The identity in Puerto Rico is a mistery for me. Born in a place makes you part of it forever? Well, that was I tought. The other day I met this old man, he was very tall and his skin was black. He told me that I'm not a good interpretacion of "una puertoriqueña". I asked him why? He told me that my skin is more white that a latina, my freakles and my green eyes don't help me that much. He think that a puertorican that likes the rock (like me) is unacceptable. For most of the people the identity of Puerto rico is a big issue, because there is a direct link in between identity of a place and the goverment. For this man the things that i like are more "americans" and that makes me part of them, but the americans don't look at me like "us". So what is my identity?
When I was reading "A Small Place" by Jamaica I feel the same way "out". In this book (that if you are interest to know a little bit more about what I think about the book click here) Jamaica is very clear with the "you" and "me". I think that she was trying to draw lines of identity in between antiguans and the rest of the world. In A Small Place the identity of "you" is bad and tourist, the identity of "me" the poor and the slave. However, for me your identity could be different what you think what is your identity. For that man I'm not a puertorican for me I'm a puertorican. For me Antigua is a place for vacation for antiguans is home.
Ya know, I don't exactly know why people are so bent on trying to define what people from Puerto Rico (or anywhere else) should specifically look like. There's so many people coming in and out of PR, both permanently and temporarily, that, as time goes by we get more and more mixed. Puerto Rico is referred to as a melting pot of cultures for a reason.
ReplyDeleteOMG, I'm sorry, but that men is just ignorant! For his information we are very diverse people, so we can be from black to white. You love rock, so what??? We need to listen to reggaeton or salsa only in order to be puertorican like? NOT! I will punch him in his face really.
ReplyDeleteHe didn't say that to me and I'm angry! It's a disgrace that people think in that way. The Puerto Rican is a very nice of mixture of races and I live very proud of that!
ReplyDeleteA true gentleman. On a serious note, even if we wish people like this didn't exist, the truth is the world is filled with them.
ReplyDeleteThe beauty of the Puerto Rican race is that we come from the Africans, Spanish, Tainos and Americans and we can have characteristics as diverse as our culture is. There is not a specific way a Puerto Rican should look like.
ReplyDelete