Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I just came upon an interesting article that discusses a little bit of history surrounding the Flag.
The discussion begins when talking about how the Puerto Rican Day Parade evolved in NYC. Further, it went on to talk about why the Puerto Rico Flag is so prominently displayed during the Parades over the years.
But even as the National Puerto Rican Day Parade has become one of the nation’s largest and best-known outdoor celebrations, there is a secret that few people suspect…a secret that reaches into the heart of every Puerto Rican, without their even knowing it.
It is the secret of the Puerto Rican flag.
Have you ever noticed the passionate, over-the-top, surrealistic display of Puerto Rican flags at every Puerto Rican Day Parade?
Everywhere you look, it is an ocean of flags!
This is no accident.
There is a reason for this emotional attachment.
There is a reason why Que Bonita Bandera and Preciosa bring tears to our eyes…and sometimes we don’t even know why.
It is because this flag represents an ideal…the ideal of lost youth and forgotten illusions…much like last night’s dream…or the prayers we once heard, at our grandmothers’ feet.
But there is one more reason, why this flag is the emotional heart of the parade.
It is the secret which explains everything.
We are crazy about this flag because for many years, any Puerto Rican who owned one, would go to jail for ten years.
WHEN OWNING A FLAG WAS A FELONY
For many years, the United States wanted only one flag in Puerto Rico. (American Flag)
Here is that flag, in the inauguration of the first US Governor of Puerto Rico, in April 1900:
Pedro Albizu Campos refused to salute this flag (American Flag)
In order to crush Don Pedro and the Nationalist movement, a law was passed in 1948, right after Don Pedro got out of jail.
It was called Public Law 53, and also known as La Ley de la Mordaza…the Gag Law.
Law 53 made it a felony to sing a song, whistle a tune, or utter one word against the US government, or in favor of Puerto Rican independence.
This included singing La Borinqueña, or owning a Puerto Rican flag.
Own a flag…ten years in jail.
Without googling any of this, from what I recall, Our Puerto Rican flag was fashioned after the Cuban flag in demonstration of solidarity with Cuba during their quest for independence from España. Dr. Ramón Emeterio Betances supposedly had much to do with Our Flag's design.
And to think that Betances once espoused the creation of One Nation composed of Cuba, Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico under one Flag.
FYI, Betances was half Boricua, and half Dominicano.
Without googling any of this, from what I recall, Our Puerto Rican flag was fashioned after the Cuban flag in demonstration of solidarity with Cuba during their quest for independence from España. Dr. Ramón Emeterio Betances supposedly had much to do with Our Flag's design.
And to think that Betances once espoused the creation of One Nation composed of Cuba, Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico under one Flag.
FYI, Betances was half Boricua, and half Dominicano.
That's interesting. My point of discontent is the jail time levied against those who wanted to have their own country flag. Propaganda at work and we see the mainland US offers no help in Puerto Rico's governmental affairs, despite all that "one flag" ideology.
This has nothing to do with the Dominican or Cuban flags in the way this information is portrayed. Ten years in prison for owning your country's flag awful. I never knew this and am now ready to do more reading up on this Law that was implemented.
Albizu Campos’ story and the history of his ill-fated movement are chronicled in War Against All Puerto Ricans: Revolution and Terror in America’s Colony, a new book by Nelson A. Denis, a journalist, activist, and former New York state assemblyman. Denis, whose mother is Puerto Rican, says the book would not have been possible without several decades of personal interest and the release of nearly 2 million documents FBI from secret FBI dossiers known as carpetas, gathered over a period of about 50 years. This trove of papers, made public in 2000, reveal a previously untold story about how the US government worked to undermine the growing Puerto Rican independence movement of the 1940s and ’50s.
In 1936, Albizu Campos was imprisoned on sedition charges after helping to successfully organize Puerto Rican workers. After more than a decade in prison, he returned to the island and organized an armed revolt in 1950. His plan was never realized, due in large part to FBI infiltration and harassment as well as legal sanctions such as Public Law 53, the “Gag Law,” which made it a criminal act to show any outward support for an independent Puerto Rico. The short-lived violent uprising may mark the only time the US military has launched an aerial attack on its own citizens, when National Guard planes strafed the town of Utuado.
I spoke to Denis about Albizu Campos’ uprising and why many Americans don’t know about the colonial dynamic between Puerto Rico and the United States.
I just came upon an interesting article that discusses a little bit of history surrounding the Flag.
The discussion begins when talking about how the Puerto Rican Day Parade evolved in NYC. Further, it went on to talk about why the Puerto Rico Flag is so prominently displayed during the Parades over the years.
But even as the National Puerto Rican Day Parade has become one of the nation’s largest and best-known outdoor celebrations, there is a secret that few people suspect…a secret that reaches into the heart of every Puerto Rican, without their even knowing it.
It is the secret of the Puerto Rican flag.
Have you ever noticed the passionate, over-the-top, surrealistic display of Puerto Rican flags at every Puerto Rican Day Parade?
Everywhere you look, it is an ocean of flags!
This is no accident.
There is a reason for this emotional attachment.
There is a reason why Que Bonita Bandera and Preciosa bring tears to our eyes…and sometimes we don’t even know why.
It is because this flag represents an ideal…the ideal of lost youth and forgotten illusions…much like last night’s dream…or the prayers we once heard, at our grandmothers’ feet.
But there is one more reason, why this flag is the emotional heart of the parade.
It is the secret which explains everything.
We are crazy about this flag because for many years, any Puerto Rican who owned one, would go to jail for ten years.
WHEN OWNING A FLAG WAS A FELONY
For many years, the United States wanted only one flag in Puerto Rico. (American Flag)
Here is that flag, in the inauguration of the first US Governor of Puerto Rico, in April 1900:
Pedro Albizu Campos refused to salute this flag (American Flag)
In order to crush Don Pedro and the Nationalist movement, a law was passed in 1948, right after Don Pedro got out of jail.
It was called Public Law 53, and also known as La Ley de la Mordaza…the Gag Law.
Law 53 made it a felony to sing a song, whistle a tune, or utter one word against the US government, or in favor of Puerto Rican independence.
This included singing La Borinqueña, or owning a Puerto Rican flag.
Own a flag…ten years in jail.
And who passed Law 53? Not the United States Congress ... but the Puerto Rico legislature ruled by the Popular Democratic Party.
BTW: Nelson Denis is hardly an unbiased source.
Whether Nelson Denis is a reliable source for this information is really irrelevant since the internet has a number of sources that say the very same thing. I just learned about this though. I'd never heard of Law 53 until I posted this.
Finally, the Propaganda was done by the US. Of course, they installed a puppet to help them achieve their means. The Puerto Rican Legislature of course signed the Law. It is still despicable. Pro Independence vs. Pro American installation. Despicable that any government would jail someone for having pride and love for their own birthplace.
The US is historically placed with a great deal of propaganda at home and abroad so, there's that.
Whether Nelson Denis is a reliable source for this information is really irrelevant since the internet has a number of sources that say the very same thing. I just learned about this though. I'd never heard of Law 53 until I posted this.
Finally, the Propaganda was done by the US. Of course, they installed a puppet to help them achieve their means. The Puerto Rican Legislature of course signed the Law. It is still despicable. Pro Independence vs. Pro American installation. Despicable that any government would jail someone for having pride and love for their own birthplace.
The US is historically placed with a great deal of propaganda at home and abroad so, there's that.
If two or more persons in any State or Territory, or in any place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, conspire to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States, or to levy war against them, or to oppose by force the authority thereof, or by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States, or by force to seize, take, or possess any property of the United States contrary to the authority thereof, they shall each be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both.
Whoever knowingly or willfully advocates, abets, advises, or teaches the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing or destroying the government of the United States or the government of any State, Territory, District or Possession thereof, or the government of any political subdivision therein, by force or violence, or by the assassination of any officer of any such government; or
Whoever, with intent to cause the overthrow or destruction of any such government, prints, publishes, edits, issues, circulates, sells, distributes, or publicly displays any written or printed matter advocating, advising, or teaching the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing or destroying any government in the United States by force or violence, or attempts to do so; or Whoever organizes or helps or attempts to organize any society, group, or assembly of persons who teach, advocate, or encourage the overthrow or destruction of any such government by force or violence; or becomes or is a member of, or affiliates with, any such society, group, or assembly of persons, knowing the purposes thereof—
Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both, and shall be ineligible for employment by the United States or any department or agency thereof, for the five years next following his conviction.
If two or more persons conspire to commit any offense named in this section, each shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both, and shall be ineligible for employment by the United States or any department or agency thereof, for the five years next following his conviction.
As used in this section, the terms “organizes” and “organize”, with respect to any society, group, or assembly of persons, include the recruiting of new members, the forming of new units, and the regrouping or expansion of existing clubs, classes, and other units of such society, group, or assembly of persons.
Perhaps they should have read the Federal penal code ...
Quote:
Originally Posted by mym
it was a bad time. by the late 70s it had died down but there were still 'events' like Cerro Maravilla.
i think most of this is forgotten, not only by americans but also by many puertoricans.
That's because 95% of Puerto Ricans have moved on. The supposed Puerto Rican patriots are little more than puppets of Castro and Maduro. What kind of "patriot" fawns over 3rd world dictators that rule through tyranny? The Puerto Rican independenistas ...
That's because 95% of Puerto Ricans have moved on. The supposed Puerto Rican patriots are little more than puppets of Castro and Maduro. What kind of "patriot" fawns over 3rd world dictators that rule through tyranny? The Puerto Rican independenistas ...
If that is in fact true..then as the old saying goes;' Be careful what you wish for...you just might get it.'
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
