The Puerto Ricans who support statehood always insist that the U.S. invasion was celebrated by the people of the island. What they fail to mention is that Gen. Miles and his 3300 soldiers were greeted as “liberators,” in quotes, not as mere substitutes for the Spanish colonizers.
The discovery of an old rifle in the woods leads to a reflection on the Native Americans who first inhabited the area around Chicago and the city’s early history.
My grandma votes Republican because she believes in three things: money, strength, and the rule of law. Whether the Republican Party stands for any of those things is beside the point because, to her, and to a lot of other people still, the Republicans represent those values more than the Democrats.
For a nation that suffers from as much economic hardship as Puerto Rico does, understanding more about its colonial and coffee history may allow for conversations to develop that focus on potentially using coffee as a vessel to improve Puerto Rico’s economy.
Although the topic of colonial reparations for Puerto Rico has been ongoing for decades, there is a newfound interest, as more people recognize that after 124 years of abuse, humiliation, human rights violations, and economic exploitation through colonialism the United States owes Puerto Rico compensation.
I’m straddling two separate Latino worlds — one where people celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day and know all about what’s going on with the Los Angeles City Council, and another where people observe Columbus Day and have never heard the name Nury Martínez.
As was true in the 1970s, when the National Security Council gave its since-forgotten recommendation, is still true today: Puerto Rican decolonization and sovereignty are in the national, geopolitical, economic, and diplomatic interests of both Puerto Rico and the United States.
In his new, vibrant, and urgent documentary, ‘My Imaginary Country,’ Chilean filmmaker Patricio Guzmán returns to the streets of his native Santiago, where a second revolution is brewing, one without any leaders or ideologies, born out of the frustration of a people tired of being ignored and abused by the powers that be.
