Puerto Rico’s Colonial Status – Page 4

America and Race, Globalization, Hemispheric Identity, Latinos and Race, New York City Politics, New York Mayoral Politics, Puerto Rico's Colonial Status, Urban/Global Politics, US Intervention in Latin America

A Look Back on 2015

2015 was not an easy year to get through in many ways. A lot of troubling signs have appeared on the landscape: Continuing injustice toward people of color in the form of extra-judicial police killings of unarmed civilians, increasing wealth inequality, the Puerto Rico Debt Crisis, the continued threat of gentrification, out of control gun […]

America and Race, Latinos in Media, Puerto Rico's Colonial Status, Urban/Global Politics, US Intervention in Latin America

Reprazenting the Permanent Debt Crisis

Just borrowing this image from the opening the other day around beautiful Bruckner Boulevard’s end at the southern tip of the Boogie Down–it was the return of City Maze by Jane Dickson and Crash, two pivotal figures in Fashion/Moda, an art thing that happened in the Bronx so many years ago. It kind of represents […]

America and Race, Latinos and Race, Latinos in Media, Puerto Rico's Colonial Status, Urban/Global Politics

Eddie Figueroa’s Spirit Republic Alternative to the Young Lords

Note: I’m re-posting this piece from a couple of years ago about Eddie Figueroa, founder of New Rican Village, an arts space that thrived on Avenue A in the East Village in the 1970s. Because of all the recent attention being given to the Young Lords era as a result of three excellent art exhibits […]

Globalization, Puerto Rico's Colonial Status, US Intervention in Latin America

How Hedge and Vulture Funds Have Exploited Puerto Rico’s Debt Crisis

For this island teetering on bankruptcy, debt renegotiation is imminent—but on whose terms? By Ed Morales New York–born Puerto Rican activist David Galarza spent this sultry summer Monday picketing a meeting of bondholders by day and meeting with professionals, students, and working people in the evening concerned about the increasingly scary crisis over the island’s […]

Puerto Rico's Colonial Status, Urban/Global Politics, US Intervention in Latin America

The Roots of Puerto Rico’s Debt Crisis, and Why Austerity Won’t Solve It

The Roots of Puerto Rico’s Debt Crisis and Why Austerity Won’t Work The US government is at least partially responsible for the emergency, which is affecting millions of what are effectively second-class citizens By Ed Morales Riding through the hills of Canóvanas with Prima, a vacationing 65-year-old Brooklynite who was born and raised in the […]

Puerto Rico's Colonial Status, Urban/Global Politics, US Intervention in Latin America

Puerto Rico’s Dance With Debt

Puerto Rico, a de facto colony of the US, is usually not in the news outside of the travel and style sections. But as it stumbles towards a September default deadline that threatens to shut down government operations, the island territory has been a fixture in the business press, with headlines like: “Puerto Rico Faces […]

America and Race, Latinos and Race, Latinos in Media, Puerto Rico's Colonial Status, US Intervention in Latin America

Red Hot Chili Peppers Are Us

The Economist’s cover image for its current issue, “Firing Up America: A Special Report on America’s Latinos” has already stirred up some controversy, for obvious reasons. It’s another form of the horrendous stereotyping that affects not only Latin@s but any other non-majority group. It’s a fancy reductio ad absurdum: Latin@s are essentially red hot chili […]

America and Race, Latinos and Race, Latinos in Hollywood, Puerto Rico's Colonial Status, Urban/Global Politics

Queridos Blanquitos: The Hidden Racism of Nuestra América

There is a moment in Dear White People, a film that is drawing a lot of attention for its frank treatment of “post-racial” America–particularly in Ivy League universities–that made me laugh, although I felt not many in the theater got the joke the way I did. It was during a voiceover dialog during which the protagonist […]

America and Race, Artists in the hood, Latin Music, Latinos in Media, Puerto Rico's Colonial Status, Rock Music, Urban/Global Politics

Calle 13’s Transformative Space

The sold-out crowd at Times Square’s Best Buy Theatre last Saturday night could not control itself as their hero, René Pérez a/k/a MC Residente of Calle 13 took the stage with his typical buoyant boxing stance, ready to slay the dragon of indifference with lyrics spat and batucada attack. The backing band, now so well-rehearsed […]

America and Race, Artists in the hood, Latin Music, Latinos and Race, Puerto Rico's Colonial Status, Urban/Global Politics

Salsa DJs, Not Fania All-Stars Slam Dancers in Central Park

To be a fan of salsa music in New York during the ‘60s and ‘70s was to witness an explosion—a growing diversity of Latinos came together to create a new kind of Latin music that was no longer dependent on Cuban exports and reflected the gritty reality of living in the city. At the center […]