PRIMER

CATCHING UP REAL QUICK
>>> Weird how my last posting dealt with imperialism in South America, and a week later there is an attempted coup in Bolivia and the US Ambassador, Philip Goldberg is expelled (the same man, known for instigating division in Bosnia) from Bolivia for agitating 'seperatist' forces. << >>> Also very interresting how in the posting before that one, i focused largely on the deregulation of the economy and how it has allowed corporations to exploit us . And now EvEN THE REPUBLICANS WHO fATHERED AND ARE THE ENFORCERS OF fREE MARKET DEREGULATION are blaming de-reglation for the crash of insurance giants <<<>But anyway. Speaking in the "I",

'maybe i just need to finally get that steady/ or maybe its just another commitment to make; Im Not Ready!//'

.......................................................................................................................................................................

S E P T E M B E R 23rd
(by no means rooted second seed to the above/ just deeper sown into my blood)





So i was navigating wikipedia.com to gather some information i may be able to share here about Puerto Rico being September 23rd is the anniversary of an 1868 uprising against the Spanish Empire which had Puerto Rico under colonial rule: Meaning Spain allowed Puerto Rico no political, economic, or even cultural self-determination/ sovereignty. It was an attempted coup planned by a cadre of great revolutionary, including Ramon Emeterio Betances whom among other revolutionary deeds was responsible for buying children out of slavery. Back then in PR if you bought a slave you can free them. And that is what he did. He was a fascinating man whom also assisted Gregorio Luperon win independance for the Dominican Republic, and faught to help Cuba in their fight to separate from Spain.
And in doing this research i came across the page somebody set up for "Notable Puerto Ricans" and noticed that on that page there included a list of notable Puerto Rican criminals.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_notable_Puerto_Ricans#Criminals_and_outlaws

What immediately strikes me is how offensive this is if it is a person who is not Puerto Rican posting this information. But what is more hurtful is what it indicates about the person if they actually ARE a fellow Boricua! Because if i google ANY other race, ethnicity, nation of people there wouldn't be a section for criminals. This is a clear reminder to me of how our people are unfortunatelly awashed (as in brain washed to the 10th cycle) in our negative self perception. It is the colonized mentality, which is not very much different from a slave mentality.
What nation DOESNT have 'criminals'? Every nation does. But as Puerto Ricans we have SO internalized the stereotypes that we do things like this, almost as if to walk into a room with our head ducked, reminding others, "By the way, i know i dont have to be here, because i am a bad guy. But i am gracious at your invitation" FUCK THAT!
We need to have pride and to begin to build a more positive sense of self. The negative is so little in comparison to the positive. Yet by the same token i recognize i have to have some level of understanding for the fact that as a colony, our history has been hidden and slowly omitted from the books. If we become a state, there goes the language, there goes the customs. Sad truth is that it didnt have to become a state for that process to begin. In the diaspora we 2nd and 3rd generations have already lost our language and at times names. We reject the notion that we are any different than any other 'American'. That being from PR is a bit different but not too different than being from Texas, or New York. On the island, old customs are relegated in large part to entertaining tourists, like in Hawaii where they do a traditional dance for you at a resort.

Some call this progress. But when you look at the big picture from the outside you begin to realize that this is not normal. You see how in our parade we celebrate Goya, Bacardi, the Spanish Radio Station, and the Beauty Queen WAYYYY too much, and emphasize our cultural roots WAY too little. It's not the same in the Greek parade, in the Columbian parade, in the Pakistani parade, in the Brazilian parade, in the Carribean parade... These parades have a clear and STRONG sense of national pride while we fiddle in the consumerism and the celebrity fluff. It is a pitty to ask a young Puerto Rican why they are proud and they tell you what makes a Puerto Rican is
---We can Fuck
--------We can party
---------------We hard body

We are lost.. that's what the fuck we are! I'm not saying we are not those things! I can surely Fuck and i love doing it! I enjoy partying and the atmosphere of being around people! I don't backdown ESPECIALLY from my freedom to speak what i feel. But there are deeper reasons for why we are those things, and they draw to historical and societal circumstances that we fail to recognize. Because we have a colonized mentality. NOT an *independant* one. And colonized people are conditioned NOT to think. We are historically, politically, economically in a position of DEPENDANCE. And the examples i have shown are exactly how they play out.

We need to begin to build a deeper sense of pride. There have been movements to try and save our historical memory and enlighten our fellow brothers and sisters on some of the great things we have done which merit us as great people, in the sciences, in the arts, in philosophy and government and religion. Not just music and baseball. But to the united states these movements posed a threat because they give people a sense of pride in our NATION and thus, an urge to be independant.

And as we recognize the uprising against Spain on this day, it is telling how amongst those listed 'criminals' is Filiberto Ojeda Rios, whom was the leader of the Puerto Rican Revolutionary group Los Macheteros. A controversial group that have fought to bring the case of U.S. colonization of PR to the attention of the international community, by any means neccessary. They have been branded terrorists but only by a media which then goes and puts Tibetan Seperatists, Georgian Seperatists, Taiwan Seperatists, Bolivian Seperatists, Myanmar Seperatists in a positive light: And these groups themselves have committed armed offenses against their governments. Ojeda on the other hand is branded a common criminal.
Well... i respect different points of view which may be against using any violence to achieve political gains. But you tell me who pulled the criminal act when he was assiassinated on SEPTEMBER 23rd, 2005, by the FBI. Even if you believe say, that maybe he fired the first shot... Why did they show up on the anniversary of Puerto Ricos uprising against the SPANISH empire? Why couldn't that day be respected? It wasnt some passive coincidence. In Puerto Rico that day is recognized. Which is why thousands took to the streets, and mainstream media persons and politicans on the island, including the governor spoke out against it.
**You may be asking: But why would the governor speak against it when he ordered it? hahaha... see... there we go... now we realize.. COLONY. The decision came from Washington and he wasn't even consulted about it**

Filibertos murder was a clear warning to any Puerto Rican fighting for independance from the U.S. And throughout the history of the U.S.'s occupation of the island there have been many incidences of repression such as this. At one point they so feared the rise of an independance sentiment (in the 50's) that a Gag Law was implemented 'La Ley de Murdasa' in which if you were caught speaking about independance you would be arrested. And for a time it was even illegal to wave the Puerto Rican flag in public.

There is so much i want to pour on this page right now, but i recognize that for those i want to reach with this information: The youth. We must build a sense of confidence and the itch to want to learn more, before stuffing it down their throats. Because for someone not used to organic meals, McDonalds tastes better. And i do not want to lose you.
But on this day it would at least put me to bed fairly well if i can have you consider that maybe you HAVE been blanked out and a society which views you as a criminal HAS been constructed around you. And that you somehow now find yourself in it, hopefully, realizing you must find your way out or at least with your proper defenses in tact ON YOUR TONGUE, IN YOUR MIND, IN YOUR HEART and INTENTIONS!



Before the uprising of 1868 this was a letter written to the Spanish Queen by Puerto Rican representatives of the movement to get rid of the Spanish Empire:

...It states that we are bad Spaniards.
The government defames us.
We don't want separation, we want peace,
the union to Spain; however, it is fair that we also add conditions to the contract.

They are rather easy, here they are:
The abolition of slavery
The right to vote on all impositions
Freedom of religion
Freedom of speech
Freedom of the press
Freedom of trade
The right to assembly
Right to bear arms
Inviolability of the citizen
The right to choose our own authorities

These are the Ten Commandments of Free Men.
If Spain feels capable of granting us,
and gives us, those rights and liberties,
they may then send us a General Captain, a governor...
made of straw, that we will burn in effigy

-"Ten Commandments of Free Men" (translated), November 1867



Their demands were not some kind of TERROR! But shit... If Spain is exploiting the island they surely were going to Print papers for the citizens of Spain to 'be wary of a terrorist uprising in the Puerto Rican colony'. Because of the fear of losing us. Many of these same demands made in 1867 in this letter, are demands we haven't received from the U.S. over the course of its century long occupation. Puerto Rico does not control its own trade, Puerto Rico does not get to vote for it's authority (yes it can vote in a governor but what does that mean when the governor must hand in a petition to the U.S. congress asking if they approve to get most laws passed? Thats more like a representative than an authority!), and Puerto Rico does not have freedom of the press because the press in Puerto Rico is not owned by Puerto Ricans, it is run by American corporations, because the fact that Puerto Rico is indeed a colony means that there can be no such thing as a puerto Rican owned corporation. All business endeavors are incorporated by U.S. law. So whose interests will mainstream propoganda play up to?

The word colony is one we avoid, but in overcoming any presumed colonial miseducation (and lets presume for a moment that we are miseducated__you will have to anyway, when you are faced with the following fact) we must must address the reality with a language which speaks truth to power. In other words: REAL TALK!
.
Real Talk: The U.S. began it's occupation of PR in 1898 and didnt grant citizenship to Puerto Rican's until March 2nd 1917, a year after Luis Munoz Rivera (PR's Representative in Congress at the time) ASKED:

"Give us now the field of experiment which we ask of you. . . . It is easy for us to set up a stable republican government with all possible guarantees for all possible interests. And afterwards, when you . . . give us our independence . . . you will stand before humanity as a great creator of new nationalities and a great liberator of oppressed people."

-AND ONLY A MONTH BEFORE THE U.S. ENTERED World War 1 (April 6th, 1918)......

(((Please re-read what i just wrote and think about that))) First off what it goes to show is that you can't simply ASK to eventually be GIVEN Independance, as Luis Munoz Rivera did in his statement (obviously it didn't work) **which is a reason it is important we dont forget the uprising: El Grito De Lares**.
And Secondly it goes to show that the Empire of Any colony will make moves to grant priveledges only based on getting something in return, because i honestly dont think its a coincidence that after twenty years Puerto Ricans were finally given citizenship, and then a month later they are being asked, as citizens to fight a war!
The U.S. granted Puerto Rico the title of CommonWealth in 1952, only after a resolution by the United Nations calling for the outlawing of Colonies in the international community. Bascially it was a change in the language. The governor of PR at the time along with his cabinet were allowed to draw up a constitution for the island, yet it had to go through the U.S. congress to get passed, and a clause was implemented which states that the U.S. will allow plecibites/ or votes, by islanders as to whether they want Statehood, Independance, or Commonwealth Status, -YET- it must be signed by the U.S. So how does that make it any different than a colony? Historically colonies have always had local governing bodies. It doesn't.. just the language.
More recently the governor has blasted Condoleeza Rice and the Bush administration for stating about the islands political status in the annual President's Task Force Report that:
the U.S. may dispose of Puerto Rico by transferring it to any other sovereign country as a mere disposition of property.
So JUST like PR was given to the U.S. by Spain, the U.S. is in such a position of control over PR that it can, under U.S. imposed law, be given to another nation.


Hell if that doesn't mean P.R. needs to take responsibility over it's self than i don't know what does! Nobody is going to care for us the way we will care for ourselves, in a position to make our own decisions according to our own interests.



September 23, 1868 - September 23, 2008

-Tone.Are