As the daughter of a Tuskegee Airman and the wife of a Vietnam-era Puerto Rican veteran, I know all too well the historical racism, and erasure faced by U.S. citizens who happened to be black, or who spoke Spanish, or who were from native nations, like the Code Talkers. They all served in our military and decades after their military service finally gained hard-won acclaim for their deeds.
This was also true for the Borinqueneers, members of a segregated Puerto Rican regiment.
The 65th Infantry Regiment has served United States during times of combat, including World War I, World War II, and the Korean War. During the Korean War, the Puerto Rican regiment, known as the Borinqueneers, earned one Medal of Honor, nine Distinguished Service Crosses, approximately 250 Silver Stars, more than 600 Bronze Stars, and more than 2,700 Purple Hearts.
Their nickname, “Borinqueneers” was derived from the original Taino Indian name for the island—Borikén. I wrote about the efforts to get them a Congressional Gold Medal, in “'The Borinqueneers': Award them the gold,” back in 2013.
Though Veterans Day is set aside to salute our vets, living and dead, and Memorial Day honors the fallen, I sit here wondering how long it is going to take before a huge chunk of our citizens here on the mainland are going to accept that Puerto Ricans are American citizens. I wonder how much that ignorance contributes to the seeming indifference to the treatment of Puerto Rico by Donald Trump and his administration, and the lack of an outcry about the upcoming Medicaid fiscal cliff—which could strip close to 900,000 citizen residents on the island of medical coverage.
This story is not about the ongoing debate around the status of Puerto Rico—independence, versus statehood, or enhanced territorial status. This is simply a statement of fact. Far too many people here on the U.S. mainland still don’t know Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens.
The news story that gained traction last week, about the young Puerto Rican college student, Jose Guzman Payano, whose Puerto Rican driver’s license and passport were rejected as identification at a CVS pharmacy, set me off—again. Once again, Puerto Ricans have been relegated to being not-citizens.
The incident revived a reference to a 2017 poll:
A new poll of 2,200 adults by Morning Consult found that only 54 percent of Americans know that people born in Puerto Rico, a commonwealth of the United States, are U.S. citizens. (Because Puerto Rico is not a state, they do not vote in presidential elections, but they send one nonvoting representative to Congress.)
This finding varied significantly by age and education. Only 37 percent of people ages 18 to 29 know people born in Puerto Rico are citizens, compared with 64 percent of those 65 or older. Similarly, 47 percent of Americans without a college degree know Puerto Ricans are Americans, compared with 72 percent of those with a bachelor’s degree and 66 percent of those with a postgraduate education.
Inaccurate beliefs on this question matter, because Americans often support cuts to foreign aid when asked to evaluate spending priorities. In our poll, support for additional aid was strongly associated with knowledge of the citizenship status of Puerto Ricans. More than 8 in 10 Americans who know Puerto Ricans are citizens support aid, compared with only 4 in 10 of those who do not.
If so many mainlanders still don’t think of Puerto Ricans as Americans, I wonder, how many will be honoring Puerto Rican military service on Veterans Day?
This story by Harry Franqui-Rivera, written for Memorial Day, highlights their service:
Puerto Ricans have a particular relationship with the U.S. military, one that is mostly unknown to the public. Lately, Puerto Rico has been in the spotlight because of the island’s financial, economic, health and humanitarian crises. The effects on different groups and subgroups in Puerto Rican society have been featured in different outlets.
Yet the plight of Puerto Rican service members and veterans, a group that has been instrumental in the socio-economic development of Puerto Rico since the 1940s, has been completely ignored. Yes, I said Puerto Rican veterans as in U.S. soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen.
Puerto Rico continues to be somewhat foreign and exotic to residents of the fifty states of the Union. To many, it comes as a shock to learn that those born in Puerto Rico have been U.S. citizens since 1917 or that Puerto Rico remains a U.S. territory. Yes, that is why you fly “domestic” to the island, the U.S. dollar is the currency “down there”, and you even see U.S. postal workers delivering the mail.
Many might not know Puerto Ricans as a group have been serving (officially) in the U.S. military since 1899. They have served as volunteers and as draftees (until 1973) in every small and major conflict in which the United States has participated for the past twelve decades. But Puerto Rican service members and veterans are getting a raw deal as their island suffers.
Let me give you a quick breakdown.
There are currently some 330,000 veterans and some 35,000 Puerto Ricans in active duty service. The Puerto Rico Army/Air National Guard and the Reserve components represent another 10,000 Puerto Ricans in uniform. At least, 375,000 Puerto Ricans are veterans or are still wearing the uniform. That is without counting the several thousand serving in the national guard units of the 50 federated states of the Union. Puerto Ricans are the only Latino group over-represented in the military.
Puerto Rican Army troops from a segregated regiment known the Borinqueneers (bohr-ehn-kin-'EERS) are being honored with a Congressional Gold Medal that's been a century in the making. President Barack Obama signed legislation Tuesday granting the award to the 65th Infantry Regiment that participated in both World Wars and the Korean War. Obama says the legislation "honors military heroes from our history."The Borinqueneers were a Hispanic unit segregated from their fellow soldiers, much like the black Tuskegee Airmen and the Navajo Code Talkers. But unlike those other groups, they had not been recognized with the Congressional Gold Medal for their contributions to American history until now. A few of the Borinqueneers were in attendance for the bill signing and received a standing ovation.
For those of you who still don’t know the history of the Borinqueneers, watch the documentary, if you can.
Their toughest fight was not on the battlefield.The Borinqueneers chronicles the never-before told story of the Puerto Rican 65th Infantry Regiment, the only all-Hispanic unit in U.S. Army history. Through compelling interviews and rare archival footage, this film explores the unique experience of the 65th, culminating in the Korean War and the dramatic events that would threaten its very existence. Bound by a strong cultural identity, the men of the 65th were determined to prove their mettle, in spite of discrimination within the Army and curtailed rights in their own land, where to this day they can be drafted but cannot vote in U.S. elections. But in the fall of 1952, the 65th would face its toughest challenge when dozens of its soldiers abandoned their positions and were tried in one of the largest courts martial of the war.
Though the Borinqueneers got a medal and an award ceremony, that medal is no substitute for having a roof.
Democratic Rep. Mark Takano, chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, has been demanding answers from FEMA about why Pedro Díaz Márcano, a 65th Infantry Regiment vet, is still living under a leaking blue tarp.
Puerto Rican veteran still struggling 2 years after Hurricane Maria:
When Hurricane Maria battered Puerto Rico two years ago this week, Pedro Díaz Márcanos' home in Guayama, a small city in the island's southeastern coast, was severely damaged. The 88-year-old Korean War veteran's home still has a blue tarp for a roof, according to the House Veterans Affairs Committee.
The committee is urging the Trump administration to help the former member of the 65th Infantry Regiment, a decorated Puerto Rican outfit whose soldiers, known as "The Borinqueneers," have fought in most major conflicts since the early 20th century.
The Democratic-led panel's chairman, Representative Mark Takano of California, met Díaz Márcanos earlier this summer during an oversight trip to the island. Takano was outraged by the living conditions endured by Díaz Márcanos, who is one of many Puerto Ricans still living in damaged homes with makeshift roofs. His office set out to make some requests to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Department of Veterans Affairs on behalf of Díaz Márcanos — to no avail.
"Our requests for clarification — how an 88-year-old veteran and survivor of the deadliest natural disaster in American history could be living under a plastic tarp in his own home for two years — have gone unanswered," Takano wrote in a letter this week to the heads of FEMA and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Shifting stateside, the story of conditions in the 65th Infantry Regiment ‘Borinqueneers’ Veterans Housing in Chicago made local news in July, and as a result of investigative reporting the deplorable conditions faced by vets living there have been addressed. I remember reading about the housing project when it first opened, because it was named for the Borinqueneers. Instead of honoring their legacy, it was tarnished by the developers.
Irma Cornier, the building’s former property manager, was at the grand opening alongside Roldan, the Borinqueneers and local politicians.
Roldan hired Cornier in the summer of 2016, several weeks before the building opened. Cornier, the granddaughter of a Borinqueneer, has a deep understanding of the challenges facing Borinqueneers and other veterans. She founded the Chicago Borinqueneers and has years of experience doing volunteer work with Chicago veterans.
When she was hired as property manager, Cornier, like John, was filled with hope.
She scoured the city for people qualified to live in the building, which was difficult, given the strict background checks and the control Hispanic Housing Development Corporation insisted on having over the application process. The developer declined to comment on Cornier’s experience because she is a former employee.
“I was extremely excited because I was like, ‘Finally, I can help my veterans,'” Cornier said.
That feeling was short-lived.
Cornier said the 65th Infantry building is not “a place of hope.” The developer isn’t offering the comprehensive on-site services it promised. Three years after the building opened, tenants don’t have basic amenities they were promised, like working computers. Many of the apartments have large cracks in the walls and some have mold.
And those are only a few of the issues tenants who spoke with Block Club raised. The tenants spoke under the condition of anonymity because they fear repercussions from management, including possibly becoming homeless again.
HUMBOLDT PARK — Once riddled with problems, an apartment complex in Humboldt Park built to help and house veterans has made a dramatic turnaround following a Block Club investigation, according to interviews with residents…
But now, about four months after the Block Club report, residents said conditions at the building have drastically improved.
The building now offers regular services, programs and events — everything from veteran-geared counseling and health screenings to movie nights and job fairs, according to residents.
Apartments were cleared of mold and other problems. And residents now feel like their concerns are being taken seriously. The developer behind the building, Hispanic Housing Development Corporation, allowed residents to form a tenant board after months of opposition.
Issues for Puerto Rican vets, like all vets, are not just about the past, but also apply to those veterans of more recent wars. Check out this group of Puerto Rican vets who call themselves Combat Hippies.
Led by renowned theater artist and director Teo Castellanos, Combat Hippies is an ensemble of Puerto Rican military veteran performing artists based in Miami, Florida. Formed during a creative writing workshop for veterans in 2015 which culminated with their inaugural theater piece “Conscience Under Fire”, they have since developed multiple evenings of spoken word and music, generative approaches to workshops designed toward healing, community engagement offerings and more.
Combat Hippies are saving lives one performance at a time
Hipolito Arriaga came back to the United States a changed man following his return from Iraq a decade ago.
“I saw some traumatic stuff out there,” he said. “I saw some stuff and came back home, unsure of my identity and who I was.”
Now, he’s part of a group of Puerto Rican vets known as the Combat Hippies who take to the stage to cope with PTS and start the healing process. The group's name is a nod to the 1960s political activism of hippies, who were vocal about the nation's involvement in Vietnam.
The son of a Marine Corps veteran, Arriaga joined the Army shortly after graduating high school. He served multiple tours in Iraq between 2007 to 2010.
“I wanted to gain some knowledge of myself and become a man,” he said of his decision to join the service.
He said his PTS symptoms manifested themselves shortly after he returned from Iraq.
“I wasn't talking, I was isolating," he said. "I just couldn’t sit home on the couch and disconnect from the world.”
Arriaga attended a creative writing workshop led by Teo Castellanos that eventually led to the formation of Combat Hippies and the group’s inaugural theater piece “Conscience Under Fire.”
The Combat Hippies perform excerpts from their multi media performance, “Conscience Under Fire.”...
The Combat Hippies strive to educate, inspire, and entertain both veterans and the general public in order to bridge the gap of understanding, reduce the suicide rate among veterans and bring about positive societal change.
So whether it is Veterans Day, or Memorial Day, or the other 363 days of the year, remember that Puerto Ricans are part of that group we purport to honor.
Puerto Ricans are American citizens and yet, we and our government, abetted by the media and a lack of coverage in school curricula, continue to treat the 3.1 million residents of the island and the 5.7 million who live here on the mainland as if they are not.
Novelist Sofia Quintero has been tweeting out historical facts daily.
Puerto Ricans are AmeRícans, wrote poet Tato Laviera, who passed on Nov. 1, 2013.
we gave birth to a new generation,
AmeRícan, broader than lost gold
never touched, hidden inside the
puerto rican mountains.
we gave birth to a new generation
AmeRícan, it includes everything
imaginable you-name-it-we-got-it
society…
If only we could get more Americans to understand that.