State of Grace

It's not that I am not grateful;
For the graceful ways that we be today,
When you came our way we were of simpler minds
and even more simpler ways.
We dreamt of coffee fields on mountainous hills,
Of colorful mornings and wondrous sights.
We looked forward to the sounds of nature's abide
welcoming us into La Isla Del Encanto;
yes,  paradise.

It's not that I am not grateful;
For the learnt way we be today.
You brought with you fine institutions of wisdom
and established them in our small little island.
And our knowledge grew of the things you knew
For before you came
We knew only of our Mother Spain and of
our African and Taino ways.
Of 500 years, of the Old Lady's pain
and of becoming masters of healing
and music, and dance, while still appearing
humble and compliant.
Of dancing ballads from all three nations
and graceful names throughout creation.
A thousand years of Moor influence
propelled our task masters; and maritime
conquests abounded.
Of Don Quijote and fine composers,
of fine wines, architecture and fine perfumes.

Oh, what?  That is not what you heard?

You were told we were a population of illiterate peasants?
That poverty and disease ran rapid?
That we were unsophisticated and uncouth?
Void of any true culture and therefore, in need of total
revamping and Americanization?
It is true what they say,
"Don't believe everything you read".

It's not that I am not grateful;
That our agricultural lands were paved over
and industrial buildings where erected
in place of our sugar cane, coffee and tobacco crops.
And over a century of one way trading
has left Puerto Rico totally dependent on
the United States' unilateral trading practices.
Cultivating trade with other countries is
forbidden.  Reminds me of that saying;
"First you make thieves and then you punish
them for stealing?"

It's not that I am not grateful;
For allowing us the opportunity to fight in all
your wars.
Yet be seen as solely a mestizo race
and given our own little special place
called segregation and isolation.
That our beautiful, strong, lovely women
were chosen in medical experimentations
and thanks to them, we now have contraception.
Political prisoners where given radiation
and mental patients cancer cells.
If you believe we were the only ones;
And that that could not happen here?
You need to open your eyes and recognize.
The drug infestation in major cities
like New York, Chicago and California, of the
1930's, were orchestrated by vile men who wanted
to exterminate spics and niggers.

Yes, you and me.

It's not that I am not grateful,
I still believe in our forefathers' vision and still believe in
their promise.
That in this land, over here, things were
going to be different, better, and all inclusive.
That race, language, sexual preference, religious ideology
and theology, mental capacity and/or monetary deficiency
or abundance;
none of it,
none of it would matter.
You could still have a chance at the pursuit of happiness,
only if you are brave enough to chase it.
I believe in this country enough to hand over my only two sons
and say, "Now go fight for our Nation".
I tell them, "No matter where you are; Remember who you are" and
sleep soundly knowing,
that they take those words to heart.


Dedicated to First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, "Good looking out Girl!"

Puerto Rico - An American State 113 Years In The Making; Part I

Throughout my lifetime, I have had to explain to my American countrymen exactly what is the correlation between Puerto Rico and the United States.  It boggles my mind how little the average American knows regarding the politics that have given puertoricans their current U.S. Citizen status.  Some aren't even aware that puertorricans are in fact U.S. Citizens.  Let this blog serve as Legal Notice to all my fellow Americans, we are indeed, real bona fide Americans; with some stipulations, of course.

As with all my blogs, a brief history into the subject matter is necessary and my pleasure to oblige.

The island of Puerto Rico is merely 110 miles long by 40 miles wide.  Among its territory is included the smaller surrounding islands of Vieques, Culebra and Mona.  It is the smallest of the Greater Antilles Islands, in the Caribbean Sea; an unincorporated territory of the United States, located east of the Dominican Republic and west of the Virgin Islands.

Discovered by Christopher Columbus, November 19, 1493, on his second voyage to the Americas; it is so small in land mass that he just simply sailed right by it the first time.  Puerto Rico was originally named by Columbus, Saint John the Baptist (San Juan el Bautista).  As time went on, due to popular common usage, the name of its principal port and the island were reversed.  Sailors and merchants referred to the entire island as Puerto Rico (Rich Port) and the northeastern port where they made their fortunes as San Juan.

The indigenous people that inhabited the island at the time of discovery, were Arawak Indians known as Tainos.  Mostly hunters and fishermen, whom by archeological findings, are theorizied to have traveled from the region of the Orinoco river, on the northern South American area of what is today known as Venezuela.  They called the island "Borike", meaning "Land of the Valiant Lord", in Spanish, Borike became "Borinquen", a phrase still commonly used by and for modern day puertoricans.  "Boricua" or "Borinqueno" is used to describe a person born on the island or of puertorican heritage.  The island is also popularly known in Spanish as "La Isla del Encanto" which means "The Island of Enchantment" in English.  It is the main reason why I proudly proclaim that we, the United States, have a little piece of paradise in our own backyard, Puerto Rico.

As is now so commonly known with the history of the colonization of the New World, these indigenous people were nearly driven to extinction by the diseases (small pox), forced labor (slavery) and many years of ill treatment inflicted by their Spanish conquerors.  Within 50 years the Taino population were reduced to such small numbers that the importation of Sub-Saharan African slaves was introduced to provide the new manual work force for the Spanish colonists and merchants.  African slavery was primarily restricted to coastal ports and cities, while the interior of the island continued to be essentially unexplored and undeveloped. Wikipedia


Spain quickly realized this newly discovered island's strategic location in its quest for colonial expansion.  Various forts and walls, such as La Fortaleza, El Castillo San Felipe del Morro and El Castillo de San Cristobal, were built to protect the port of San Juan from numerous European invasion attempts.  The port of San Juan became an important port of call for ships of all European nations for the purposes of replenishing water, food and other necessities, and making repairs for the continuation of their journeys to North, Central and South America.  Puerto Rico was under Spanish rule, influence and military protection for over 500 years.

Just before the Spanish-American War broke out between the two super powers, Puerto Rico was going through some political growing pains with the Motherland.  In 1809, Spain attempted to secure its stronghold on its New World colonies, by allowing representatives of its Spanish colonies to participate in parliamentary proceedings in the Mainland Iberia.  The first Spanish parliamentary representative from the island of Puerto Rico was Ramon Power y Giralt.  Several independent movements organized themselves during this time.  Poverty and political estrangement with Spain led to a small but significant uprising in 1868 known as "Grito de Lares."  Leaders of this independence movement included Ramon Emeterio Betances, considered the "father" of the Puerto Rican independence movement, and other political figures such as Segundo Ruiz Belvis. Wikipedia

To elaborate on the above Wikipedia notation, on September, 28, 1868, Manuel Rojas, Commander in Chief, of the Puerto Rican Liberation Army, led 800 men and women in a revolt against Spanish rule and took the town of Lares, in what is known as the "Grito de Lares" (The Cry of Lares).

In 1897, Luis Munoz Rivera, an autonomous political thinker and father of the future first democratically elected Governor of Puerto Rico, Luis Munoz Marin; along with others, persuaded the liberal Spanish government to agree to Charters of Autonomy for Cuba and Puerto Rico.  In the month of February, in 1898, Puerto Rico's first, but short-lived, autonomous government was organized as an "overseas province" of Spain.  In other words, Puerto Rico became an autonomous, if not, a totally independent country on July 17, 1898.

On July 25, 1898, during the Spanish-American War, Puerto Rico was invaded by the United States with a landing at Guanica.  As an outcome of the war, Spain ceded Puerto Rico, along with the Philippines and Guam to the U.S. under the Treaty of Paris.  Spain relinquished sovereignty over Cuba, but did not cede it to the U.S.  Wikipedia  And thus, ended our romance with the idea of Independence; for the moment.  This chapter is still in deliberations with Congress and the puertorican population on the island.

In noticing the extensive background of the puertorican experience, I have decided that this is a good place to divide this blog into at least two parts.  I will end Part I here.  And continue with the modern day issues and my own commentaries on the subject in Part II; to be concluded, hopefully within the next few days.