“I the Queen,” a documentary directed and produced by Josué Pellot and Henrique Cirne-Lima, takes a look at the often unobserved life of Chicago’s Puerto Rican transgendered community.  In this film, Pellot and Cirne-Lima document the Cacique Pageant, the first annual transgendered pageant held in Chicago’s Humboldt Park community. The film exposes the restructuring of the family unit experienced by pageant participants who are often distanced from their biological family but who find kinship among those facing similar experiences in the Puerto Rican transgendered community.

La Voz: Why did you choose to name your
documentary “I am the Queen”?

Josue Pellot: The title comes from Ginger (The pageant coordinator). At some point during a meeting she had with the girls she says “I am the queen”.

La Voz:  What message do you want your viewers to get?

Josue Pellot: We didn’t aim towards a specific message. I do think there are a few things the viewer can take from the film.

La Voz:  Can you name some?

Josue Pellot: I wouldn’t assign a specific message to the film but do think it has a good message about family and community support. It also highlights Vida Sida’s beauty pageant as an event that promotes tolerance and helps shape the the community.

La Voz: What is your objective in creating this documentary?

Josue Pellot: The project began to develop when I found a flyer regarding the 2009 pageant. My first thought was “wow, we have a Puerto Rican, Transgendered, beauty pageant for Humboldt Park youths!?” It was so specific and progressive that I wanted to know more about it. So the objective was to make the film in a way that the viewers could get a sense of what we experienced making the documentary.

La Voz: As an artist, why is it important to cross borders?

Josue Pellot: More important than crossing borders is the differences between each side. I believe you should understand these differences before you go from one end to the other.

La Voz: What types of venues has “I am the Queen” been shown @ and when will the next showing be?

Josue Pellot: We’ve had one public showing at the Hyde Park Art Center in Chicago. And will show at the Queer Film Festival in Puerto Rico, Oct. 8. Besides this we are waiting to hear back from a few film festivals and still applying to others.

Interview by Jonathan Rivera

Luis Padial

Father Raúl Morales Berrios stood before a crowd of over 250 parishioners who gathered in the courtyard of the Institute of Puerto Rican Arts & Culture. His sermon was sung using improvised verses as the unmistakable sounds of the Puerto Rican cuatro guitar pierced the evening air.  This was no ordinary religious ceremony, it was a Misa Jíbara – deep from the mountains of Puerto Rico and it served to kickoff one of the most unforgettable weekends for Chicago’s Puerto Rican community.

For the past 17 years Fiesta Boricua has been a staple of Chicago’s summer festivals. Every September thousands gather under the magnificent steel flags on Division Street to experience the best of Puerto Rico’s music, food and traditions.  This year, its organizers incorporated a new dimension to this diverse cultural experience.  Under the theme “Lo mejor de nuestros pueblos” – “The best of our towns,” the festival incorporated a series of events to showcase the finest cultural elements of one of the 78 municipalities of Puerto Rico. The first pueblo featured was Comerío, a beautiful city located in the heart of Puerto Rico’s central mountains.  Over 200 Comerío residents flew into Chicago to take part in the weekend celebration.
The weekend began with Misa Jíbara, one of Comerío’s oldest and most cherished traditions. A Catholic Mass infused with musical and cultural elements of Puerto Rico, Misa Jíbara is a celebration of faith, inspiration and culture, combining the Spanish language, folk music and deeply rooted Puerto Rican traditions to produce a beautiful Catholic liturgy. Parishioners from both Comerío and Chicago witnessed a stunning service during which prayers were harmonized to the tune of Jíbaro music and the priest improvised the sermon in song.

Following the mass, attendees joined hundreds of other Chicago residents for Noche Jíbara, a gala celebration at the Institute of Puerto Rican Arts & Culture. The celebration was also dedicated to the city of Comerío and included the finest music, customs and artistry of the mountain town. Guests enjoyed traditional musical performances by some of Comerío’s most skilled musicians and dancers including numerous troubadours, who interpreted decimas, an improvised musical composition born of a tradition that dates back to Medieval Spain. The Mayor of Comerío, the Honorable Josian Santiago, was on hand and praised the event as the beginning of a new era in collaboration between the cities of Chicago and Comerío.
Even after an event-filled night the fun was not over.

The next day thousands of residents from across Chicago converged on Paseo Boricua to enjoy a day of music, food and art at Fiesta Boricua. The delegation from Comerío took the stage and delighted the audience with a series of rousing performances that lasted throughout the night.

The “Lo mejor de nuestros pueblos” initiative was truly a tremendous success bringing an authentic Puerto Rican cultural experience to the heart of Chicago. We look forward to this fun-filled event next year!

Marisol Rodriguez

As an educator I see a recurrent problem that troubles me deeply—Youth, specifically young men, missing school to appear at court; Youth, specifically young men, missing out on an education because they are locked up. Can the intelligent, likable young man that sits at his desk, ready to learn, really be such a menace to society? Such a threat to our community’s safety?

Many politicians are quick to campaign on the promise that by locking up the “bad guys” they will keep our community safe. It’s not uncommon to hear our elected officials tell us we will be safer because the blue light just went up on our block, or because there are more police patrolling our streets. Are we really safer or are drug exchanges just pushed to another block that doesn’t have a blue light and what we have are more police readily available to harass our youth on our streets?

The most destructive effect of these “safety” initiatives is more people in our community are being incarcerated. It’s become very easy (and convenient) for our political leaders to equate success with the number of “criminals” they send to prison. In an extremely dehumanizing process the “criminals” are sent off to jail in a far away, isolated place at which point, for the self-righteous leader, they become “out of sight, out of mind.”

But for our community and communities of color throughout the nation it is our loved ones – fathers, sons, cousins, brothers, uncles and students – who are out of sight (out of reach), but never ever out of mind.

In a country that prides itself on “liberty and justice for all,” why are more citizens incarcerated here than in any other country in the world? In a country where “all men are created equal” why are black men six times more likely to be locked up than whites and Latinos almost three times as likely? (source: www.burnsinstitute.org)

These are questions we all need to take time to reflect upon. These are questions we must take to our community leaders.

Recently a group of local community members (a group I was a part of) discussed this grave issue facing our community and brainstormed on how we can work to address it. We talked about educating our community on their legal rights when dealing with the police; documenting how our youth are affected by police harassment and their experiences in jail through testimonials; and interviewing police on their practices.

We have been successful in carrying out at least one of our ideas with the help and organizing initiative of the ¡Humboldt Park NO SE VENDE! campaign in collaboration with Lawyers from the First Defense Legal Aid and Professor Xavier Perez of Saint Xavier University. On September 18 a free educational workshop “Policing Practices and Gentrification” was held at Batey Urbano. Discussion centered on the connection between gentrification and police practices as well as identifying what rights we have when in police custody.

In a short time Chicago will choose a new mayor and as that moment approaches, I encourage you to ask yourself just one thing before you choose a candidate: “Is this going to be the leader that will lock my brother up and throw away the key? Or is this the leader who will open doors to resources and opportunities my community needs to be self-empowered and truly safe?”

Effective October 4, 2010 Norwegian American Hospital will have a new Chief Executive Officer: José R. Sanchez has accepted an offer by the hospital’s Board of Trustees to become the new president and CEO.

José R. Sanchez brings a 30+ year-career as a healthcare executive to Norwegian American Hospital. He is currently Senior Vice President of Generations +/ Northern Manhattan Health Network, one of the largest health care networks in the New York City Health and Hospital Corporation. The network, for which José also serves as CEO, includes two acute care hospitals, three large ambulatory centers and close to 20 community–based health centers located in Manhattan and the Bronx.

José is committed to finding collaborative and innovated solutions to the healthcare challenges of urban communities. Nine years ago, he created the Urban Health Conference, an annual national forum that brings more than 300 network health providers together to explore and develop solutions to the healthcare challenges in urban areas.

“Everyone Matters” showcases the artwork by over 50 Humboldt Park community residents sharing personal messages of resilience and positive life choices. The exhibit reflects personal journeys towards healing, where art becomes a tool for personal empowerment and healing. “Everyone Matters” brings together seven community organizations, art therapists and teaching artists to disseminate stories of personal growth relevant to the Chicago Latino community.

“Everyone Matters” will open with a community reception Friday October 8th from 5:30 to 8:30PM. The exhibit will remain open till Saturday October 30th at the Institute of Puerto Rican Arts & Culture located 3015 West Division Street, Chicago. Exhibit gallery hours are Monday, Tuesdays, Thursday, Friday and Saturday: 10:30AM to 6:30PM.
Free admission and parking for the entire family.

“Everyone Matters” is presented by the Behavioral Health Task Force (BHTF) of the Greater Humboldt Park Community of Wellness and is a collaboration between Association House of Chicago, Casa Central, La Casa Norte, Community Counseling Centers of Chicago, Erie Family Health Center, Mercy Home for Boys and Girls, and the Norwegian American Hospital.

“Everyone Matters” also counts with the collaboration of Erasing the Distance, IPRAC, Vocalo 89.5FM and WBEZ Radio West Side Bureau. Everyone Matters is made possible through the financial support of the Chicago Children’s Center for Behavioral Health, LISC Chicago and The Norwegian American Hospital.

For more information about “Everyone Matters” and the work of the Behavioral Health Task Force (BHTF) of the Greater Humboldt Park Community of Wellness email Juana Ballesteros at juanaballesteros@hotmail.com .

During the first week of March, prominent Chicago media outlets, namely the Tribune and Sun-Times, published negative news stories, columns, editorials, and political cartoons about Luis Gutierrez and his family. These reports focused on a range of issues, including Gutierrez’s place of residence, the FBI’s questioning of him, the role he played in securing his daughter’s employment in a state position, and his daughter’s participation in a 26^th Ward affordable housing program.

One set of commentaries pertains to Gutierrez’s residence outside of his Congressional District. While Gutierrez, like many other members of Congress, lives outside of the Congressional District he represents, his commitment to the 4^th District is unwavering. Gutierrez was raised in this District, and he resided within its boundaries for nearly fifty years. Moreover, Gutierrez’s constant community outreach efforts make him a strongly felt presence and continually heighten his awareness of his constituents’ needs and concerns.

Another story focuses on the FBI’s questioning of Gutierrez about his relationship with a real estate developer. Since all of Gutierrez’s dealings with this developer were entirely legal, the most interesting thing to note about this story is that it includes a quotation from Elida Cruz. Some readers of La Voz might recognize this as the name of a contributor to the campaign against the Puerto Rican Cultural Center spearheaded by the FBI and the creators of the libelous newspaper, El Pito. It is no coincidence that Elida Cruz would be linked to both of these stories. The FBI’s Counter Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO) has a long history of attempting to defame Gutierrez, and the current story about Gutierrez’s squarely legal relationship with a real estate developer should be understood as a part of this history.

The two stories about Gutierrez’s daughter, Omaira Figueroa, highlight her job with the state and her participation in a 26^th Ward affordable housing program. Figueroa’s previous job experiences as a legislative aid and as an assistant sergeant-at-arms for the City Council justly earned her a position with Illinois Commerce Commission. In terms of the 26^th Ward affordable housing program through which Figueroa purchased a condo in 2008, the income for her family of three allowed her to qualify alongside other participants in a program that former Alderman Billy Ocasio created to provide working families in the Humboldt Park area with the opportunity to purchase condos that they might not otherwise be able to afford. Rather than criticize a family that fairly participated in this program, we should celebrate the presence of a young professional family in a neighborhood that too often loses its longstanding residents. What these negative stories ignore is the remarkable number of affordable housing initiatives spearheaded by Billy Ocasio to keep longstanding residents in the Humboldt Park community. These include the La Estancia Apartments built by Bickerdike, the Teresa Roldán Apartments built by Hispanic Housing, the Single Mothers Housing created by LUCHA, as well as the creation of affordable townhouses for families. Each of these programs took shape under the leadership of former Alderman Billy Ocasio. No other alderman in Chicago has as strong a record of providing affordable housing initiatives.

Together, these reports should be viewed as part of a larger, longstanding effort to discredit Luis Gutierrez. Remember that in 1995 the Chicago Sun-Times, in conjunction with the FBI, destroyed one of the most successful Chicago school reform efforts in history at Roberto Clemente high school. Their false reports about Clemente in 1995 waged countless malicious attacks against many of the same figures targeted in the recent stories described above, namely Billy Ocasio and Luis Gutierrez. For more than fifteen years the FBI has conspired with the Chicago Sun-Times to vilify Gutierrez for his strong positions on controversial issues, such as Puerto Rico’s political status and immigration reform.

Gutierrez has lived outside of his district for more than two years, the FBI questioning primarily took place two years ago, his daughter entered her state job more than five years ago, and that same daughter purchased a condo through an affordable housing program nearly two years ago. None of this is current news, so why would these newspapers publish a barrage of negative stories about Gutierrez now? These stories are running just as Gutierrez has become an increasingly prominent critic of Arizona’s anti-immigrant legislation and immigration reform advocate. The juxtaposition of Gutierrez’s outspoken advocacy for immigrants’ rights with the Tribune’s and Sun-Times’ slanderous, anachronistic stories about him, suggests that these media outlets are more interested in furthering a particular political agenda than disseminating important news to their readers. Instead expending so much energy in their attempts to undermine Gutierrez’s credibility, these newspapers should have worked to provide more coverage of the May 1 immigrants’ rights demonstration in which thousands of Chicagoans exercised their collective democratic voice to demand the reform of a failed, discriminatory policy.

by Jonathan Rosa

Some say that the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) was founded in 1903 in order to produce a local intelligentsia subservient to the demands of the United States, which only five years earlier ripped the island from Spain. In the 107 years since, the exact opposite has taken place.

In 1948, pro-independence students invited the president of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party, Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos, as a guest speaker, who recently had been released after serving ten years in a U.S. prison. The then-chancellor of the UPR’s Río Piedras campus, Jaime Benítez, refused to allow Albizu Campos to enter, prompting student protests. In response, a group of student leaders who held Puerto Rican flags, which was illegal during the time, were expelled.

In 1970, a massive student struggle emerged in the midst of the Vietnam War, calling for the removal of the ROTC from the Río Piedras campus. During the conflict, a policeman killed a young student, Antonia Martínez Lagares, who subsequently became a symbol of the Puerto Rican student movement.

On April 21, 2010 a new student movement commenced in response to the austerity measures proposed by the UPR President, José Ramón de la Torre, and the Governor of Puerto Rico, Luis Fortuño, spawning an indefinite strike that is paralyzing the UPR system and brought international attention to the island.

Entering his second year in office, the right-wing and pro-statehood governor has proven to have little respect for Puerto Rico’s institutions. From firing nearly 20,000 government employees that provoked a massive one-day general strike to cutting the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture’s budget in half to getting rid of the membership requirement for lawyers to one of the island’s oldest institutions, the Puerto Rican Bar Association, Fortuño is reshaping the island, as many believe, in order to prepare it for statehood.

The UPR is no exception to Fortuño’s reign of terror. A new proposal, Certification 98, passed by the university’s Board of Trustees, eliminates fee exceptions for student athletes and university employees and their families. Furthermore, there is a proposed budget cut of up to $100 million. In response, a student-driven Negotiating Committee of 16 members were created and a list of demands were composed, which includes alternative measures to the massive budget cuts. These measures include the budget reduction of the burdensome Office of the President and a call for payment of multiple private and public entities that owe the university millions of dollars. The UPR president and the Río Piedras chancellor, Ana Guadalupe, refused to meet with the committee and washed their hands of the issue by transmitting their demands to the Board of Trustees, which are dragging their feet to review them.

Thus, on April 13 over 3,000 students from the Río Piedras campus assembled in an auditorium and the majority of those present voted in favor of a 48-hour strike. The UPR administration still refuses to meet with the students.

Now the UPR is experiencing an indefinite strike, which has expanded to include eight of the 11 campuses throughout the island.

Hundreds of students and staff even occupied, for a time, the Río Piedras campus until Riot Police, at the insistence of the Chancellor, forcefully removed them. Then she officially closed down the university’s operations, locked the main entrance, and ordered police to guard the campus. This prompted a student lawsuit and the Puerto Rican Supreme Court ordered the university to re-open its gates by May 3. Meanwhile, hundreds of students have congregated at the gates, holding theatrical performances, discussions, and even clean-ups and beautification projects of the surrounding area.

The response of support for the UPR strike has been major. The official Student Council of Río Piedras initially opposed the action but soon joined the Negotiating Committee. The Puerto Rican Association of University Professors and the Committee of Students of Private Universities have also joined the strike. Moreover, on April 27, a huge concert with thousands of students, called “¡Qué Vivan Los Estudiantes!” – “Long Live The Students!”, was held in front of the locked gates of the Río Piedras campus. Musical artists from the island and around the world, such as Calle 13, Ricky Martin, Rubén Blades, and Juanes, offered their support.

Nonetheless, the opposition has remained firm. Fortuño himself, a day before the concert, spoke directly to the strike in his yearly “State of the Commonwealth” address. In his incendiary speech, which received massive applause by the pro-statehood controlled Congress, he chastised the students for abusing their “privilege,” especially in the face of such a gracious government system. Reminiscent of a national speech by Mexican President Gustavo Díaz Ordaz when confronting massive student protests on the eve of the 1968 Olympics, Fortuño said that the people of Puerto Rico are of law and order and believe in democracy. At the conclusion of his address, he said “…we are here, ready and willing to offer the help… to protect the rights of all the students – both to the miniscule group that protest to the immense majority of those who want classes to continue.”

As mentioned earlier, there is a long trajectory of student struggle at the UPR, proving that one of the most important institutions in Puerto Rico is producing minds eager to reshape the challenge with a fair dialogue and open arms or continue a tradition that left the Plaza of Tlatelolco in México City stained with blood in the summer of ‘68.

by Xavier “Xavi” Luis Burgos

Photos by Alvin Cuoto

Former governor of Puerto Rico Aníbal Acevedo Vilá made a special stop in Humboldt Park on April 15 to promote his recently released autobiographical novel, Así Fue…¿Y Ahora Qué? Reflexiones Sobre el Cuatrenio 2004-2008 y sus Repercusiones Para el Futuro (That’s How it Went…And Now What? Reflections on the Four-year Period 2004-2008 and the Repercussions for the Future).

Ex-governor Acevedo Vilá spoke briefly to an audience at El Quijote bookstore (2546 W. Division) before signing books and taking pictures with local community members. Acevedo Vilá referred to the book as a “photo” of his governorship, which included “difficult economic and personal challenges.”

According to Acevedo Vilá the book covers significant events that shaped his experience as governor, such as Puerto Rico’s economic recession, the division amongst Puerto Rican political parties, the Puerto Rican government shutdown due to lack of funds, and most notably, the corruption charges placed against him by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in March 2008.

Although he was eventually found innocent of all FBI charges, Acevedo Vilá  commented that this period was extremely difficult for him and his family. In his book the ex-governor speculates on reasons he believes he was targeted by the FBI. Included amongst these reasons is his public stance on condemning the FBI for the assassination of Filiberto Ojeda Ríos, former leader of Ejército Popular Boricua or Los Macheteros.

Former political prisoner Ricardo Jiménez was also present at the book signing. Acevedo Vilá, who publicly supported the release of the Puerto Rican political prisoners, affirmed his commitment to their release at the event. “Regardless of what your political ideology is, the prisoners have been incarcerated more than enough time,” he said. “I told Ricardo that I would be willing to help in the campaign, including writing letters.

Before visiting Humboldt Park the ex-governor of Puerto Rico visited DePaul University and the East Chicago Public Library. During his presentation at El Quijote, audience members asked Acevedo Vilá if he was considering going back into electoral politics to which he responded, “No”, adding, “there are other ways to serve Puerto Rico that don’t include being in an electoral position.”

by Marisol Rodríguez

On the corner of Division and California stands La Estancia, distinguishing itself from neighboring buildings with its beautiful, unique architecture. As of April 23 it is home to an institution that will soon become another symbol of Paseo Boricua: The Greater Humboldt Park Community Diabetes Empowerment Center.

Over 200 people attended the grand opening of the Diabetes Center to celebrate the beginning of a new chapter in the “72 Block by Block” Diabetes Intervention Campaign, led by Project Director Jaime Delgado. This initiative is a partnership between the following organizations: Rush University Medical Center, Sinai Urban Health Institute, Norwegian American Hospital, the Puerto Rican Cultural Center, Greater Humboldt Park Community of Wellness and Pueblo Sin Fronteras.

The opening event was designed to inform the community of all the resources available in the Center, as well as presenting all the partners involved in the cause. “We will provide educational material and a space for support and physical activities for weight control,” said Delgado. A full-time dietician will also host cooking demonstrations for community residents to learn about the key role a healthy diet plays in fighting and preventing diabetes. Delgado also noted that the center will be open during regular business hours, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and there will be several programs in the evening and on Saturdays.

The idea to create the Diabetes Center has its origins within the “72 Block by Block” Diabetes Intervention Campaign. “We wanted to do more to help the community,” said Delgado. “We decided we needed a community-driven freestanding Empowerment Center.”

The decision to house it at La Estancia was purposefully planned by Delgado and others involved. “We wanted a high-profile place and the corner of Division and California is a very active area between the two flags. The center will be seen and identified with the community,” Delgado said. The dedication and commitment to create the Diabetes Center and secure its great location at La Estancia is a testament to the work of all the partners involved and will serve an important role in educating the community in the campaign against diabetes.

by Magdaleno Castañeda

On April 9 the Institute for Puerto Rican Arts and Culture (IPRAC) showcased the work of two Puerto Rican filmmakers, Richard Santiago and Jorge “Fish” Rodriguez.

Richard Santiago presented a brief excerpt of a documentary he is making with Rodríguez on Puerto Rico boxers. Before the film was shown, Santiago spoke about the commitment that young Puerto Rican boxers make to their training, “These boxers are like Tibeten monks,” said Santiago. “No drinking, no sex, etc. to prepare for fighting.”

Jorge “Fish” Rodríguez shared a myriad of projects he’s worked on past and present. He showed the music video he directed for Calle 13 for the song AtreveteTe-Te, which won a Grammy for Best Short Form Music Video in 2006. Rodríguez worked intently to create a music video that challenged the types of images seen in mainstream hip-hop videos.  The video’s protagonists do not wear massive gold chains and pop bottles of champagne.  The video also calls into question the Americanization of Puerto Rican life by including images of Puerto Rican women wearing blond wigs walking in front of rows of houses painted the same color, reminiscent of Levittown.

Rodríguez did not formally study filmmaking; instead he studied sculpture and specialized in image and design in college.  He relied on on-line tutorials to learn film techniques. Rodríguez became involved in film after a trip he made to Argentina. He was at a bar in a poor neighborhood of Buenos Aires discussing politics and Latin American history with locals. Through that conversation he became aware of South America’s “Dirty War” during which thousands of students, intellectuals, and professionals were targeted by the Argentine government. It was then that he vowed to return to Argentina within a year to create a documentary on the Plaza de Mayo massacre.

During that trip to Argentina, Rodriguez’s consciousness about Puerto Rico’s colonial relationship with the United States was fomented. That consciousness- raising experience was artistically transformative. When referring to his art before his trip, Rodriguez’s said, “everything was superficial.”

Jorge “Fish” Rodríguez has also directed the music video for Pasarela by Puerto Rican rapper/singer Dalmata. Rodríguez plans to create a full-length feature film in the future and continues to create films in order “to provoke, to show reality, to talk about what’s happening.”

by Eric López