Examples Of Racism In Puerto Rico

On the other hand, personal experiences of a Puerto Rican woman are shown and she explains how people around her judge her behavior, her actions, and even the way she dresses.

Puerto Rico’s association with the United States and its metamorphosis began when in 1898 U.S. troops invaded Puerto Rico during the Spanish-American War. Up until that point, Puerto Rico had remained one of Spain’s last two colonies in the New World. Puerto Rico’s Spanish heritage is seen when “Puerto Rican essayist Antonio Pedreira, writing in the 1930’s, termed the first three centuries of Spanish rule a period of ‘faithful prolongation of the Spanish culture’” (qtd. in Morris 21). Spanish influence is also seen when “without rejecting his ‘Puerto Rican Spanishness,’ the Puerto Rican ‘considered himself a Spaniard from here with ideas and reactions different from those from there’” (qtd.

Racism is directly discussed in Esperanza’s neighborhood by describing how the outsiders see the Hispanic residents. The outsiders that have moved in or just happen to drive down the streets “Those who don't know any better come into our neighborhood scared. They think we're dangerous. They think we will attack them with shiny knives.” (28). Before even meeting the people, the outsiders assume the residents are bad people ready to hurt others just from others discriminatory remarks. This, too, is one of the reasons Cathy and her parents consider members of their neighborhood to be “bad.” In “Cathy Queen of Cats,” Esperanza is introduced to Cathy, her first friend on Mango Street. However, Cathy can only be Esperanza’s friend until next

My process of enculturation into the Puerto Rican culture can be explained with the iceberg analogy, having in mind that the island itself has a high context background. Above water, the official language is Spanish, although English is taught mandatory on the education system since first grade. One of the things a tourist or anyone that starts assimilating the culture can experience first hand is the passion Puerto Ricans have to speak loudly and use many hand gestures during conversations. This passion is not only present during social interactions, but also on the way citizen’s carry out their beliefs. Even though, the island is a place recognized for its great night life activities and bars, the religion is 85% Catholic, therefore many people go to church on Sundays and tend to be very precocious of their actions because of their faith and religious thinking. Inside the water, on the aspect of feelings and values, Puerto Ricans are very traditional, nevertheless,

Not necessarily the history but the story or interpretation of the past as perceived by the elite. Gonzalez suggests that the recreation of the history of Puerto Rican society can be expressed metaphorically as the construction of a building. "As the new layers of the history or floors are added the foundation becomes more and more obscured from view" (Figueroa 9/15). As the higher levels continued to build they were able to create the illusion of a "pure, white" society by rejecting and denying their Taino and African heritage.

Interestingly enough I never learned about the history of Puerto Rico while in school. The curriculum during my grade school years never included Puerto Rican history. It is interesting that there is a whole month dedicated to Hispanic heritage and not once did we touch upon the history of Puerto Rico. When reading the book by Ray Suarez I found that there were many instances where oppression, racism, and discrimination were portrayed. Ray Suarez speaks about Isabel Gonzalez a young pregnant Puerto Rican woman who wanted to move to the United States with her fiancé who was an American citizen. However, while on her way to New York a new regulation was passed that changed her immigration

When Puerto Ricans migrated to the United States they did it in two major waves. The first wave of emigration occurred in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century. The second wave occurred from the 1940s to the present. The workings of Bernando Vega and Jose Cruz deal with the different generations of Puerto Ricans that these two waves brought to the United States. While Vega discusses the early emigration of Puerto Ricans to New York City, Cruz discusses the later emigration of Puerto Ricans to Connecticut. Each author describes a different Puerto Rican experience in the

Many people ask me where am I from. My answer is I am from Puerto Rico. Generally, their reaction always is like are you sure? you don’t look Puerto Rican you look more Dominican. Often, I ask myself am I Dominican or am I Puerto Rican? Piri Thomas was born in Harlem, New York he was born during the Great Depression. His mother is a light-skinned Puerto Rican and his father is a dark skin Cuban. Thomas introduced himself to the world in the prologue of his memoir Down These Mean Streets. This story is about a black son of a Puerto Rican and Cuban during the Great Depression in El Barrio, East Harlem, the dehumanizing racism he even faced within his family and neighbors. When his family moves from 111th street to 114th street, Piri face’s a new culture however, he does not seem to fit in. Piri takes his dark coloring from his father and spends his adolescence trying to balance the need to fit in.

Most people think that the struggle for race equality finished with Obama, but in reality, society has just reached the tip of the iceberg. In the article “Afro Latinos: Black denial”, the author argues that Dominican women are in denial about their blackness because being white is considered superior and black is inferior. This connects to The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, when the author argues that the history of the Dominican Republic affects the way people think and express themselves. Namely, Beli and Lola in their young adulthood when they struggle to fit in. These characters relate the issues to the real world, where the standards of success are for the most part are the same as the white standards of success. Race Hegemony exists

“The needs of a society determine its ethics, and in the black American ghettos the hero is that man who is offered only the crumbs from his country 's table but by ingenuity and courage is able to take for himself a Lucullan feast. Hence the janitor who lives in one room but sports a robin 's-egg-blue Cadillac is not laughed at but admired, and the domestic who buys forty-dollar shoes is not criticized but is appreciated. We know that they have put to use their full mental and physical powers. Each single gain feeds into the gains of the body collective” (Angelou 218). Maya believes that blacks are being robbed of their lives and freedom to explore, grow, and succeed. This statement shows that ones with the very little they have will utilize it completely and have that to their advantage, and then they will succeed. Racism and prejudice are large factors that shapes Maya’s autobiography and eventually motivate her to ignore all of the negative influences and build her confidence. There are also many violent events towards blacks that show Maya the severity of prejudice in her society. One day when Maya was at the store a fight was on the radio where a black man and white man were battling in a boxing ring. When the black fighter Louis was getting beaten Maya thought, “It was our people falling. It was another

In 1945, technological advances in the aviation field helped Puerto Ricans migrate in immense numbers, and also the air fare of flights were affordable for the average Puerto Rican instead of a higher upper class only being able to afford air travel. Puerto Ricans then began to travel all over the US, but a massive number, about 200 to 500 thousand migrated toward New York. Now before the mass migration, Puerto Ricans were already living in New York, specifically in East Harlem known as “El Barrio” to many Puerto Ricans. They had moved there mainly because of the affordable housing rent and non-existent racial discrimination since racial discrimination was still big in the 1920-60’s. The

The Puerto Rican people have a rich history of culture and ethnicity. Despite the many migrations of the Puerto Ricans, an intense spirit of ethnicity and cultural pride has followed these people wherever they have gone, whether that be migrations from rural areas to industrialized cities or from the small island of Puerto Rico to the vast mainland of the United States. However, the struggles of these people have become obscured over the passing of generations. As evidenced by Shakira Ramos, generations of Puerto Ricans born and raised in the United States aren't always well informed of the rich history of their ancestors. Shakira admits

A Grounded Identidad: Making New Lives in Chicago’s Puerto Rican neighborhoods, by Merida M. Rua focuses on the history of Puerto Rican communities in Chicago. This captures an analysis between the memory and the history to comprehend Puerto Ricans in the essence of the way they lived in Chicago. The focus on the different communities causes a touch on many different topics like for example, gentrification, family and the community. This causes each piece to be looked as how it can affect gender, class, or race. The author, Merida M. Rua gives the reader a well understanding of what it is like to be a Puerto Rican in a Chicago neighborhood. Rua represents herself as an ethnographer where she uses archival research. Even though the Puerto Rican individuals come to the United States for a better living, it is not what they imagine. The individuals living in these minority neighborhoods causes them to face many complications and problems due to poverty and especially where dislocation keeps occurring in each situation. These conditions are just the beginning and what Rua explains is that it is not something that is under the hands of the Puerto Ricans because they don’t have the control to change it. This book relates the significance of identity and how it is shaped. Destination is also an important aspect to reflect upon because of the fact of living in the same place for a year. These Puerto Rican individuals are at

Puerto Ricans face challenges in every aspect of their lives in and out of the island of Puerto Rico. In America, a trip to the hospital and or post offices may make life difficult when this culture of people try to figure out what they need or have had done. The need for medical care to ensure they have received immunizations necessary for school or work poses a problem especially because of the language barrier. If this culture of people find themselves in a courtroom situation they will clean but not with a full understanding of the situation the plead and the full ramifications of the plate even with an

Racism is certainly not just a black and white issue. It seems we tend to focus more on the racism between blacks and whites, because that is the long standing history that is that “the population will be 32 percent Latin/Asian/Pacific American and Native engrained in the fabric of the United States. “Such arrogant indifference extends to Latinos within the U.S.” (as cited in Ore by Martinez, 2013, pg. 752). As Martinez states American...by the year 2050” (as cited in Ore by Martinez, 2013, pg. 753). If that will truly be the case, why is it that no one talks about the brutal and violent history of the past or the present day racism that exist for Latin Americans today? If it is talked about, the conversation revolves around how to keep Latinos