Barack Obama – ED MORALES

America and Race, Globalization, Republican Party politics, right populism, The Western Subject, Urban/Global Politics

Notes on the End of 2016: The Trump Zone

It’s a fairly widespread opinion, particularly in the privileged sectors of East and West Coast urban areas, that 2016 has been the “worst year ever.” And it probably was. I’m not referring to the pop cultural obsession with the various artist/celebrities that have passed away. While many of them were significant in their own ways, […]

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

Why POTUS Needs to Set Oscar Free: An Interview with José López

On December 4th I interviewed José López, whose brother Oscar López Rivera is a Puerto Rican political prisoner in the U.S, for Living in Spanglish Radio. He has been held over 35 years and over 100,000 have signed a petition asking President Obama to pardon him before the end of his term in office. José […]

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

Living in Spanglish: Puerto Rican Pride Edition

The new Living in Spanglish radio episode is a special Puerto Rican Pride edition, in time for the Puerto Rican National Day Parade in New York. There’s plenty of salsa, bugalú and boleros, and special guests iLe, Calle 13 vocalist with a new solo album called Ilevitable, and David Galarza, Nuyorican activist, talk about life, love, […]

America and Race, Artists in the hood, Gentrification of New York, Globalization, Hemispheric Identity, Latinos and Race, Latinos in Media, Puerto Rico's Colonial Status, Urban/Global Politics, US Intervention in Latin America

7 Tweets About Hamilton

[Click on tweet for link to article referred to in tweet]

America and Race, Gentrification and Suburban Poverty, Globalization, Hemispheric Identity, Latinos and Race, Puerto Rico's Colonial Status, Republican Party politics, Urban/Global Politics, US Intervention in Latin America

Republican Plan to Address PR Debt Crisis Is a Disaster

Okay let’s get this straight. Last week Obama free-styled on the White House lawn, apparently said he had the Oscar López Rivera matter “on his desk,” then took off for Havana, where he watched a baseball game and then on to Argentina to throw down with some tango dancers. Prominent members of the Puerto Rican/diaspora […]

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 […]

Urban/Global Politics, US Intervention in Latin America

Vox’s Matt Yglesias Erases History of US Intervention in Latin America

At first glance I was intrigued by Matthew Yglesias’s recent post “American Democracy Is Doomed,” since it seemed to critically address the U.S.’s partisan gridlock problem. But a few paragraphs in, anyone with their head not in the sand will have one of those early 21st century WTF moments, when Yglesias quotes an apparent hero […]

Urban/Global Politics

A View From Puerto Rico on Cuba’s Opening: The Hard Questions of Obam-apertura

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 […]

New York City Politics, New York Mayoral Politics, Urban/Global Politics

Bill de Blasio: Hope on Hold

Bill de Blasio’s victory in the mayoral election tonight may seem like a triumph of progressivism and a rejection of outgoing Mayor Bloomberg’s Wall Street agenda, but it is clearly an accident, and it remains to be seen what lies in New York’s future. It’s got to be more than a big red sign that […]

Puerto Rico's Colonial Status, Urban/Global Politics

Luis Gutiérrez: Rebel With a Cause

Almost 30 years ago, U.S. Rep. Luis Gutiérrez (D-Illinois) awoke in his living room in the middle of the night only to realize it was engulfed in flames. Someone had thrown a Molotov cocktail through his window, and it was all he could do to retrieve his wife and children from the modest house […]