Puerto Rican Obituary and the Meaning of Sotomayor's Accomplishment

by Angelo Falcón

Whenever there is a momentous occasion in the Puerto Rican community, like the swearing-in (Saturday) of Judge Sonia Sotomayor as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, I always try to get some perspective by revisiting the late Pedro Pietri's epic verse, Puerto Rican Obituary. While some have commented on the historic vote confirming Judge Sotomayor this past week being on the 40th anniversary of the adoption of the also historic federal Voting Rights Act (VRA), I also like to acknowledge that this is the 40th anniversary of Pedro's first reading of Puerto Rican Obituary in El Barrio.

Puerto Rican Obituary reminds us how far we have come as a people, and how far we have yet to go. It is also a reminder of how the Puerto Rican experience, although not technically one of immigrants, parallels many of the realities that Latino and other immigrants face today.

We have acknowledged and celebrated our collective accomplishment with a Justice Sotomayor in the Supreme Court as Latinos. Now the work continues in the fight for social justice for our people and all humanity. As Puerto Rican Obituary shows us as a historical baseline, we have made some real progress, but much still needs to be done. Keep a copy with you and refer to it next time something amazing happens.

Un abrazo.

Angelo Falcón is president of the National Institute for Latino Policy. This article was originally published in the Institute's e-newsletter.

Note: See the related blog entry below and listen to Pietri recite the Puerto Rican Obituary.

"Puerto Rican Obituary," by Pedro Pietri (1973)

source: peaceonearthforu/YouTube

Judge Sonia Sotomayor Sworn In As Supreme Court Justice

Coverage of Judge Sonia Sotomayor as she is officially sworn is as an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court by Chief Justice John Roberts in Washington, D.C. Her mother and brother are with her. Felicidades to this boricua who hails from the Bronx.

source: PoliticsNewsPolitics, YouTube

Salsa in the Park at Crotona

Community calendar

Salsa in the Park

Crotona Park, Claremont Avenue and Crotona Park East

noon to 6 p.m., August 8

Free

This is an event of the Bronx Puerto Rican Parade.

For more information, www.bronxprparade.com.

(photo of a little girl participating in the Bronx Puerto Rican Parade earlier this year by Clarisel Gonzalez)

Manny Hernandez Jr. chats with PRSUN Radio

Manuel Hernandez Jr., writer and educator, is my guest Wednesday on PRSUN Radio at www.blogtalkradio.com/prsunradio. Hernandez has presented workshops, coordinated symposiums, conducted television interviews and moderated panels on the literature written by United States based Latino writers in Puerto Rico, the United States and Mexico. He also writes commentary essays on education for several websites and newspapers in Puerto Rico and The United States. He published a textbook titled, Latino/a Literature in The English Classroom (Editorial Plaza Mayor, 2003). The book was nominated for Latino Book of The Year 2004. He also published a semi-auto-bio titled, The Birth of a Rican. The self-published narrative is in the index catalogs at Latino Studies at  Michigan State University and El Centro at Hunter College, CUNY, NY. His vision is to promote Latino Literature to motivate teens to read and write. Having an encounter with Latino Literature will help teens (especially Latino teens) to improve their scores on city, national and statewide exams and will prepare them for further literary analysis. He is currently in professional staff development in the English department at the DE in Puerto Rico. 

Manny will speak on English teaching in Puerto Rico, his writings and more.

(photo courtesy of Manuel Hernandez Jr.)

UPDATE: To listen to my interview with Manny, go to the PRSUN Radio widget box right here in this blog or go directly to www.blogtalkradio.com/prsunradio.

Bronx News Network: Protest Over Controversial Art Piece Fizzles

Bronx News Network: Protest Over Controversial Art Piece Fizzles

While the so-called protest fizzles, the Bronx News Network wants to know what are your thoughts in the use of the word "Spic" in art. Check out this entry.

Broken Promises

American Values Network Releases White Paper: Vieques Today, A Sea of Broken Promises

 

Washington, DC (CapitalWirePR) - A new white paper by American Values Network examines the current situation in the island municipality of Vieques, Puerto Rico. Vieques is a small U.S. territorial island located eight miles from the main island of Puerto Rico. The people of Vieques are American citizens who have made tremendous sacrifices for our country’s national security. For over 200 days per year from 1941-2003, the Navy used significant portions of the Island of Vieques for training exercises and munitions testing.

During this period, the Navy tested nearly every kind of munitions employed by the military, dropping over 80 million pounds of ordnance on Vieques from 1984-1998 alone. The Navy has refused to disclose the complete list and amounts of all materials sprayed, dropped, tested, or disposed of on the island and surrounding ocean during the 62-years of weapons testing.
 
The people of Vieques have a 25% higher infant mortality rate, 30% higher rate of cancer, a 381% higher rate of hypertension, a 95% higher rate of cirrhosis of the liver, and a 41% higher rate of diabetes than those on the main island of Puerto Rico a mere 8 miles away. Despite these facts, the Navy denies any culpability and refuses to help alleviate the suffering it has caused.
 
The health claims of the American citizens in Vieques have been supported by a multitude of groups and faith-based organizations, including the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC), the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO), the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), and the American Values Network, among others.

The full white paper is at http://americanvaluesnetwork.org/vieques/white-paper/
 

'The War Boys' premieres tonight at the NYILFF

Tonight "The War Boys," a film by Ron Daniels, makes its world debut at the New York International Latino Film Festival. I give it a thumbs up. 

It is not the stereotypical story of Mexicans crossing the border. It looks at the issue from a different perspective. It explores how easy it is for us to laugh at what we don't know, for us to make to do things even though they are not right just to feel big.

"The War Boys is not about the plight of the illegal immigrant, desperate to cross the border into El Norte, fleeing poverty for a better life," writes Ron Daniels, the director who was born and grew up in a small town across the Guanabara Bay from Rio de Janiero.

"That story cannot be told enough," he states. "And only circumstantially is it about the cross border smuggling trade. The originality of The War Boys, perhaps, is that it tells the immigration story from the point of view of three American young men (including one who is Latino) who could be called 'harmless' racists."

The screenplay has its source in Naomi Wallace's one act drama "The War Boys," which Daniels adapted for the screen. Daniels says the screen version is changed, but the premised is the same. It is based on a vigilante movement that flourished briefly in California called "The Light Up the Border Brigade," which Daniels says was a precursor of the Minutemen.

The film is tonight at 8 p.m. at the SVU Theater Screen 2 and at 5:30 p.m. tomorrow at the Clearview Cinemas Chelsea Screen 7, both in Manhattan.

Here's the synopsis for the film:

The heart knows no borders.

David, George, and Greg, best friends since high school, are “The War Boys”. They used to perch on the US-Mexican border, waiting to spot illegal immigrants who were trying to run into the United States. Sometimes, without a thought for the immigrants, the boys chased them across the wasteland and back across the border – just for fun. It was just one of those games boys played to make themselves feel big. But high school’s over now. David is unexpectedly home from his freshman year of college and the War Boys have been reunited. Now the boys come up with a new plan – they steal a truck from David’s father trucking company, filled with what they believe to be black market televisions. Their plan to sell them, make a quick buck and move to New York is complicated, however, when the contents of the truck prove to be much more sinister than the boys had thought. Meanwhile new feelings and relationships are forming between them, their friends, and their families. The young vigilantes finally come to realize that they are as vulnerable and as helpless as the immigrants they once chased across the border.

Here's the trailer:

The War Boys Trailer from Brandon Roots on Vimeo.

For more information, visit the movie's site at www.thewarboys.com.

Check it out.

Revisiting "Down These Mean Streets'

Pensamientos

Reading "Down These Mean Streets" after twenty years, when i was young i was not prepared to read "Down These Mean Streets," now I respect Piri. -- Coconut Brujita

Coconut Brujita contributes her pensamientos to Puerto Rico Sun.

Editor's note: "Down These Mean Streets" by Piri Thomas is available at the PRSUN aStore. Click here:

Director Victor Cruz speaks on his short film 'La Operacion'

Examiner speaks to Victor Cruz on his "La Operacion (The Operation)," a short 15 minute film he directed on the sterilization of Puerto Rican women during the 1940s.

The synopsis of Victor's film is based on a bill passed in 1937, which allowed the sterilization of women on the island and the decision one woman makes on whether to go ahead with the procedure.

"La Operacion" is now part of the lineup of short program playing at the New York International Latino Film Festival in Manhattan. 

For more, go to my Examiner site at http://www.examiner.com/x-11970-NY-Latino-Community-Examiner~y2009m7d30-Director-Victor-Cruz-speaks-on-his-short-film-La-Operacion