Xavier “Xavi” Luis Burgos –

As I have previously addressed in this column, the issue of Puerto Rican identity – especially for those who are from the Diaspora, i.e “Diasporicans” (Boricuas in the U.S.) – is a complicated topic and even a painful one to discuss. Who defines who is and is not Puerto Rican? Why do Puerto Ricans, who are second and third generation, some of who cannot speak Spanish and many who have only seen the island in photographs, proudly display the flag on everything, from tattoos to car stickers? Are Puerto Ricans on the island really in a privilaged place, in terms of knowing who they are and where they stand as a people?

To research these questions, I turned to  none other than Facebook, the social networking website, to began a discussion. I began it with a statement that I do not believe (and it will explain itself as you read), but wrote to stir peoples’ minds and emotions. I hope the comments selected will enrich your opinions and thoughts on Puerto Rican identity. The following is an abridged (and grammatically correct) version of what transpired vis-à-vis Facebook:

Me: I’m more Puerto Rican than any Boricua born on the island because I have had to fight for my identity instead of having it handed to me…

Diasporican #1: AMEN!!!! How can I even begin to explain that to others??

Islander #1: Everyone has their own experiences… I don’t know if you are more Puerto Rican, but ultimately it is the way you feel…

Diasporican #2: It’s interesting you say that because I’ve had this discussion with my cousins on the island, and they just don’t get it.

Islander #2 (my aunt): And of course I disagree with you at least 50% of the way. You know your history, you fight for Puerto Rican rights in Chicago, you live the flavors. You might be more Boricua than some, but not most. There are a couple of people that discredit our island but most of us love our background, we do have a love-hate relationship with Puerto Rico, but you have to live here (not read about it or experience it during vacations) to understand that. That’s why no one from here will ever understand or accept when you say you’re more Puerto Rican than the ones living here, but if that’s how you feel, okay.

Islander #3: You think we have not fought for our identity Xavi? You don’t think as a Puerto Rican I struggle everyday to show these mofos we exist? You don’t think it hurts when I see maps in history books that don’t even have the island on it? You think our identity is handed to us just because we were born en la isla? La isla, it’s already a dilemma, my man. It’s even harder, you know why? Because I was born in a place like no other, with our own traditions, culture, climate, people, our own self; yet, we are not recognized. We are “La isla del Encanto” con el desencanto de no ser nada. Ni esto, ni lo otro. We, too, have to fight for our identity, much more than anybody. ¿Dónde nació Pedro Albizu Campos, Ramón Emeterio Betances, Juan Antonio Corretjer? No fue en New York, no fue en Chicago; yet, this are los proseres, the ultimate fighters of our independence, the people you emulate. ¿Dónde nació Lolita Lebron? Donde nació Filiberto? Who organized and said to La Marina, “Salte pal carajo de Vieques?” Nobody gave me my identity, nobody gave nobody anything. You could be from NY, CHI, Puerto Rico; if you identify yourself as a Puerto Rican, you are still looking for your identity and ESPECIALLY if you were born in Puerto Rico.

Me: I’m loving this discussion. I do have to say that identity is much more complicated than anything one thinks. I, myself, began this discussion with an essentialist view of identity… and I did it on PURPOSE. Do I believe Puerto Ricans on the island or in the Diaspora are more Puerto Rican than each other? NO! Because we are a nation of 8 million, not just 4 million, on the island or in the Diaspora. The point of initiating this discussion was to: 1) To prove to everyone, even my dear Titi, that it is painful and wrong to say a person is “more” than someone else, especially in terms of identity and 2) To see the different reactions between my friends, who were born or live on the island and those who are “Diasporicans.” The differences are clear. All those who were born or live on the island reacted negatively to what I had to say while my fellow “Diasporicans” cheered me on. Isn’t that ironic? LOL

Me: Oh, and by the way, even though I agree with you 100%, Lolita Lebron joined the Nationalist Party in New York City. The campaign for the freedom of the five Nationalists began in Chicago, the last grouping of Puerto Rican Political Prisoners were almost all born in Chicago or in New York, and the campaign for their freedom started in Chicago. Betances wrote his most eloquent writings in Paris and Hostos did so in the Dominican Republic and Chile, and Juan Antonio Corretjer wrote “Boricua en la luna” about Boricuas in Chicago, which is the greatest proof that without the Diaspora, Puerto Rico would be incomplete. Oh, and the Vieques movement would not have been successful if it wasn’t for the compañeros in the U.S.

Islander #2 (my aunt): Well, I think you’re full of it. Even if you were trying to make some kind of experiment, of course we were going to get offended. It’s like if I say I’m more American than any soldier who has served in Afghanistan or Iraq. But you’re right; there is a difference between Puerto Ricans who live in the U.S. than those who live here in Puerto Rico. We think it’s very funny when you people demand liberty, equality, march, and complain about our social/democratic issues when all you know is due to books and newspapers. When you all move here, work here, and contribute here, then we can actually talk more seriously.

Me: Ok, Titi, let’s take back that Puerto Rican flag you hold so dear and bring it back to New York where it was made. When you’re willing to do that, then I’ll say what you wrote makes sense. Also, who’s “you people?” Let’s not be essentialist here and regroup everyone into one experience and category. I guess my “experiment” didn’t really work, because you still feel you have the right to define who’s a “true” Puerto Rican…

Through observations, I believe that the two things that elicit the most discussion from Puerto Ricans and even divides the Puerto Rican family is the conversation on puertorriqueñidad and the status of Puerto Rico. In terms of identity, as you have read, there is no easy way to describe what constitutes a “true” Puerto Rican and what criterion exists to allow someone into the category of “Boricua de pura cepa.” But here is some food for thought: when one actively excludes people from a community, you are actively developing feelings of anger, sadness, and confusion. However, one also fans the fires of empowerment and affirmation. It is like when my grandmother came to the U.S. in 1967 and was “greeted” with racism. In turn, she held onto her Puerto Rican roots and worked to instill in her children and grandchildren the beauty of being Boricua, even though most were not born there. It pushes me to tears when some of my cousins call me “American” instead of what I truly am. How can you tell a little boy, with a smile on his face and a Puerto Rican flag, during a hot summer day during the parade that the symbol he carries does not represent him? And that is why the “Diasporicans” cheered me on in the discussion. They, too, know the pain of being ignored, the love they feel for a country that sometimes wants to forget that half of its citizens left the island, but those same citizens will have Puerto Rico in their hearts and memories, forever.

Xavier “Xavi” Luis Burgos –

Nostalgic for the sweet sounds of Boricuas singing and playing music outside your door during the Christmas season? Miss the smell of roasting lechón and the echoes of scratching güiros? For the past two years the ¡Humboldt Park NO SE VENDE! campaign has organized the Paseo Boricua Parranda Puertorriqueña, a special Puerto Rican tradition full of music and food, in order to promote Paseo Boricua as a safe, culturally relevant, and family-oriented space during the holiday season. ¡Humboldt Park NO SE VENDE! is an organization that works to connect housing resources to longtime community residents who are threatened by displacement (i.e. gentrification) and raise community consciousness on the issue.

In its third year, the Paseo Boricua Parranda took place on December 19, around the anniversary of the adoption of the Puerto Rican flag.  Over 100 participants visited nearly two dozen businesses down Division Street while traveling the parranda route, including an endearing visit to the Teresa Roldán Paseo Boricua Apartments for the elderly and the Institute for Puerto Rican Arts & Culture.

During the chilly and snowy evening, the event began at La Estancia Apartments with over 30 people enjoying hot chocolate, Puerto Rican pastries, and literature related to the parranda and its history in this community. The local bomba y plena group, Nuestro Tambó, serenaded the eager parranderos with mostly traditional Christmas plena songs, including Dame la mano paloma, but also added two new songs created by the NO SE VENDE campaign, with lyrics related to the struggle to preserve the Puerto Rican community in Humboldt Park.

As the singing and dancing parranderos visited each community business, receiving food and drink in gratitude for the mobile party, the group grew larger and defiant of the cold. What began as a relatively small group grew to over a 100 people who paid homage, with music, food, and waving Puerto Rican flags to dozens of community pioneers at Teresa Roldán Paseo Boricua Apartments, an affordable housing complex that remains a symbol of hope and resilience for the longtime residents of Humboldt Park. The event ended at the Institute for Puerto Rican Arts & Culture for the closing of its “EsCultura” exhibition of Puerto Rican sculpture.

The ¡Humboldt Park NO SE VENDE! campaign continues to plan events such as the parranda, which has potential to connect important resources to longtime community residents, support community businesses, preserve Puerto Rican traditions and experiences, and to promote Paseo Boricua as a historical center of Puerto Rican life in Chicago that is worth maintaining and building.

Rev. Wilfredo De Jesus

by Xavier “Xavi” Luis Burgos

For the past few weeks now there has been quite a few news coverage (especially with a firestorm from the “blogging community”) on the possible new Alderman of the 26th Ward, Rev. Wilfredo “Choco” De Jesús of New Life Covenant Church. Sadly, much of this coverage has been negative.

When I first discovered that longtime Alderman Billy Ocasio was resigning in order to join the Governor’s cabinet and that he chose Pastor Choco as his replacement, I thought “this could not be a better choice!” May I ask, which Puerto Rican led institution in Humboldt Park has hundreds of members who are able to promote and organize such a electoral campaign? Next to none! Which community has been able to engage a church and a pastor in important social issues, from community preservation (look at all the real estate New Life has saved from greedy developers!) to immigration reform (by a Puerto Rican church, nonetheless!). In the last few elections in the 26th Ward, which is facing the displacement of its longtime residents (gentrification), we have been bombarded with puppet candidates who wanted to only serve the interests of greedy real estate developers and other anti-Paseo Boricua forces. Of course, some people remained myopic.

A few weeks ago, I was one of 20 of the mostly Puerto Rican representatives of different community organizations that work on LGBTQ issues who attended a meeting at La Bruquena restaurant a few weeks ago with Pastor De Jesús. The meeting was allegedly called in order to better understand the Pastor’s views on LGBTQ issues. The biggest surprise though was that the vast majority of those who attended did not live in the 26th Ward! Actually many those in attendance represented organizations that did not completely focus on the Humboldt Park community or the 26th Ward. Interestingly enough, it was from those who did not live here that questions about important community issues like gentrification, the development of Paseo Boricua, violence, and education …etc were absent. The only thing on their minds was this: “You are an evangelical pastor, therefore you hate gay people and you hate us, don’t you!?” Up to that point I have never seen a group of people so concerned by just one issue – which is not surprising if you do not live or work in this ward.

Nonetheless, it was from those activists who live and work in this community, who organize LGBTQ events (which most of De Jesús’ discontents do not attend), and fight homophobia and transphobia on a daily basis in the schools, programs, and institutions of Humboldt Park, that a real dialogue took place. In my experience, Humboldt Park and Paseo Boricua has become such a welcoming space for LGBTQ Boricuas and Latinas/os and that just did not happen because of the “Boystown elite” opened people’s eyes. Look at Vida/SIDA as a community institution – where else do you see so many openly lesbian, gay, and transgendered people freely doing outreach to all the members of this community? Where else would there be a transgendered Queen for a major parade other than the Puerto Rican Cultural Center’s Desfile del Pueblo/ Puerto Rican People’s Parade every June? People have struggled and died to make LGBTQ Boricuas and Latinas/os feel welcomed in their OWN community so we would not have to suffer in the racist, sexist, and elitist so-called “Boystown.”

To all of De Jesús’ discontents, there are a few things to take into consideration. Which evangelical pastor would meet with a group of LGBTQ leaders? Which evangelical pastor in Chicago would explain herself/himself on her/his beliefs to such a group? Which evangelical pastor would support the construction of a gay homeless shelter in Humboldt Park? He may believe things that I disagree with, but in the end, there is room for common ground, common understanding and respect, and for struggle and engagement. That is what participatory democracy is about.

Another point to consider is that, for those who live and work in the 26th Ward would know that a great and visionary Alderman like Billy Ocasio would never choose a replacement who would not work for and support the diverse experiences of his residents and the major initiatives of this community. Sadly, some have eaten the apple and have abandoned his legacy and vision.

Furthermore, without a community there will be no struggle to engage people (leaders or residents) in anything. As the Puerto Rican (and Latina/o) community continues to suffer gentrification then the forum in which to dialogue about important issues such as these becomes less and less available. It just becomes talking heads speaking to an imaginary community. If the Puerto Rican community is desecrated then where will all the LGBTQ Boricuas be? Boystown! Ha! Puerto Ricans were gentrified from Lakeview decades ago. For those who claim to be “Latina/o leaders” take this into consideration: Being a “Latina/o leader” means nothing if you do not have a community to lead. The next Alderman (or Alderwoman) of the 26th Ward will have to understand that in order to truly lead our community into a brighter future. ¡Fuácata!

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Xavier “Xavi” Luis Burgos

“I am going to have a VERY hard time being at the Ciclo Urbano event if the No Se Vende people are talking about wanting white people to get the hell out in front of my children and waving Puerto Rican flags in our faces, ” wrote a new resident of Humboldt Park in an e-mail to the head of West Town Bikes on April 23.

Thus began a comedic fiasco well deserving of the title given to this commentary, but here is some background information first.

Humboldt Park, in the last few years, is a community where homes, full of memories, are bulldozed and gutted, where families are pushed away by ridiculous increases in rent and harassment by greedy developers and city inspectors, and age-old murals are covered-up.

It is in this current reality that West Town Bikes, which is a mostly white-owned and frequented bike shop in Humboldt Park, decided to open-up a shop on Paseo Boricua. And with surprise of some, all this took place with the strong support of the Puerto Rican Cultural Center (PRCC). Why, you must be thinking, would an organization like the PRCC, which has been a leader in promoting and maintaining a Boricua cultural and business corridor along Division Street, facilitate this business’ arrival here?

Well, one of the answers is because Puerto Ricans bike too! Puerto Ricans in Humboldt Park also have huge health disparities, which has pushed-up the rates of diabetes, obesity, and cancer. The PRCC also has programs like CO-OP Humboldt Park and Muévete, which work on the issues of health, including promoting physical activity. And most importantly, it is because being pro-Puerto Rican does not mean being anti-white or anti-new resident.

Those Paseo Boricua flags are gates of welcoming and gates of dialogue. West Town bikes respects what the Puerto Rican community has worked so hard to create on Division Street and decided to join the dialogue with its new shop, Ciclo Urbano. They also planned to celebrate this new relationship by organizing a large procession from their old location with the PRCC’s Humboldt Park NO SE VENDE! Campaign (HPNSV). However, not all new residents, including the one who sent the e-mail, is as respectful or understanding of all this.

The e-mail’s author (who I will call “angry neighbor,” since her personal identity is insignificant, but her actions are representative of a greater problem) also complained that HPNSV practices “reverse racism” and has a “nationalist platform.” The angry neighbor made it a point to proudly claim that she was white, despite the fact she is “half Hispanic” (her words), as a way to connect with the head of West Town Bikes. To sum it up, the e-mail’s tone was along the lines of “we need to do something about these Puerto Ricans.” West Town Bikes did not buy it, and we all enjoyed a procession on May 1 that involved over 200 people.

Sadly, divisive tactics like those of angry neighbor is something that will only further destroy all the work that people have put into developing Paseo Boricua. There is an ever-present sense of “yuppie isolationism,” where many angry new residents, longing for another Bucktown, seek to replace Paseo Boricua with their own visions of community instead of working with the existing community.

In the “city of neighborhoods” – a slogan that emerges from a horrendous history of racism and urban segregation – one can explore the world in only a few miles and a few minutes. In this global city one can find Pilsen, where México lurks in old Czech architecture and Bronzeville, the historic center of the “Black Metropolis.” One could also hear the loud sounds of Café Colao coffee brewing behind its counter, snapping its customers back to la isla.

Once I gave a tour of this community to a group of young basketball players from Puerto Rico, who never stepped foot outside the island. While I explained the meaning of some murals and pointed to the iron emblems detailing symbols of Boricua culture on the light poles, I overheard whispers of excitement: “Wow, I feel like I’m in Puerto Rico. I feel like I’m home.”

The communities that I mentioned suffer from stains of ghettoization, places where people of color were forced to occupy, but are beginning to experience cultural and economic rebirth – development from the vision of its longtime residents. Sadly, Chicago, like most U.S. cities, is on a path of Disneyland cookie-cutter dreams– a metropolis of Lincoln and Wicker Parks for miles and miles. Like Pilsen and Bronzeville, Paseo Boricua and all of Humboldt Park, is in the path of the slow-moving bulldozer called gentrification. Our destruction will only please people like the angry neighbor and that is why we cannot let it happen anymore.[/lang_en]

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Roz Diane Lasker and John A. Guirdy recently published the book, Engaging the Community in Decision Making, summarizing how five community partnerships attempted to address the growing field of community participation, which promises to include formerly excluded community members from decision-making process. One chapter of the book is dedicated to the saving of the Humboldt Park Mural, La Crucificación de Don Pedro, located on the corner of North Avenue and Artesian Street. The chapter deals with the community’s attempt to save the mural against the backdrop of the forces of gentrification and the intersection of the work by Alderman Billy Ocasio, Near Northwest Neighborhood Network (NNNN) and the Puerto Rican Cultural Center.[/lang_en]

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Humboldt Park community residents gathered at Batey Urbano (2620 W. Division) to prepare for one of Puerto Rico’s most cherished cultural traditions. This tradition, which has taken place for over a century in Puerto Rico, has finally made its way onto the streets of the chilly Windy City.

Despite the wicked wind, nearly 100 people came out to participate in the 2nd annual ¡Humboldt Park NO SE VENDE! Parranda on Paseo Boricua on December 20. The sounds of panderetas, tamboriles, güiros, maracas and palitos unleashed into the eardrums of everyone on Paseo Boricua.

The Parranda visited Paseo Boricua businesses such as Café Colao, La Bruquena, Yauco Liquors, Latin American, Lily’s Record Shop, La Plena, Luquillo Barbershop, and Papa’s Cache. It ended at the Teresa Roldán Apartments on Paseo Boricua, where the building residents and all who participated in retaining the holiday spirit were welcomed to dance, sing, drink hot chocolate, play dominoes, and eat a delicious Puerto Rican meal. All in all, old man winter could not ruin our Caribbean ritual as it turns out that the spiritual warmth inside of all Puerto Ricans proved more powerful. Organized by the ¡Humboldt Park NO SE VENDE! campaign, which is a project of the Puerto Rican Cultural Center, with support from Alderman Billy Ocasio (26th Ward) the parranda was yet another example of how important it is to maintain our culture as we fight against gentrification and in the process, keep our traditions strong for future generations.[/lang_en]

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Internationally recognized artist Manny Vega made a unique visit to Chicago last week to install an original 19-foot mosaic in the courtyard of the Institute of Puerto Rican Arts & Culture (IPRAC).  Mosaics are one of Puerto Rico’s most fundamental traditional art forms.  The finished mosaic will be on permanent display at IPRAC.

Vega, known for his public art projects in New York City, constructed the mosaic in his New York studio and shipped the piece to Chicago.  It is constructed of granite, marble and slate tiles.  In the center of the mosaic, is a map of Puerto Rico surrounded by symbolic representations of Puerto Rican life and culture.

“This mosaic is a reflection of all the things that make us who we are – the music, the culture even the nature,” says Vega.  “I am honored to have my work become a part of the rich history of the Chicago Puerto Rican community.”

IPRAC hosted on-site workshops and visits from youth and schoolchildren of the community during the installation.  Students from neighboring Roberto Clemente Community Academy’s Radio/Television Program filmed the installation as part of a documentary about IPRAC and its historic location in the former Humboldt Park Stable.

The Institute of Puerto Rican Arts & Culture (IPRAC) is an arts and educational institution devoted to the promotion, integration and advancement of Puerto Rican arts and culture.  IPRAC has been bringing visual arts and exhibition programming and arts education workshops to the community since 2001 and is nearing the completion of the interior renovation of the historic Humboldt Park Stables.  Once open, IPRAC will be the only museum in the nation dedicated to Puerto Rican arts and culture.  The museum will be home to a permanent collection of works created exclusively by Puerto Rican artists and will offer a year-round exhibition program, an oral histories program, a lecture series, educational workshops, a film series, an annual fine arts and crafts festival, art instruction and performing arts presentations.[/lang_en]

Some might say that if you look-up the word “pride” in the dictionary what you will find is a picture of an exuberant Puerto Rican holding our one-stared flag attached to a six-foot stick. And if the picture could speak, it would be yelling “BORICUA!!!” Some might say this with a smile or rolling their eyes, but we could care less, because according to us there is something about being Puerto Rican that one who isn’t could ever understand. Puerto Ricans sometimes don’t understand pride ourselves, which can be dangerous. If we learn about our pride, our history, our identity, even partially only, then can we understand our obligation as Puerto Ricans to our fellow compatriots. If we really know who we are, then we could stop the crisis that is swallowing our community – before it is too late.

“How do you expect Puerto Ricans to move back here?” says Manuel Saldaña, 20, rhetorically, pounding his fist on a table, holding a list of phone numbers for vacant apartments in front of him. As he turns to look at me, his sky blue eyes reveals his frustration and a searches for answers, I wonder if we are reaching our last days as a Puerto Rican Humboldt Park.

Manuel had spent the day walking the inner blocks of a community that he once walked everyday, in search for a way to return home from a life of displacement. When he came from the island as a child, he lived in this ‘pedacito de patria,’ but like many other children of Borinquen, moved west to Belmont-Craigan. However, while yearning for the sights and sounds of this concrete tropical homeland, he realized that it is simply too expensive to return. When asked why he wanted to come back, he simply said, “Because I’m Puerto Rican.”

It is not to say “ya se nos vendieron” as some might comment cynically, masking their feelings of hopelessness in the name of “keeping it real” (When has cynicism produced anything positive or helpful?). Humboldt Park is still full of affordable rentals, homeownership programs, and even affordable condos for those who do want to return, but they are dwindling. Puerto Ricans are still one of the largest groups in East Humboldt Park and our political participation in electoral and community issues is unmatched. But for how long? If you are truly proud to be Boricua, you cannot just visit or show that pride once a year with a visit to the park and a cheer during the parade. If there are no Puerto Ricans living here, then there will be no power to make sure that we can justify having a weeklong fiesta, amongst other cultural and political events, organizations, and programs. Come back and Humboldt Park will welcome you with open arms. Stay and Humboldt Park will be thankful. Participate and Humboldt Park will grow and improve. Leave, and it will be only a few years until new residents have enough power in numbers and votes to make sure we have nothing to come back to. What does “Yo Soy Boricua” mean if there is no community to attach it to?

“No, I hate it. The white people are coming in and it’s getting too expensive to live here.” That is a common response amongst the Humboldt Park community when asked about gentrification, and how it is affecting the community.

The reason many long-time Puerto Rican residents feel resentment toward the white population moving in is because they don’t want to succumb to change and they want to preserve their culture within Humboldt Park. Rafael González, 30, who used to live in Humboldt Park, refers to it as “Little Puerto Rico.” For years the community has worked towards establishing a strong Puerto Rican presence. The fact that condominiums are being built here, slowly flushing out the Puerto Rican residents, is upsetting. Property taxes are rising and the cost of living here is becoming unaffordable.

However, for some the effects of gentrification are not all negative. Some people living in the community are happy to see it improving. They want to see the community thrive and prosper and are happy to see the betterment of its conditions. Residents also like to see gangs being pushed out of the Humboldt Park community, making the streets safer and more comfortable to them.

While some see the effects of gentrification improving the community, residents are unhappy to see the preservation of the Puerto Rican culture sacrificed in order to do so. It all depends on a person’s beliefs and needs. If someone feels threatened walking down the street, then seeing gangs pushed out of the community will be their main priority. Although, that person or group out on the street may not feel threatened, and want to see their friends and family remain in the community.

In order to counteract gentrification, Puerto Ricans and other longtime residents have united in order to ensure that the same would not happen in Humboldt Park that has happened in the Lincoln Park and Wicker Park communities. The Humboldt Park Empowerment Partnership was created out of concern for the Puerto Rican residents being forced to move out due to unaffordable housing and previous attacks on service organizations. As described on their website, in order to stop gentrification, the Humboldt Park Empowerment Zone Strategic Plan was founded in 1996 to uphold the character of the community through programs dealing with cultural traditions, business, and housing.

Whether we like to admit it or not, gentrification is becoming prevalent in the Humboldt Park community. It is up to the community’s residents to ensure that gentrification is stopped, or a peaceful medium is found where the residents can still retain their cultural roots with a condominium here and there.