Juan Montaño Escobar, the jazzman of the 8 minutes 46 seconds of Black Lives Matter

Abstract

This essay analyzes the literary response of Ecuadorian Juan Montaño Escobar to the Black Lives Matter movement and the tragic death of George F. Floyd, Jr. on May 25, 2020. More than a protest or complaint, Montaño presents a statement of collective appropriation of those stolen 8 minutes 46 seconds, to claim them as an act of (re)existence and resignification, precisely because Black Lives Matter and because the movement highlights the systemic racism that defines the history of the Americas.