Category: Features
Featured articles about Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans
Puerto Ricans in the US and the 2010 Census: 100 years and still counting … A reflection
By Victor Vázquez-Hernández In the closing days of 2010, the U.S. Census Bureau began to release the data collected earlier this year. For Puerto Ricans in the Diaspora (US-based), the 2010 census has a particular historical meaning — it marks the 100th anniversary since the first US Census, back in 1910, started counting Puerto Ricans as a separate group. It would be a good time for our community to take stock of where we are and how far we have come in one century. For the National Congress for Puerto…
Read MoreThree Kings Day – Festival de los Magos Reyes
Three Kings Day The Magi were then warned in dreams that revealed Herod’s deadly intentions for the child and decided to return home by a different route in order to thwart them. This prompted Herod to resort to killing all the young children in Bethlehem, an act called the Massacre of the Innocents, in an attempt to eliminate a rival heir to his throne. Jesus and his family had, however, escaped to Egypt beforehand. El Día de los Tres Reyes, occurs on January the sixth. Depending on where you are,…
Read MorePuerto Rican Politics Information Resources
Politicos Boricuas !! Come and be part of the intelligent and constructive political debates that are going on currently… Are you for Statehood?, ELA?, Independence?, Monarchy?, Anarchy? Come and give your regarded 2 cents …because this is the place to do it! · Puerto Rico Government Sites: Commonwealth of Puerto Rico Official Site – www.gobierno.pr Puerto Rico Senate – www.senadopr.us Puerto Rico House of Representative – www.camaraderepresentantes.org The Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration – www.prfaa.com Elections in Puerto Rico – www.electionspuertorico.org Pro Commonwealth of Puerto Rico Sites: Popular Democratic Party/Partido…
Read MoreNational Conference for Puerto Rican Women
The National Conference of Puerto Rican Women, Inc. (NACOPRW) is a national organization with chapters in various cities. We are the only national organization of Puerto Rican women in the United States dedicated to promoting the civic and cultural participation of Puerto Rican women and other Latinas in the economic, social and political life in the United States and Puerto Rico. One of our goals continues to be to promote and preserve our Puerto Rican culture, our history, traditions, connect or reconnect with our roots and preserve the Spanish language.…
Read MoreRio Grande de Loiza
I am reaching out to you and through you, to the Boricua Community, so that they are aware of the new posting of the Rio Grande de Loiza that I have recently placed on Youtube. Please access the video below to hear soprano Virginia Herrera-Crilly and pianist Wilson Southerland in Diogenes Rodriguez’s composition of Rio Grande de Loiza, a poem by Julia de Burgos, the quintessential Puerto Rican poet. The original duration of the piece is 10.53 minutes, but it had to be cut to fit YOUTUBE’s 10 minutes limitation. Thanks…
Read MoreLISTEN TO MY CRIES
LISTEN TO MY CRIES From congress To the prez, My people are in dire need Regardless of what the Lying politician sayz. My people are As good as any other, Wake up and hear my cry My political brother. Dropping from the welfare roles 57% Whites 30% African Americans 7% Latinos 7% this is very sad, When I look at this number I feel bad. Latino’s make 53% To every white mans dollar, Come my people speak up, Yell, it is time to holler. Everyone else seems to be ahead,…
Read MoreHome is Where Mami is
In 1998, my mother was summoned back home by Latin roots that were severed long ago. Home was her birthplace Ponce, Puerto Rico, the birthplace of plena, my grandmother and bis abuelas. In 1958, my mother came to Chicago where she planted new seeds, my two sisters and I. But after toiling for four decades in American factories and offices, and having established a better life for the next generation, she left, and in the process, left us her daughters behind. She left before her oldest daughter (me), would graduate…
Read MorePelo Malo, Confessions of a Kinky Haired Sister
by Xenia Ruíz My birth certificate contains a mistake. Where it asks for my parents’ race, “White” is neatly typed. Although my father was the color of vanilla, my mother was dark caramel. Back in the early 1960’s, there was no category for “Hispanic” so Puerto Ricans were recruited into the White category—until someone noticed that dark-skinned folks were getting off the flights from Puerto Rico. Ironically, in Puerto Rico (where my mother claims there is no racism), on the birth certificates of children born in the ’60s, parents were…
Read MorePuerto Rican Flag – Puerto Rico Flag
By Pollux Parker Puerto Rico has a variety of flags: the current national flag which represents the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, municipal banners to represent its numerous regions, political flags for the varied political ideologies of the people, and sports flags which the country uses during sports and athletic competitions. Puerto Rican Flag The history of the current Puerto Rico flag goes all the way back to 1868. This was when “The Revolutionary Flag of Lares” was first conceptualized by Dr. Ramón Emeterio Betances and then later on embroidered by…
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