| "A Mirror of Many Faces: The Literature
of the
Puerto Rican Experience in the USA"
by Manuel Hernandez
Puerto Rico has one of the highest rates of emigration in
the world.
According to the 2000 United States Census, approximately
3.5 million people
of Puerto Rican origin live on the United States Mainland.
Although Puerto
Ricans have been migrating to the US since the middle of the
19th century,
it is not until the publication of Down These Mean Streets
by Piri Thomas
in 1967 that their presence with a literary awakening became
evident.
People from all the Caribbean came to the United States inspired
by "job
opportunities, low air fares and the expectations of those
that had already
pioneered the way".(The Nuyorican Experience, Mohr p.25)",
but Puerto Ricans
migrated on a larger scale than any other group because of
their political
relationship with the United States which granted them citizenship
and the
right to enter the US without having to present a passport.
The Commonwealth Government of 1952 proposed economic reform
through a
combination of industrialization, migration and popoulation
control which
proved to be essential factors in the massive immigration
movements in the
two decades following World War II. During the first four
decades of the
20th century, Puerto Rican's economy was centered in the production
of sugar
cane. This industry left workers unemployed during periods
between the harvests
("tiempo muerto"). Political leaders believed that
economic struggles on
the Island resulted from overpopulation. These two factors
were used to explain
the increased rate of unemployment on the Island. American
farmers announced
their packages for the "unskilled and inarticulate"
(Mohr P.25) Puerto Rican.
The working-class Puerto Ricans of the era are vividly portrayed
by one
of the pioneers of New York Puerto Rican poetry, Pedro Pietri:
Puerto Rican Obituary
They worked
They were always on time
They were never late
They never spoke back
They worked
They never took days off
that were not on the calendar
They never went on strike
without permission
They worked
ten days a week
and were paid only for five
They worked
They worked
and they died
They died broke
They died broke
They died owing (112)
The literature written by Puerto Ricans who were born or raised
in the
US focuses on issues surrounding the survival of the Puerto
Rican community.
In Juan Flores' foreword written for Jesus Colon's, A Puerto
Rican in New
York and Other Sketches, he states:
It was in the 1950's too and largely in response to these
rapidly
changing conditions, that there emerged an actual literature
of
fictional representation to the migration and resettlement
experience. (xiv)
The literature of United States based Puerto Ricans centers
on issues scuh
as education, language and culture, injustice, unemployment
and immigration.
It also speaks out on social concerns such as AIDS, abortion,
child abuse,
domestic violence and poverty.
In spite of the experiences confronted by Puerto Ricans in
the United
States, many of these have expressed their attachment and
sense of belonging
to US metropolitan neighborhoods. New York playwright and
actor, Miguel Pinero
prefers his final resting place to be the Lower East Side
of Manhattan instead
of Puerto Rico:
I don't wanna be buried in Puerto Rico
I don't wanna rest in a long island cemetery
I wanna be near the stabbing shooting
gambling fighting and unnatural dying
& new birth crying
so please when I die
don't take me far away
keep me nearby
take my ashes and scatter them thru out
the Lower East Side (99)
Puerto Ricans baptized Manhattan's Lower East Side as "Loisaida".The
neighborhood
became the heart and soul of the New York Puerto Rican's way
of life. During
the late 1960's and 1970's, it became a safe haven for US
based Puerto Rican
writers. Victor Hernandez-Cruz honors "Loisaida"
in a poem precisely titled
that way:
"Loisaida"
By the East River
of Manhattan Island
Where once the Iroquois
Canoed in style
Now the jumping
Stretch of Avenue D
housing projects
Where
Rican/Blacks
Johnny Pacheco/Wilson Pickett
Transistor
the radio night
Across the Domino sugar
sign
Red Neon on stage
It's the edge of Brooklyn
From reflections of identity to lines of creativity, Tato
Laviera takes
a language dilemma and uses code-switching and Spanglish to
depict its relevance
to the United States Rican's every day speech.
My Graduation Speech
i think in spanish
i write in english
i want to go back to Puerto Rico
but i wonder if my kink could live
in ponce, mayaguez and carolina
tengo las venas aculturadas
escribo en spanglish
abraham in espanol
abraham in english
tato in spanish
"taro" in english
tonto in both languages...(7)
In a 1988 study, Frances Aparicio sheds new light on Laviera's
contributions
to bilingualism in the United States:
Sus textos interlingues reflejan el habla de la comunidad
a
la vez que le otorgan valor. Proponen nuevos modos de percepcion
estetica, nuevas imagenes y experiencias fonicas en la poesia.
(93)
Using creative language to do poetry is Laviera's way of
moving beyond the
negative stereotypes of the Puerto Rican in the United States.
Moving beyond and away negative stereotypes is what Esmeralda
Santiago
expresses in her 1993 semi-autobiographical work, When I Was
Puerto Rican.
Assimilation is promoted constantly by educational institutions
in the United
States. Esmeralda recognizes the importance of belonging when
she finishes
her story with a visit to her alma mater, The High School
of Performing Arts
and says:
I walked the halls of the school, looking for the room
where my life had changed. It was across the science lab,
a few
doors from the big bulletin board when someone with neat
handwriting still wrote "P.A." followed by the graduating
year along the edges of newspaper clippings featuring
famous alumni. "One of these days." (270)
Assimilation comes in different forms and different colors.
In Piri Thomas'
short story "The Konk", a young boy straightens
his hair to be accepted by
friends and family, but once he meets their standards, he
is faced with hostility
and rejection. In the process of assimilation and belonging,
Puerto Ricans
are faced with situations of race, identity and culture. American
Jewish
Puerto Rican poet Aurora Levins-Morales explores multiple
identities in "Child
of the Americas":
I am a child of the Americas
a light-skinned mestiza of the Caribbean
a child of many diaspora, born into this continent at a crossroads
I am a US Puerto Rican Jew
a product of the ghettos of New York I have never known
An immigrant and the daughter and granddaughter of immigrants
...(50)
The experiences of the revolving door, returned migrant and
the stranger
in a foreign land have all been depicted in US based Puerto
Rican literature.
Themes include the reallities if immigration, dual language,
woman's role
and the influences of the American culture. From Piri Thomas'
best-seller,
Down These Mean Streets in 1967 to Miguel Pinero's best American
play in
1973, Short Eyes, to Nicholosa Mohr's 1973 Nilda to the most
recent success
of Esmeralda's Santiago's When I was Puerto Rican in 1993,
US based Puerto
Rican writing is making a dent in schools, colleges and universities
all
over the world.
US based PR literature should be used to supplement and complement
traditional
classical literature in English curriculum in the USA and
PR. It is time
that this new literature (1967-to the present) be studied
at a higher level
of understanding and analysis.
|
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