What’s in a name? The label “Latino” is often used to describe a monolithic interest group or voting bloc. And while criticized as inaccurate because of Latinos’ diverse national, ethnic, and racial manifestations, as an organizing principal the label still conveys significant meaning—a narrative of shared experience—in both Latin America and the United States. Although […]
Read more
Cuba y Puerto Rico son/Cuba and Puerto Rico are De un pájaro dos alas/Two wings of the same bird Reciben flores y balas/They receive flowers and bullets Sobre el mismo corazón/With the same heart –Lola Rodríguez de Tío The “momentous” yet seemingly long-planned announcement that the US and Cuba have agreed to re-establish diplomatic relations […]
Read moreOne of my favorite essays of Juan Flores’s was “La Carreta Made a U-Turn,” which was his postmodern redux of René Marques’s seminal play “La Carreta,” the one that made the case for returning to Puerto Rico from New York as the only sane and moral thing for a Puerto Rican migrant to do. It […]
Read more
“I’ve known many jazz standards since I was 14,” said Rubén Blades to the well-heeled crowd at the Jazz at Lincoln Center venue Rose Hall. Spontaneously he launched into a histrionic imitation of Sinatra singing “Summer Wind,” then a nasal send-up of Sammy Davis, Jr. “I used to just stand on the streets in Panama […]
Read more
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 […]
Read moreFrom a recent op ed published by The Progressive Media Project: In the aftermath of one of the worst midterm election defeats in memory, Democrats need to regain their standing by fulfilling President Obama’s original vision and reasserting a progressive agenda. The election, which saw the Republican Party sweep the Senate, as well as […]
Read moreLila Downs is a siren in the darkness, an ethereal range of many octaves seeking to blur borders and return wisdom to the earth. She appeared at The Appel Room at Rose Hall in Lincoln Center on Saturday, showering the audience with gifts from her life journey back and forth across the border between the […]
Read moreLast June at the Coronado Bay Hotel in San Diego, at a breakfast plenary session for the 2014 conference of the National Association of Latino Elected Officials, Cristóbal Alex, head of the liberal nonprofit Latino Victory Project, called out his conservative counterpart. He turned to Libre Intiative president, Daniel Garza, who like Alex, was raised […]
Read more
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 […]
Read more
Hispanic Heritage month is coming in just a couple of weeks, and maybe I’m being unfair, but given the major media’s track record I’m not expecting much from NBC/ Telemundo’s’ “Viva Today” programming. Undoubtedly there will be much huffing and puffing dedicated to just how unthreatening and willing to fit in Hispanics are, and how […]
Read more
ED MORALES 