Puerto Rico: “Race,” ancestry, identity and culture
Commentary by Black Kos Editor Denise Oliver-Velez
Since Hurricanes Irma, Jose and Maria roared through the Caribbean, wreaking destruction and death on all in their paths, I’ve been blogging as often as I can, and attempting to focus on the Caribbean as more than just some place hurricanes pass over on the way to Florida or Texas. As the eyes of many mainland Americans are finally turning to the desperate straits of their 3.5 million fellow citizens on the island of Puerto Rico, it became patently clear that far too many folks know little, or nothing about Puerto Rico, or Puerto Ricans, even though about 5 million Boricuas live here on the mainland.
The current occupant of the White House, who has a long history of racism, has abnegated his responsibility as POTUS and Commander-in-Chief by doing very little, and he has not pulled out all the stops to get massive aid to the island’s people. Little wonder that many observers of his failure have concluded it is because Puerto Rican’s are brown people, and Spanish-speakers. His build-a-wall obsession can’t keep Puerto Ricans out, since as U.S. citizens they can move without papers back and forth from island to mainland.
Just who Puerto Ricans are, is more complicated than simply attaching the color label “brown.” If we are speaking of socially constructed categories of ‘race,’ the majority of Puertorriqueños should probably get the color label ‘red” since DNA results on the Island have clearly indicated a majority of Puerto Ricans have indigenous Taino ancestry. In fact — we get the word ‘hurricane’ from the name of a Taino deity, Huracan.
Juan Gonzalez, wrote in the NY Daily News article Puerto Rican Gene Pool Runs Deep about DNA findings showing that in the women’s mitochondrial DNA of those sampled, 61% had Taino DNA, 27% had African DNA and only 12% had European ancestry. The reverse was true of males, which makes historical sense, since few white women came to Puerto Rico from Europe and the white men raped and made concubines and wives of both native and enslaved African women. For a detailed exploration of the African DNA found in the Puerto Rican studies see “Tracing African Roots.”
However, DNA ancestry is not the same as ‘race’ nor is it ‘culture.’ A major chunk of what we think of as Puerto Rican ‘culture’ is sub-Saharan African — an inheritance of the slave trade.
From its inception, slavery in Puerto Rico was brutal.
According to historian Luis M. Diaz, the largest contingent of African slaves came from the areas of the present-day Gold Coast, Nigeria, and Dahomey, and the region known as the area of Guineas, together known as the Slave Coast. The vast majority were Yorubas and Igbos, ethnic groups from Nigeria, and Bantus from the Guineas. The number of slaves in Puerto Rico rose from 1,500 in 1530 to 15,000 by 1555. The slaves were stamped with a hot iron on the forehead, a branding which meant that they were brought to the country legally and prevented their kidnapping
Over the years there were numerous slave rebellions, detailed in Slave Revolts in Puerto Rico: Conspiracies and Uprisings, 1795-1873, by Guillermo A Baralt.
As a genealogist, I have scoured the slave census records and located some of my husband’s ancestors, and the names of those who owned them.
Registro Central de Esclavos (Central Slave Registrar) and the 1872 Slave Census
Slavery was a fact of life in Puerto Rico until the passing of Moret Law in 1870. This edict granted freedom to slaves over 60, those belonging to the state, and children born to slaves after 9/17/1868. Most importantly for genealogy purposes, the Moret Law established the Central Slave Registrar which in 1872 began gathering the following data on the island's slave population: name, country of origin, present residence, names of parents, sex, marital status, trade, age, physical description, and master's name. There are eight microfilm rolls available, organized by the geographical districts, then by city. There is no information for District 3.
District 1 - Dorado, Naranjito, Trujillo Alto, Trujillo Bajo, San Juan
District 2 - Arecibo, Camuy, Ciales, Hatillo, Manati, Morovis, Quebradillas, Utuado
District 4 - Anasco, Cabo Rojo, Mayaguez
District 4 - Mayaguez (cont.), Sabana Grande, San German
District 5 - Adjuntas, Barros, Coamo, Guayanilla, Penuelas, Yauco, Juana Diaz
District 5 - Barranquitas, Ponce
District 6 - Arroyo, Guayama, Cidra
District 6 - Cidra (cont.), Aguas Buenas, Caguas, Cayey, Gurabo, Hato Grande (San Lorenzo), Salinas, Sabana del Palmar (Comerio)
For further reading, I suggest, Sugar, Slavery, and Freedom in Nineteenth-Century Puerto Rico, by Luis A. Figueroa.
Abolition
On March 22, 1873, slavery was "abolished" in Puerto Rico, but with one significant caveat. The slaves were not emancipated; they had to buy their own freedom, at whatever price was set by their last masters. The law required that the former slaves work for another three years for their former masters, other people interested in their services, or for the "state" in order to pay some compensation
Free Blacks from other nearby islands had also migrated to Puerto Rico to find work in the sugar industry. It should be no surprise then, that many major historical figures from Puerto Rico had African ancestry.
One of those was Arturo Schomburg, born January 24, 1874 in Santurce, Puerto Rico. The New York Public Library’s black history and culture collection is held at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
The Division of Negro Literature, History and Prints—the forerunner to today’s Schomburg Center—opened in 1925 as a special collection of the 135th Street Branch Library to meet the needs of a changing community. The Division first won international acclaim in 1926, when the personal collection of the distinguished Puerto Rican-born Black scholar and bibliophile, Arturo Alfonso Schomburg, was added. His collection included more than 5,000 books; 3,000 manuscripts; 2,000 etchings and paintings; and several thousand pamphlets. Schomburg served as curator of the Division from 1932 until his death in 1938. In 1940, the Division was renamed the Schomburg Collection of Negro Literature, History and Prints in honor of its founder. In 1972, the Schomburg Collection was designated as one of The Research Libraries of The New York Public Library and became the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.
Famed Puerto Rican Nationalist and Independence leader, Pedro Albizu Campos, born in 1891 in Ponce, is known to most Puerto Ricans as “Don Pedro.”
Albizu Campos was the son of a mixed-race mother who was the daughter of slaves and a Basque father from a farming and landowning family. The latter not only provided no financial support but also did not legally recognize his son until he was 19, and Albizu Campos grew up in poverty. In 1912 he was awarded a scholarship to study chemistry and engineering at the University of Vermont. He transferred a year later to Harvard University, majoring in chemistry and literature and becoming the first Puerto Rican Harvard graduate. He served in an African American military unit during World War I, and the racism that he encountered during his service instilled in him a negative view of the United States. After an honourable discharge he entered Harvard Law School, graduating in 1921. His fluency in eight languages brought him offers of official posts with the U.S. government. However, he rejected them and returned to Puerto Rico in 1921 in order to devote himself to the cause of Puerto Rican independence.
It is in Puerto Rican culture — in its dance and music that we most clearly see black Puerto Rico. The musical traditions of bomba y plena are alive and well today, and have roots in the enslavement period.
Bomba and plena are percussion-driven musical traditions from Puerto Rico that move people to dance. Often mentioned together as though they were a single musical style, both reflect the African heritage of Puerto Rico, but there are basic distinctions between them in rhythm, instrumentation, and lyrics…
Bomba dates back to the early European colonial period in Puerto Rico. It comes out of the musical traditions brought by enslaved Africans in the 17th century. To them, bomba music was a source of political and spiritual expression. The lyrics conveyed a sense of anger and sadness about their condition, and s
Plena developed from bomba music around the beginning of the 20th century in southern Puerto Rico. Plena lyrics are narrative. They convey a story about events, address topical themes, often comment on political protest movements, and offer satirical commentaries. Tito Matos, leader of the Puerto Rican group Viento de Agua, describes plena as "the newspaper of the people." Plena has only one basic rhythm, in contrast to bomba´s sixteen rhythms.
Bomba and plena are defining musical sounds of the Afro-Puerto Rican population. Matos says, "In Puerto Rico you go to Black and humble communities and you´re going to find bomba and plena without a doubt." These Afro-Puerto Rican musical traditions have also enjoyed an active life in New York City and other communities in which Puerto Ricans have settled.
Grupo Afro Boricua, is one of the leading proponents of the bomba and plena genres of music. These are Puerto Rico’s traditional musical forms, that the group has beautifully arranged, and impressively delivered by talented musicians and dancers. They have brought new life into an art form that is a rich and vibrant expression of Puerto Rico.
In street festivals and celebrations across Puerto Rico Afro-Puerto Ricans dance bomba. This group is from Loiza, one of the traditional “black Puerto Rican” towns on the island — recently hit very hard by hurricane Maria.
Loíza is known as "El Pueblo de la Cacica". Loíza was proclaimed a town officially in 1692 and named in honor of Yuisa or Luisa, one of the women caciques on the island when the Spanish conquerors arrived. It was not until 1719 that the Spanish government declared it as an official town. It was founded by Gaspar de Arredondo.
Settled by Nigerian slaves of the Yoruba tribe in the 16th century, Loíza is a center for African-inspired traditions, retaining one of the highest percentages of African descendants of all island towns. Among those traditions Loíza celebrates the "Fiestas Patronales" where salsa dancing, masquerades, colorful parades and rich Puerto Rican food make this festival a classic. The nine days of this carnival pay homage to Loízas patron saint, St. James.
My friend and co-religionist Dr. Marta Moreno Vega - founder of the Caribbean Cultural Center in New York City, talks about growing up, and why she practices an African religion.
These young people in the Bronx discuss what it means to be “To Be Black and Boricua” — and questions of race and identity..
As we pressure the U.S. government to do more to save the lives of our fellow citizens on the Island, we can also take the time to learn more about Puerto Rico and its rich heritage — European, Indigenous — and its often overlooked African roots and traditions.
Afro-Puerto Ricans have played a part in every aspect of American life.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
News round up by dopper0189, Black Kos Managing Editor
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
But a new meta-analysis has taken an inventory of these hiring discrimination studies going back a quarter-century only to find, statistically speaking, very little has changed for black applicants. The study looked at "every available field experiment of hiring discrimination against African Americans or Latinos" since 1989 — in total, that's nearly 56,000 applications for over 26,000 jobs.
After tallying the data, the researchers concluded "whites receive on average 36 percent more callbacks than African Americans, and 24 percent more callbacks than Latinos" with no observable level of change for black applicants from 1989 to 2015. Latinos saw a "modest" increase in callbacks over the past 25 years, but researchers caution the number of field experiments to examine was small.
The results of these hiring discrimination studies seem to parallel other statistical gaps in black family wealth and income.
In 1967, the difference in median household income for a black family and a white family was $20,000. By 2014, that gap had widened to $28,000. A similar gap persists for college-educated black and white households.
Similarly, in 2014 the median net worth of white households was almost 13 times higher than black households. And while blacks folks are still more than twice as likely as whites to live in poverty, that gap has narrowed since 1980.
The author of the hiring discrimination study says despite a "liberalization of attitudes" over the years, this more subtle racial bias persists and underscores the need for compensatory policies.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As a humanitarian crisis began to take hold in Puerto Rico three days after Hurricane Maria hammered the commonwealth, its most vulnerable citizens were the most exposed. Bloomberg: Maria Fallout Lays Bare Puerto Rico's Sharp Income Divide
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Health sector workers said the island was nearing a critical moment as some care organizations ran low on fuel for generators. Maritza Lamoso, executive director at Residence Senior Living in the Puerto Nuevo section of San Juan, said she’d put out 20 calls for emergency diesel and been visited by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA. But as of 1 p.m. Saturday, she still had no fuel.
“If the diesel doesn’t arrive today, I’m going to have to start removing people,” she said from the lobby of the center, adding that two other facilities in the same network were in similar circumstances.
Governor Ricardo Rossello, who met with mayors and state and federal officials in San Juan on Saturday, said agencies were rushing to deliver fuel to hospitals, bring water, food and other aid to isolated communities, and evacuate families living near a failing dam in the northwest. The government couldn’t begin to estimate the financial toll, he said, but it would surely be more than the billions of dollars in damage caused by Hurricane George in 1998.
“This is, without a doubt, the biggest catastrophe in modern history for Puerto Rico in terms of the damage to infrastructure and in terms of damage to the island as a whole,” he said. “Our consideration is not a fiscal consideration. It’s restoring people’s security and restoring normalcy.”
On an island marked by sharp income disparities, there was a notable ratcheting up of private security by those at the top.
At billionaire hedge fund manager John Paulson’s hotels in hip Condado, workers turned away non-guests trying to get into the lobby for a burst of cool air or to charge a phone. An employee at the Vanderbilt said the hotel had withstood the storm. La Concha was another story: several men could be seen tossing apparently ruined carpets from top floor windows, and they landed with a thud in a massive pile.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Owners for the San Francisco 49ers and New York Giants were among those across the league who responded Saturday to President Donald Trump, who one night earlier said he wished NFL players who protest during the national anthem would be fired and later Saturday called out commissioner Roger Goodell directly.
Reaction across the NFL was widespread, with many players and at least eight team owners either posting their thoughts on social media or issuing statements.
"The callous and offensive comments made by the President are contradictory to what this great country stands for," 49ers CEO Jed York said. "Our players have exercised their rights as United States citizens in order to spark conversation and action to address social injustice. We will continue to support them in their peaceful pursuit of positive change in our country and around the world."
On Friday during a political rally in Alabama, President Trump said of player protests: "Wouldn't you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, 'Get that son of a b---- off the field right now. Out. He's fired! He's fired!'"
Responding to those comments in a statement Saturday morning, commissioner Roger Goodell said the NFL is at its best "when we help create a sense of unity in our country and our culture."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The batch of more than 3,000 Russian-bought ads that Facebook is preparing to turn over to Congress shows a deep understanding of social divides in American society, with some ads promoting African American rights groups, including Black Lives Matter, and others suggesting that these same groups pose a rising political threat, say people familiar with the covert influence campaign.
The Russian campaign — taking advantage of Facebook’s ability to send contrary messages to different groups of users based on their political and demographic characteristics — also sought to sow discord among religious groups. Other ads highlighted support for Democrat Hillary Clinton among Muslim women.
These targeted messages, along with others that have surfaced in recent days, highlight the sophistication of an influence campaign slickly crafted to mimic and infiltrate U.S. political discourse while also seeking to heighten tensions between groups already wary of one another.
The nature and detail of these ads have troubled investigators at Facebook, on Capitol Hill and at the U.S. Justice Department, say people familiar with the advertisements, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share matters still under investigation.
The House and Senate intelligence committees plan to begin reviewing the Facebook ads in coming weeks as they attempt to untangle the operation and other matters related to Russia’s bid to help elect Donald Trump president in 2016.
“Their aim was to sow chaos,” said Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-Va.), vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. “In many cases, it was more about voter suppression rather than increasing turnout.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For several decades, EBONY has celebrated Black collegiate women who attend historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) through its highly sought-after editorial and photo content series, “Campus Queens.”
This year, EBONY collaborated with Walt Disney World Resort to bring the HBCU Campus Queens franchise to life in a unique and epic way. For three days, our Top 10 Queens—chosen via online and text-to-vote campaigns—embarked on a one-of-a-kind experience throughout the wonderful world of Disney.
From intimate experiences at Disney Animal Kingdom’s newest land, Pandora: The World of Avatar, to cameo appearances in the colorful energetic Carnavale street party to fun on the signature attractions at Magic Kingdom, “the Queens” (as they are affectionately referred to) were treated to a royal experience. If this weren’t enough, the Queens were also specially invited by the official Grand Marshals for Magic Kingdom’s daily Festival of Fantasy parade–a dream come true!
But why come to a magical place like Disney World and not take advantage of your very own photo shoot? These are royal gals, after all. Throughout their visit, the Queens were photographed at beloved sites within the Disney parks, which provided backdrops that were nothing short of spectacular.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Millions of Americans are facing desperate conditions in Puerto Rico, congressional Republicans are mounting a last-ditch effort to enact billions of dollars in health care cuts, and the president of the United States is spending his Monday morning tweeting about flags and NASCAR.
Nominally, the topic is President Trump’s request that NFL owners fire players who kneel or otherwise engage in silent acts of political protest during the singing of the national anthem at games. Since NFL owners rather clearly can’t do this under the terms of the league’s collective bargaining agreement with its players, the whole thing makes no sense, and the stakes are essentially nonexistent.
But in a larger sense, Trump isn’t fighting to try to put a stop to NFL protests. He’s fighting for the sake of having a fight. Trump does not seem to enjoy talking about public policy, as conventionally understood, and is loath to see American politics portrayed as largely consisting of a series of concrete disagreements about various tax, budgetary, and regulatory matters. Instead, he likes the idea that politics is a zero-sum culture war — one that’s largely, though not entirely, about race — and he’s willing to push those levers however hard he needs to in order to make sure they dominate the public debate, even if doing so pushes him at times to unpopular, ridiculous, or untenable
The underlying issue here, to the extent that there is one, is that back during the 2016 season, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick chose not to stand during the pregame playing of the national anthem as an act of protest against racism and police brutality in America. This earned him acclaim in some progressive quarters but was unpopular with the NFL’s conservative-leaning fan base overall. It also prompted many rounds of somewhat tedious back-and-forth debate between left-of-center people over whether protesting patriotic rituals is a tactically or strategically sound course of action.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Voices and Soul
by
Justice Putnam
Black Kos Poetry Editor
Although beloved Poet, Gwendolyn Brooks, once described her writing style as “folksy narrative,” fellow poets often marveled at her work as social and historical documents, melding Oral Tradition and Academic Certainty into a new voice that resonated the character and moral core of her subjects.
Lazy critics accused her of advocating violence and sometimes listed her bitterness at life, yet they were mistaken. Gwendolyn Brooks was never bitter, she merely chronicled bitterness with the exacting eye of an experimental scientist on a trek across a landscape of imposed inferiority. She could peel back the layers of petrified mud and interpret the composition of the fallen ash from a volcano eruption of racial magma that rained on an ancient, desolate plain of indifference.
Gwendolyn Brooks only advocacy of violence is to accept it as part of the natural order of things, that the urgency of Humanity propels us to sometimes embark on a ‘healthy rebellion” of the spirit, so that the body may follow.
It is that insight that elevates Brooks to the Pantheon of American Letters.
in this moment of orangutans, wolves, and scavengers,
of high heat redesigning the north & south poles
and the wanderings of new tribes in limousines,
with the confirmations of liars, thieves, and get-over artists,
in the wilderness of pennsylvania avenue,
standing rock, misspelled executive orders
on yellow paper with crooked signatures.
where are the kind language makers among us?
at a time of extreme climate damage,
deciphering fake news, alternative truths, and me-ism
you saw the twenty-first century and left us
not on your own accord or permission.
you have fought and fought most of the twentieth century
creating an army of poets who learned
and loved language and stories
of complicated rivers, seas, and oceans.
where is the kind green nourishment of kale and wheatgrass?
you thought, wrote, and lived poetry,
knew that terror is also language based
on denial, first-ism, and rich cowards.
you were honey and yes to us,
never ran from Black as in bones, Africa,
blood and questioning yesterdays and tomorrows.
we never saw you dance but you had rhythm,
you were a warrior before the war,
creating earth language, uncommon signs and melodies,
and did not sing the songs of career slaves.
keenly aware of tubman, douglass, wells-barnett, du bois,
and the oversized consciousness and commitment of never-quit people
religiously taking note of the bloodlust enemies of kindness
we hear your last words:
america
if you see me as your enemy
you have no
friends.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WELCOME TO THE TUESDAY PORCH