The Puerto Rico Plebiscite That Wasn’t By ED MORALES Nov. 8, 2012 Puerto Ricans like to say that politics is the national sport, and who could argue with that? With a participation rate hovering near 80% and campaigning that features elaborate floats, loud music, and a carnival atmosphere, election day on the island comes off […]
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The New Majority
The new majority has spoken again President Obama won re-election in large part due to overwhelming support from women, African-American and Latino voters. Obama’s victory in the general election was not by a huge margin – despite winning by almost 100 electoral votes, he squeaked by in the popular vote – but his victory spoke […]
Read moreOn Vendidos and the Latino Vote
It’s true. So many of us are sellouts that it really doesn’t surprise anyone anymore. How are you going to get anywhere unless you brand yourself (with a red-hot poker)? I mean, Jay Z doesn’t even understand what the reason for Occupy Wall Street is, and he’s from the projects. Case in point: Ruben (doesn’t deserve […]
Read moreYou Don’t Need a Weatherman
If there was ever any doubt that we are entering a serious period of crisis both locally and globally, it is shockingly, stunningly, dispelled by a visit to Ground Zero Rockaways this weekend. To say it is a place in ruins is underestimating matters–this amazing shoreline, one of the best beaches within the city limits, […]
Read moreStop Using the Word Illegal!
The mainstream press should stop using the adjective “illegal” to describe immigrants. Tagging this label on immigrants without proper documentation has become part of the American lexicon. But the word has long-lasting repercussions not only on undocumented immigrants living in the United States, but the ethnicities usually associated with them. Immigrant-rights groups have urged the […]
Read moreBogotá Reinvents Itself Through La Música
By ED MORALES Oct. 3, 2012 There was an appropriate air of excitement at Bogotá’s Teatro Jorge Eliécer Gaitán on a recent September evening. A buzzing crowd had come to hear a broad array of musical acts native to this capital city, a magnet for internal migration, and celebrate its designation as Creative City of […]
Read moreIt’s Hard Out Here For a Scab
Much has been written, broadcast, tweeted, and bloviated about Monday night’s “blown call” by replacement referees during the game between the Seattle Seahawks and the Green Bay Packers. A national debate has been raised about whether part-time workers deserve a non-contribution based pension. Even anti-union blowhards like Wisconsin governor Scott Walker have come out in […]
Read moreLas mentiras que nos tiran
Hace poco que surgió otra controversia en los medios sobre el uso (aparente y alegadamente) de las tácticas de los nazis en el debate político, que se sigue intensificando de cara a las elecciones de noviembre. John Burton, el jefe del partido demócrata de California, dijo que lo que usaban los republicanos era una versión […]
Read moreThis Is How You Tell It: Junot Díaz’s Spanglish Zanganerías
“I’m not a bad guy,” says Yunior in the very first sentence of “The Sun, the Moon, and the Stars,” the very first story in Junot Díaz’s collection This Is How You Lose Her. How many times has that thought gone through my head? Díaz seems to know, like many overeducated Latinos of his generation, that the […]
Read morePuerto Rico Political Discourse Dictated by “La Comay”
La Comay is a female marionette assuming the role of middle-aged town gossip. But she is voiced by a comedian named Kobbo Santarrosa, who has built his show, Super Xclusivo, into the highest-rated program in Puerto Rico by mixing tabloid gossip, sensationalism and a speculative form of investigative nation into a highly influential source of the island territory’s political discourse.
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ED MORALES 