Since my latest book, Fantasy Island: Colonialism, Exploitation and the Betrayal of Puerto Rico (Bold Type Press) went on sale last September, I’ve had an amazing time doing talks and interacting with people who are passionate about the island-nation. The book is a historical overview of Puerto Rico’s colonial relationship with the U.S. including a […]
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[Originally published in The Nation June 30, 2020 When considering debates about political formulations as nebulous yet as desperately crucial as “the Latinx vote,” it can be vexing to consider those Latinx who vote Republican. In the age of Covid-19, Black Lives Matter protests, and radical right Trumpism, how could they exist? What common ground […]
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Originally posted on cnn.com on June 15, 2020 During one of the most tumultuous weeks in recent American history, massive demonstrations against the brutal actions of Minneapolis police in the death of George Floyd spread across the country in over 700 cities and towns. In response, President Donald Trump called for more police violence against protesters, […]
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Originally published on CNN.com on May 18, 2020 Two months into the coronavirus crisis, with many Americans clamoring for a return to business as usual, Latinos are still mourning the terrible toll on their communities. An Ecuadorean bus driver in the Bronx died at 66, months before retirement; an undocumented Guatemalan in Oregon lost his life; and a […]
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The legacy of the Young Lords is something that has followed me throughout my adult life as a New York–born-and-bred child of Puerto Rican immigrants. The Young Lords’ unrelenting calls for Puerto Rican independence, their various interventions in local politics, their unyielding solidarity with colonized and working-class people everywhere, their stunning presence (often augmented by […]
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The island recently withstood several earthquakes, hundreds of aftershocks, and governmental turmoil. It needs progressive change in policy from the U.S. [Originally published in The Hill February 18, 2020] It’s been such a rocky start to the year 2020 in Puerto Rico that hundreds of locals decided to tear it all up and start from […]
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[Originally published in The Washington Post on February 7, 2020] On a recent trip to London, I took the Underground from Oxford Circus to the city’s northern reaches in Tottenham, home to one of the centers of its Latinx community. A few steps from the Seven Sisters stop is the Latin Village market, also known […]
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It is difficult not to see the mostly white presidential field as partly a product of the media’s lack of interest in Hispanics and candidates of color [Originally published in The Guardian January 6, 2020] About a year ago, Julián Castro announced he was running for president in front of an adoring hometown West San […]
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Originally published in The Washington Post September 20, 2019 at 6:23 a.m. I want to take you on a journey that begins and ends with questions about the American Dream, about what being an American means, and what it means to be an “other.” I’ve survived the flowering and disintegration of that dream during my lifetime, […]
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Originally published on NBC Think Sept. 5, 2019, 6:14 PM As Hurricane Dorian spun erratically past Puerto Rico’s northeast corner last week, most of the island breathed a deep sense of relief. The storm did batter St. Thomas, a U.S. Virgin Island, and the offshore island-municipalities of Culebra and Vieques, and has wreaked havoc on the Bahamas, where […]
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