” Garcia’s belief is that racial trauma is not just an intellectual exercise but an emotional one that requires empathy and understanding.

Garcia also critiques the literary world’s complicity in toxic cultural norms. He calls out celebrated authors like Junot Díaz for their complicity in perpetuating harmful behaviors, asking readers to reconsider how marginalized voices are tokenized. His critique of literary elitism and tokenism invites readers to reflect on how the literary establishment often turns a blind eye to issues like sexism, misogyny, and toxic masculinity. As he writes, “We should be foolish to take down yet another famous artist for being a misogynist and sexual trespasser and not also take down the institutions that enabled him.”

The final essays in the collection delve even deeper into systemic violence and its generational impact. The essays serve as a call to action that demands that readers confront how they perpetuate or challenge these systems and challenge us to reflect on our own complicity in perpetuating racism, urging us to take real, tangible action. As he candidly writes, “The only conclusion a sane person can reach is that the state wants us to always feel this terror. With each passing day, it feels like there are more people on the side of this madness than people who would see it end.” 

Garcia critiques the tendency of white writers to avoid addressing their complicity in racism, urging them to confront their own biases. In American Violence, he examines how the trauma of systemic oppression is passed down through generations, becoming an inescapable part of the Black experience. 

Through his writing, Garcia challenges us to see one another beyond societal roles and expectations, reminding us that while the journey toward freedom and understanding may be arduous, it is profoundly worth the effort. True freedom, Garcia argues, requires stripping away the constructs and falsehoods we’ve been conditioned to accept. It is a burden as much as a blessing, demanding constant introspection and the courage to embrace vulnerability.