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I noticed that for Pedro Albizu Campos an independentista and anti-American that wanted to kick out the U.S. government and U.S military completely out of the island they have:
* 5 public schools named after him in Puerto Rico
* there are streets in most municipalities named after him
* In Chicago they named a High School after him
* In New York City the Campos Plaza Community Center and housing project in Manhattan are named after him
* In New York City, Public School 161 in Harlem is named after him.
* In Ponce, there is a Pedro Albizu Campos Park and lifesize statue dedicated to his memory. Every September 12, his contributions to Puerto Rico are remembered at this park on the celebration of his birthday.
* In Salinas , there is a "Plaza Monumento Don Pedro Albizu Campos", a plaza and 9-foot statue dedicated to his memory. It was dedicated on January 11, 2013, the birthday of Eugenio Maria de Hostos, another Puerto Rican who supported for Puerto Rico's independence.
now for Jose Celso Barbosa, one of the first persons of African descent to earn a medical degree in the United States and served in the first elected Puerto Rican Senate and was a champion and the grandfather of statehood in P.R. they only have:
* only 1 school named after him in Puerto Rico (Ponce)
* One museum in Bayamon (where he was from)
* one official holiday in P.R. for his birthday
* W Bush named a Post Office in Bayamon after his name.
see the problem? When Pedro Albizu has more schools, streets, and parks named after him and more name recognition including in New York City and Chicago (largely Puerto Rican population) over Jose Celso Barbosa and Luis A. Ferre, 2 champions for statehood in the island since the beginning of the 1900's then we have a problem in making Puerto Rico into a state and why most Puerto Ricans on the island don't feel Americans. It starts with public schools all the way to colleges in Puerto Rico. If they don't teach American Civics in the schools in Puerto Rico and what does it means to be an American and instead push the Albizu and the independentista propaganda in the schools then you will have the majority in the island disconnected and not feeling Americans and believe the U.S. is a foreign oppressive nation towards them.
I never understood Puerto Ricans that move to Chicago and NYC and support schools and statues named after Pedro Albizu and don't know about Jose Celso Barbosa. If you are anti-statehood and anti-American and want independence for Puerto Rico like Albizu, why come to live in Chicago and NYC and didn't stay in P.R. to fight for independence?
This is true ... but in all fairness I bet quite a few schools in the South have names like Jefferson Davis Elementary School or Robert E Lee High School.
BTW I agree entirely on the diaspora. This is especially true of many Nuyoricans. They practically wrap themselves in the jincha flag and cradle pictures of Albizu yet they rarely if ever step foot on the island ... and they certainly wouldn't live in an independent Puerto Rico. The hypocrisy is astonishing. The biggest irony of all is that if these people lived on the island the independence movement might be able to poll as high as 10-15% instead of 3%.
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Originally Posted by Hellion1999
I blame the public education system in the island that for decades has been politicized that they don't teach American Civics or what does it mean to be an American. Instead is a independentista and anti-statehood propaganda in the schools and from teachers that when most of people get out of high school or colleges in P.R. they have no connection to the USA and don't feel American. It's a disconnect.
That's why my main critique of the statehood political movement in Puerto Rico. They let the independentistas and anti-Union politics take control of the public school system in the island for decades and these are results and in my opinion you can't push for statehood in a territory if the majority don't feel Americans.
Agreed entirely, this is why I don't understand why Rossello doesn't completely transform the education system. It just baffles me, he has a change to fundamentally transform Puerto Rico and he's just doing the usual stuff instead.
This is true ... but in all fairness I bet quite a few schools in the South have names like Jefferson Davis Elementary School or Robert E Lee High School.
BTW I agree entirely on the diaspora. This is especially true of many Nuyoricans. They practically wrap themselves in the jincha flag and cradle pictures of Albizu yet they rarely if ever step foot on the island ... and they certainly wouldn't live in an independent Puerto Rico. The hypocrisy is astonishing. The biggest irony of all is that if these people lived on the island the independence movement might be able to poll as high as 10-15% instead of 3%.
Agreed entirely, this is why I don't understand why Rossello doesn't completely transform the education system. It just baffles me, he has a change to fundamentally transform Puerto Rico and he's just doing the usual stuff instead.
1) Jefferson Davis and Robert E Lee are different. Jefferson was elected by the people in the South and Lee was a General in the U.S. Army and didn't believe in secession but fought for his state of Virginia once his state voted to get out of the Union to defend it and both after the war were pardoned by the U.S. and both accepted to be in the Union after the war and were welcomed back in the Union. If Puerto Rico had a civil war, I'm sure they would honor the people on both sides that fought it, regardless of what side you think was right or wrong. That's the only way to unite and heal a nation after a civil war. Spain did it after their Civil War, they honor people from both sides.
2) Albizu on the other hand, was never elected in Puerto Rico. He only had the support of 1% of the electorate on the island and he died being anti-American and for independence. My Grandparents in Santurce (San Juan) knew Albizu very well. They told me he was more famous dead than when he was alive. Even the Independence party didn't want him because he was black and too extreme (that's another topic about the history of the political elites in Puerto Rico, they were all white skin from Spanish decent)
3) I don't understand why Chicago and NYC are in love with Albizu and named schools and parks after him when he was NEVER elected by the people in Puerto Rico, not even as a dog catcher......at least Jose Celso Barbosa was elected to the first democratic Senate in P.R. and was pro USA , Luis Muñoz Marin was elected by the people to the Senate and then Governor many times. Luis A. Ferre was elected Governor and then the Senate. Both were pro USA. Albizu was anti-American and they name schools after him in Chicago and NYC with taxpayers dollars and that is ok? see the problem?
4) It's kinda disrespectful for Puerto Ricans that move to Chicago and NYC and support the Albizu anti-American propaganda. Why not stay in Puerto Rico and fight for his believes if you truly feel that way. The same people that view Oscar Lopez as a Puerto Rican national hero for being the leader of a terrorist group and then he goes to Venezuela to support Maduro and crucify the USA in public and the Mayor of San Juan, Carmen Yulin gives him a hero's welcome and puts him in the payroll at the Municipality of San Juan.
5) There is something wrong when Albizu is more known and more famous in P.R. and in the states and has more schools, parks, streets by far then Jose Celso Barbosa, the grandfather of the statehood movement in Puerto Rico. That's your public education system in P.R., that to be a Puerto Rican patriot you have to be 1 thing (Puerto Rican above anything else) and not both (Puerto Rican and American).
6) Until the statehood movement deals with this in the island and change that culture in the public school system then a large % of Puerto Ricans in the island will never feel Americans and will feel disconnected from the U.S. and they will continue to choose the Puerto Rico Olympic Team and Miss Universe over being part of the Union and finally feeling Americans.
The US is a bilingual country at this point, at least as much so as Canada is...Quebec and other French speaking bastions are scattered throughout the country, but if anything Spanish speaking communities in the US are much better dispersed throughout much of the country.
What? No it is not. In the U.S, Spanish is an immigrant language like Chinese. It's spoken almost entirely by new immigrants, and it's very short lived, lasting no more than two generations. It is not a stable language like French in Canada. French is the native language in Quebec. There is no generational transfer of Spanish in the United States.
The United States is just an English Speaking country - with a wide variety of immigrant languages spoken.
4) It's kinda disrespectful for Puerto Ricans that move to Chicago and NYC and support the Albizu anti-American propaganda. Why not stay in Puerto Rico and fight for his believes if you truly feel that way. The same people that view Oscar Lopez as a Puerto Rican national hero for being the leader of a terrorist group and then he goes to Venezuela to support Maduro and crucify the USA in public and the Mayor of San Juan, Carmen Yulin gives him a hero's welcome and puts him in the payroll at the Municipality of San Juan.
Part of me wishes that the likes of Oscar Lopez and other Puerto Rican independence extremists would go after the Puerto Rican statehood supporters. Their anger is misdirected at Americans.
Puerto Rico is indispensable to conus culturally, militarily, economic
NO. indispensable? Do you know the meaning of that word? it means absolutely necessary,
essential, crucial, necessary, key, vital, needed, required.
Now, Puerto Rico at this moment needs the U.S. in a crucial, essential, absolute and necessary way. They need the federal recovery funds and the other federal funds they get annually to make the system function in the island. They need the U.S. to keep a strong stable Dollar with low inflation and a strong U.S. economy.
As the saying goes, if the U.S. economy catches a cold, the P.R. economy will get a bad case of Pneumonia.
and the military? The United States has over 800 military bases around the world, and 76 of these are in Latin America. Among the best known are 12 in Panama,9 in Colombia, and 8 in Peru, with the greatest number concentrated in Central America and the Caribbean.....so NO! P.R. is not indispensable.
In my Latino Studies class, they really made it seem like Puerto Ricans wanting to be a state were “slaves” and how being independent was the best thing Puerto Rico could do.
All I will say is I remember my mom telling me if we were our own country, we would be poorer than the Dominican Republic.
In my Latino Studies class, they really made it seem like Puerto Ricans wanting to be a state were “slaves” and how being independent was the best thing Puerto Rico could do.
They were right. Wanting to integrate into the United States when you are free to go is a kind of colonial Stockholm syndrome.
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All I will say is I remember my mom telling me if we were our own country, we would be poorer than the Dominican Republic.
I think Puerto Ricans could do it if their well-being depended on it. Right now, their government has no incentive to be responsible because they are completely sustained by the United States. They know the mainland will always bail them out and they're not going to starve. If they were on their own, they would grow up and be a serious adult nation.
What? No it is not. In the U.S, Spanish is an immigrant language like Chinese. It's spoken almost entirely by new immigrants, and it's very short lived, lasting no more than two generations. It is not a stable language like French in Canada. French is the native language in Quebec. There is no generational transfer of Spanish in the United States.
The United States is just an English Speaking country - with a wide variety of immigrant languages spoken.
And do you see these trends in immigration ceasing anytime soon? Dual language programs are catching on more and more, and it´s not Chinese that they´re being taught in alongside English. Spanish will be around for a long, long time.
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