New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, who is of Mexican heritage on his mother’s side, participated in the show’s May 2 roundtable. The roundtable focused on financial reform and immigration reform. And the show included an interview with Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar on the oil spill threatening the Gulf Coast.
I hope to see Latinos regularly invited to MTP and other national shows to talk about an array of issues. We have something to say, and not only on immigration.
Yes, under the Puerto Rico Democracy Act, actor Joaquin Phoenix would have the option of voting in a proposed referendum on the island’s political status. Not just ANY Puerto Rican can participate.
The actor-turned-bearded recluse now sputtering rhymes (as the publicity stunt we know it is) was born on the Enchanted Island. And he was reportedly raised there until the age of two.
Long ago, before the time of Joaquin, Spain dominated Puerto Rico (Geo 101: PR is a small archipelago, not simply an island). After the Spanish-Cuban-U.S. War of 1898, Puerto Rico had its colonial status transferred from Spain to the United States.
112 years later…
On Thursday, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a self-determination process for Puerto Rico. This means members of Congress voted to allow Puerto Ricans to vote in a two-step referendum. Now the Senate has to vote to approve, or reject, the House’s vote on Puerto Rico’s vote.
Whatever Puerto Ricans vote, Congress still has the final vote. The decision of Puerto Ricans is nonbinding.
There are a slew of questions and issues with this legislation. But one aspect that has been controversial with past referendums, and will be so with this one as well, is who gets to participate.
According to the Act, U.S. citizens born in Puerto Rico would be allowed to vote in the referendum. Big relief – Joaquin has enough sofrito to cast a vote, should he choose. (BTW, is he going to do the thumbs up or down signal like his emperor character in Gladiator?) But here are the folks who may not get that option:
• Some immigrants from Cuba and the Dominican Republic, for example. Many have long made Puerto Rico their home, are integral parts of communities in Puerto Rico and contribute to its economic, cultural and political life. (On the referendum, the Act includes: “(1) All eligible voters under the electoral laws in Puerto Rico at the time the plebiscite is held.”)
• Stateside Puerto Ricans not born on the island.
This is worth thinking about…
Latin American nations, indeed nations around the world, allow their extended communities abroad to participate in elections and referendums. This is a globalized world, where family ties and bonds easily cut across the sea and air, through phone lines, airplanes, and the Internet. In all of this, diasporas play a significant role, in family remittances and in countless other ways. What would Puerto Rico have done if Nuyoricans and Chicagoricans hadn’t hit the streets here and there to protest the U.S. Navy using Vieques for target practice?
Now let’s look at why Puerto Rican communities, through no fault of their own, sprouted in the states.
Hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans in the 1950’s did not hop on Eastern Airlines or PanAm for free playing cards (remember those days?) and a getaway to New York. The island’s failed development program and an official one-way-ticket policy forced the mass exit of Puerto Ricans. (Sound familiar with today’s heavy out-migration to states such as Florida?)
Estimates of the population siphoned off [from Puerto Rico] between 1950 and 1965 run from 900,000 to one million, including the children born to migrants. (from Labor Migration Under Capitalism: The Puerto Rican Experience – Center for Puerto Rican Studies)
James Dietz in the Economic History of Puerto Rico makes this point about the period of time known as the “great migration” for Puerto Ricans:
Thus the “safety valve” of migration, which was available because as U.S. citizens Puerto Ricans could move freely…removed the necessity, for a time, to have to confront the failure of the growth model to provide adequate employment and income.
This brings us to the longtime issue of Puerto Rico’s political, and thus economic, status. The referendum proposed to resolve this issue draws us to the questions of identity, who is Puerto Rican, and to what extent does a supposed “geographic headquarters” dominate that identity.
DGMS does not have the answers but I am hoping that a real Puerto Rican like Joaquin Phoenix will pipe in like the coqui that he is.
West 25 Street, Manhattan
Medal of Honor
Sergeant First Class Modesto Cartagena (Ret.) died last week in Guayama, Puerto Rico at the age of 87. In the legendary 65th Infantry of Puerto Rico, Cartagena was known as the “one-man Army” and was considered by many to be worthy of a Medal of Honor.
More than 61,000 Puerto Ricans served in the Korean War, the bulk of them with the 65th. Not one member of this unit has ever been recognized with the Medal of Honor.
I don’t think the Army ever let Cartagena or his family know the results of a Congressionally-mandated review of Hispanic soldiers who may have been under-decorated. In fact, I am not sure that any upgrades or awards have been issued to Latinos as a result of that federally-mandated review.
Here is the story on Cartagena’s heroism and his quest for a Medal of Honor.
See “Honor and Fidelity” on pages 62, 63.
Here is an editorial I wrote for El Diario-La Prensa: A Battle for History and Respect. Excerpt below.
Bravery and sacrifice know no color or language. But too many of the veterans who fought for our nation have been treated as footnotes to history. It is time for the U.S. Armed Forces and White House to give proper recognition to these aging men and women.
As many as 750,000 Latinos and Latinas served in the armed forces during World War II, according to the U.S. Latino & Latina WWII Oral History Project. During the Korean War, the 65th Infantry of Puerto Rico won the praise of legendary military commanders such as General Douglas MacArthur. Yet, in the telling of U.S. history, Latino soldiers have received little mention.
Correcting this virtual invisibility is a matter of historical accuracy. And the service of Hispanics—which dates as far back as the revolt of the 13 colonies—must be placed in its context. Latinos have enlisted during periods in which brutal racial segregation was the status quo and their rights as citizens were denied. Others served as immigrants, a tradition that continues to this day.
On the way to work this morning, a man sitting in the corner seats of the train—the seats my sister refers to as the anti-social section—just let out a stream of thoughts, some cliché, some not so. I had the typical New Yorker reaction at first—here we go—then I wound up jotting a lot of what he said.
Description:
Film of whitening hair on his head. Beige cap that he would take off and put to his chest as if waiting for an anthem to play. Gumby-green hooded sweater spilling out of brown velvet jacket that faded into mustard in some places. Brown tinted glasses. Desert Storm camouflage gloves. White and gray sneakers. Shopping bag, blue plastic bag with a thick twig running through, sitting on top of white canvas bag.
Here’s what he imparted…
People want to be vampires and a vampire ain’t human…they couldn’t program Nelson Mandela — 91 years old and still going strong.
If a person weighs 900 pounds you don’t tell them how fat they are—you help them reduce the weight. That’s intelligence…
You pay a price for having knowledge.
You got be a politician, a preacher and psychologist walking on eggshells around people because they will be uncomfortable with the fact that you have knowledge.
Train stops at 59th Street and he says to crowd of people exiting…We’ll continue later.
He resumes…
Character and decency—you earn that…you can’t buy that.
Whistles.
If you don’t have manners, you hang out with the governor…now don’t laugh — his staff may be on here.
Money can’t buy you love.
Real men don’t hit women.
Sometimes you gotta laugh to keep from crying.
It is better to have loved and lost than to not have loved at all.
All women have to do is stop holding on to the zero and hold on to the hero.
It’s not your altitude, it’s your attitude—in business and in romance.
All women are beautiful but the most beautiful woman is a lady.
14th Street – he looks at a tourist and says…Welcome to America.
Thanks, the tourist responds.
So how do you know we’re tourists – the man posed the question for the tourist.
Then he says to tourist– It’s gonna be alright.
He resumes…
Yesterday, children took over JFK.
Common sense says you ask somebody before you take pictures – he yells in response to someone snapping a shot.
If a woman has wisdom and the man is a fool, then the baby may come out a fool.
A woman who is a thoroughbred has no business being with a donkey.
Women tend to like men who are idiots. How many women say — my man is crazy—that means you’re a nut too!
A pig with a silk suit is still a pig.
An idiot with a Rolls Royce is still an idiot.
Fantasy is a game for children not adults.
Fin.
West Indian Day Parade '09 credit: Erica González
The annual West Indian Day Parade in New York City has plenty of bragging rights when it comes to creativity. No feather, sequin or color is spared in the elaborate and competitive costume-making, which is rooted in carnival traditions. But there is something more to this fabulous display of culture and ethnic pride.
Sure, there IS a lot of eye candy: most of the contingents of dancers wear tiny two-piece costumes or are shirtless—a spectacle boosted by all of the wining to soca and dancehall.
There is also a defiance of mainstream images.
Or maybe defiance isn’t the right word. It’s more like an utter dismissal of what’s propagated by the mass media—that is, how too many women, and men, are conditioned to swallow Giselle Bundchen’s shape as the ideal body goal. (I could get into how unrepresentative she is of most Brazilian women.)
Marching down Eastern Parkway were women of all shapes—a few thin, most thick and all heightened by the regality of their headdresses. They are voluptuous Caribbean women of all ages. They are real life women, sans airbrushing, fake boobs, and liposuction.
West Indian Day Parade '09 by Erica González
The wave after wave of women not beholden to Cosmo and Vogue would make some people gag. But I think that’s a projection of the body insecurities we are all made to feel—as in, “how dare she put on that costume when I wouldn’t.”
Caribbean women may be used to celebrating curves, but the pressure, in one form or another, is always there to hide them. So I appreciate the in-your-face boldness of the parade. It should be a wider standard.
We know Judge Sonia Sotomayor is wise. But who are some of the other wise Latinas the rest of the world should know about? Do share in the comments section.
Speaking of…decades ago, some wise women took on machismo in the Young Lords Party (YLP). This month, July, marks the 40th anniversary of the YLP’s establishment in New York City.
Iris Morales, the producer of the documentary ¡Palante Siempre Palante!: The Young Lords, served with the YLP’s education ministry. “We fought against this idea of revolutionary machismo because we said, what is revolutionary racism?” Morales told me in an interview last month. Read the article I wrote on how women shaped the YLP.
A point about the YLP — yes, it was mostly Puerto Rican, but included other Latinos and African Americans. “The Puerto Rican community has an incredible ability to build bridges with other communities,” said Denise Oliver, who was in the YLP.
Sophia Cleland (far left) and José Contreras listening to speakers last week in D.C. at a social networking night of the New Latino Movement.
New may imply that there is an old Latino movement. But veteran Latino activists shouldn’t take that as an insult. The drift here is that political networks have different origins and platforms in the age of social media. And yes, that another generation is stepping up to the plate.
Young Latinos were among the countless people glued to the U.S. Senate hearings on Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor. Many are inspired by her story. Some are taking that inspiration a step further.
At a gathering last week in Washington D.C., Hugo Nájera called the nomination of Sotomayor a pivotal moment for Latinos. “I think it parallels similarly with the way African Americans see Obama,” said Nájera, of Salvadoran descent. “To see someone physically there [on the Supreme Court] means it’s actually attainable.”
Nájera, 31, also called the expected appointment of Sotomayor to the Supreme Court “a powerful testament to the work of our people.”
Nájera, a policy expert in higher education, is part of a budding progressive social network called the New Latino Movement (NLM). The group describes itself online as a new generation of activists that emerged during the 2008 presidential election. This generation, according to the NLM, is committed to civic engagement and ensuring that the priorities of Latinos are at the forefront of the national agenda.
The NLM includes Latinos who work on Capitol Hill and with policy organizations or in other areas.
Melody Star Gonzales, who along with others has developed the NLM project, said the group organized a Latino political training day in January. NLM’s online community of Facebook supporters has grown to include more than 800 people from 32 states, Gonzales said.
NLM is hoping the excitement around Sotomayor’s nomination will help build on the activism around the last presidential elections. Last Tuesday, the NLM hosted a “Sotomayor supporter networking night” in D.C., where Rep. Charles Gonzalez. (D-TX) and Cesar Perales of Latino Justice PRLDEF were the special guests.
Sophia Cleland, a Mexicana and Native American in her 30’s, told me she attended the gathering because she wanted to celebrate Sotomayor’s nomination. “The criticism of the firefighters’ case – I thought she handled that really well,” said Cleland, a graduate student and immunologist at the National Institutes of Health.
At the reception, Lariss Jude, 22, pointed to the importance of the judiciary to Latinos seeking redress for inequities. Jude, who is of Mexican and European descent, said the day she started working with the national Latina organization MANA was the day Sotomayor’s nomination was announced. “It was a beautiful thing,” said Jude, who is entering law school this fall.
In D.C., there are 34,000 Latinos over the age of 18 out of a Hispanic population of 49,000. In the nation, Latinos are the fastest-growing population, one that skews younger. Each month, thousands of Hispanics turn 18, making them eligible to register to vote.
Besides leaning young, Latinos are incredibly diverse. But Jose Contreras, an NLM member, says the ties that bind are strong. While Sotomayor is Puerto Rican, Latinos of other ethnicities remain enthusiastic about her nomination, said Contreras, 30, and a technology consultant living in Maryland.
“No matter what country you come from, we all have a common thread,” said Contreras, who is Colombian and Salvadoran. “For us, it’s a proud moment.”
Much of the criticism of Sotomayor around her ethnicity has to do with who is perceived—or rather, not perceived to be— a “real” American.
In an insightful op-ed for the NY Daily News, scholar and filmmaker Frances Negrón-Muntaner lays out how the Supreme Court has played a central role in excluding the citizens of Puerto Rico and other U.S. territories from full civil rights.
“Unlike other Latinos, the Supreme Court has deeply scarred Puerto Rican political life,” Negrón-Muntaner writes. “The people who live in the territories, nearly 5 million strong, are American citizens only in name.”
She says this of the Sotomayor nomination – “Given this context, that a Puerto Rican may become a Supreme Court judge is a stunning historical development.”
A very good angle to raise in what’s been a circular debate so far around Sotomayor.
From heylatino
So does Coors think it’s being cute with its ad ”Emboricuate” — a spin off the word emborachate, which means get drunk. What do you think about this ad?
And what is up with Heylatino’s ignorance: “Yea, the ad looks great but we mustn’t forget the fact that people will take it literally and another “Puerto Rican RAPE Day” (ca 2000) may cast a shadow over this great event, once again.”
