Xavier “Xavi” Luis Burgos

Rare is the opportunity to honor the academic and creative achievements of youth outside of school. On December 19, such a celebration took place on Paseo Boricua for the culmination of the second cycle of the Barrio Arts, Culture, and Communication Academy (BACCA). BACCA is an innovative after school program developed by the Puerto Rican Cultural Center (PRCC) in collaboration with the Capilla del Barrio Community Chapel and funding from the Bethany United Hospital Fund. BACCA served, for eight-weeks, 18 high school-age youth, mostly from Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos High School (PACHS) and other Humboldt Park-area schools.

BACCA addresses the high drop-out/push-out rates in the Humboldt Park community that, as a result, most mainstream media outlets portray as a wild jungle overridden by dangerous and uneducated youth. Therefore, BACCA seeks to integrate community, culture, and alternative media to empower youth to be agents of change and inspiration in their community. The program also seeks to develop the assets that youth already have but are rarely acknowledged in standard educational programs and schools. The different classes that exist are Radio, Multimedia (a combination of graphic design and photography), Skateboarding, and Participatory Democracy. Participants are able to choose which of these classes they would like to join, with the latter class being taken by all students.

On December 19, BACCA hosted an event to showcase the application of BACCA’s vision through the different programs. Attended by over 60 youth, parents, and community residents, it was some of the participants’ first time speaking and presenting to an audience. The Participatory Democracy students read poetry and stories that addressed their thoughts and experiences on the issue of gentrification/displacement of longtime residents from Humboldt Park due to rising rents and expensive housing development. The class is a civic engagement piece that seeks to redefine community and youth organizing.  Marilyn Pérez, 17, a junior at PACHS received loud applause for her piece that exclaimed, “The reason we fight for this community is because it’s unique and lively/ Like no other/ Paseo Boricua/ A place I would never want to see die/A place if it gets destroyed I would suffer and cry…”

The Multimedia class, which produced a full-colored book of their work, discussed the subject of identity through graphic design, photography, and poetry. The themes of community, family, culture, and adolescence served as an inspiration for their dynamic works of art and creativity. The class also produced a small video documentary about BACCA with student interviews and a CD that included the work of the different BACCA classes.

Probably the most unlikely class for an after school program was Skateboarding, which presented many artistic creations. Reclaiming community history is an important concept of BACCA, and skateboarding as an increasingly popular form of inner-city youth recreation is a part of that. Skateboarding and Hip-Hop are almost forgotten pieces of Puerto Rican history in the diaspora. The class researched and discussed that history as well as designed their very own skateboards. A huge, colorful timeline created by the students was displayed at the event.

The last class to present was Radio, which showcased their skills in ProTools and other voice recording software with clips of insightful testimonials and interviews about alternative schools, gentrification, and personal triumphs.

At the end of the successful event, which included catering by Nellie’s Puerto Rican Restaurant, the audience filled-out comment cards that will be used for a program evaluation being conducted by Dr. Michele Kelley of the University of Illinois-Chicago (UIC) School of Public Health.

“I hope that they could take what they learn from BACCA and be able to go out into the world and be critical of the other works that they see in photography, radio, and film…and how they can be the ones to tie media to their communities,” said Samuel J. Vega, who was a student in BACCA’s first cycle and is now a university student of media at Northeastern Illinois University.

For more information on BACCA, please contact: 773-342-8023.

Xavier “Xavi” Luis Burgos

From small and concentrated exiled communities of tobacco workers to entire, scattered metropolises defined by our presence, the people of Borinquen in the US - the Puerto Rican Diaspora - have transformed the concept of a “homeland.” In the Diaspora our most sacred symbol was created: the Puerto Rican flag on December 22, 1895. During that month, 113 years later, a group of 50 Boricuas, mostly high school and university students, from the Puerto Rican Cultural Center (PRCC) and Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos High School (PACHS) on Paseo Boricua, Chicago visited New York City for the third year in a row to celebrate and honor that history and to make connections with the other side of the Diaspora.
“The realities that we face as a marginalized people are complex. Trips like the one to New York allow us to take steps towards understanding that complexity,” says Erica Granados De La Rosa, 18, a junior at Loyola University.

A Chicago-based Batey Urbano theatrical piece that is making earthquakes in the political and artistic scenes, “Crime Against Humanity,” premiered at Hostos Community College in the South Bronx to nearly 300 spectators. The play is a series of monologues that tearfully and joyfully details the multiple hardships of nearly a dozen of the Puerto Rican political prisoners.
Our Paseo Boricua group also visited the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College, the oldest and most prestigious Puerto Rican archival and library institution in the country. PACHS also participated in a Three Kings Day workshop at the Museo del Barrio, the only Latina/o-focused art museum in the city.

As ambassadors of the Paseo Boricua community, students of PACHS developed an increased sense of pride in their school. Shouts of “Albizu Campos!” filled the streets, subways wherever the students went. They returned to Chicago with a newfound interest in creative cultural expression and will be working on a youth poetry compilation called the “Paseo Boricua Renaissance.”

This trip was also the first time that a coalition of Boricua and Latina/o university students from Chicago met with Puerto Rican student organizations in New York. The new university student coalition, M.L.I, met with members of Acción Boricua at Columbia University for a dialogue of student issues and a way to solidify a Diaspora student network. One of the members Raúl “Rulis” Serrano, 18, who is a freshman at Northeastern Illinois University commented that, “It helped me see education as not only a key to success but a way to understand social injustices.”

For our final day we participated in an annual event in honor of the Puerto Rican flag, as special guests of the influential Bronx politician Assemblyman José Rivera, which also happens to be around his birthday. The event takes place in the grand auditorium of Hostos Community College, an institution birthed and maintained from the struggle of the Puerto Rican community in the 1960’s and the 1970’s. With the carnivalesque sounds of the trumpets and panderetas, the celebration showcased multiple Puerto Rican forms of music.

“I believe the New York trip was important because… I was given the chance to learn about my history and my culture…” says Jessie Fuentes, 17, a senior at PACHS. “The trip was a real eye opener. The many young people [on the trip were] so well rounded and passionate about their community and education…” says Serrano.

You walk in. You see students towering above you by about a foot—some that look old enough to be your teacher. There are no more single-file lines walking down the halls. You no longer have to go to the office or the bathroom with a partner. What is this strange world, and how will you ever survive?

“The hardest thing to adjust to was the work, and being required to really push yourself in order to get grades that you previously breezed through in elementary school,” says Elena, a 15-year-old sophomore at Walter Payton. Remember your teachers in elementary school, reminding you daily to do your homework and get started on your big paper due next week?  That isn’t necessarily the case in high school. While most teachers during your freshman year will do their best to ease your way into the high school environment, it can still be quite difficult. Amalia, another 16-year-old sophomore at Walter Payton, said, “Coming in freshman year, everything was kind of so sudden I hardly knew what to do with myself.”

High school is on an entirely different level. There are a lot more students, and thus a bigger difference in maturity levels, intelligence, and social skills. However, that doesn’t mean it will be any more difficult finding people to relate to and become good friends with. With more students comes a greater mixture personalities and interests. John Angelo, 16-year-old sophomore attending Walter Payton, “embraces Payton’s diversity.”

So, how can you prepare for high school? A lot of your preparation will depend on your own determination and your experience at your old elementary or middle school. Coming into high school, you could have come from the top 5 in your previous school, but as Elizabeth, a 16-year-old sophomore at Walter Payton states, “coming to high school I was and am competing with all the kids that were in the top 5 of their classes.” You can either work hard and do your best in order to adjust to this new workload, or slack off and fall behind. Anna, another 16-year-old sophomore, suggests, “Talk to and meet as many people as you can. Not only will you make close friends, but you will also create a network of people that you can look to if you ever need any help in a class, with homework, or if you need to know an assignment…”

Regardless of the difficulty, you may end up considering high school some of the best years of your life. Elizabeth comments, “There is a lot more freedom to learn what you want and more opportunities to learn how you want.” “It was generally fun, and it was also great to meet people that I have a lot in common with, which generally didn’t happen in elementary school,” says Elena. Chelsa, 16, provides another perspective. “I think the best and most fun part about high school were the teachers. They were really cool and helped me become independent.” There’s freedom, fun, and support from your teachers—so, just make the most of it and enjoy it while you can . . . because if you thought elementary school went by fast, high school is only four years and will fly by that much quicker.

Students from the Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos Puerto Rican High School have been working as curators. They are helping to plan and organize the first-ever exhibit of Puerto Rican materials at the Newberry Library, an internationally known cultural institution and research library in Chicago. In March, the students from Saul Melendez’s Puerto Rican Cultural and History class all received reader’s cards and were given a behind-the-scenes tour of the climate-controlled building where the rare and valuable materials in the library are stored. Since then, the student curators have worked to research and select the final objects to be shown, grouping the objects into themes, and crafting the final exhibit descriptions. The students had access to the library’s large collection of Puerto Rican materials including Spanish manuscripts from the 1600s, original rarely seen photographs, government documents, resources for tracing family histories, and maps from the Spanish-American War. “Few students get to handle things that are even a hundred years old, but we got to handle things that are four hundred years old,” remarked Warren Elmore, a student in Mr. Melendez’s class.

This has been a special opportunity for both the students as well as for the Newberry, as it is the first time high school students have ever curated an exhibit at the research institution. The goal of the exhibit, entitled “Puerto Rican History through the Eyes of Others,” was to allow students to learn how to do research using primary sources. It also provided students an opportunity to engage with history by speaking back to those who have tried to describe and define Puerto Rico over the centuries.
The exhibit came out of an ongoing collaboration with the Puerto Rican Cultural Center and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s Community Informatics Initiative. Some of the student curators will also be participating in this year’s “Community as Intellectual Space” conference hosted by the Puerto Rican Cultural Center in collaboration with the University of Illinois. A reception for “Puerto Rican History through the Eyes of Others” will take place on June 11, 2008 at the Newberry Library (60 W. Walton Street). All are invited to celebrate the opening of this exhibit, which will be open to the public through July 12.

On April 16, a classmate of mine, María Ramos and I, were hand chosen to accompany Lourdes Lugo, the Director of Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos High School (PACHS) and Alejandro Molina to Springfield to help represent our school. YCCS (Youth Connection Charter Schools) organized to have a meeting regarding funding for alternative schools. Our two-night stay was an amazing experience as I was able to bond with Lourdes and Alejandro, as well as see the world of politics.

As we entered the Capitol I was immediately overwhelmed with seeing so many businessmen and women and the beautiful architecture of the building. Our first stop was to meet with State Rep. Cynthia Soto. She greeted all of us with a hug and kiss, which was warm and inviting. Our second stop was to State Senator Iris Martínez’s office, in which Lourdes and Alejandro took the initiative to discuss the problematic issues in alternative schools and why we needed these funds. I can remember sitting there watching her speak and taking quick glances around her office. She had pictures of her along with the representation of the Bandera Puertorriqueña. Our last stop was with State Senator William Delgado and he was a true character. As he drank his warm coffee, he overlooked the paper work and charts from YCCS, while he did that I took the time to look around at his office and began to wonder how this world of politics actually worked.

I appreciated this trip and felt honored to actually have had a chance to visit the state capital and meet with important people who actually grew up in the Puerto Rican community and hav helped make a difference. This opportunity was never given to me at my old school, Bloomington High School. I also became emotional at one point because meeting these people and getting recognized by them is such an inspiration to continue my education.

I can remember State Rep. Cynthia Soto commenting that Latino and African American students are the next generation to conquer the world and to keep working to succeed in life. Through out my struggles I am going strong and with the support of my aunt Teresita Rosario, my cousin Angela Román, and Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos High School. I have them to thank and will acknowledge them when I succeed in life.

For the past two years, May 1st has been the day that thousands of people demand the rights of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. This May 1st, nearly 20,000 marched from Union Park to Downtown Chicago. Over 250 Puerto Ricans, including many youth from Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos High School, marched from Humboldt Park. The fleeter march began with a press conference at Adalberto Methodist Church on Paseo Boricua where undocumented mother Flor Crisostomo is in sanctuary.

“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.

“Flags of Steel,” a documentary film by Mildred Amador, recently premiered before a packed audience of community leaders, elected officials, Humboldt Park residents, and high school students. For example, Pastor Pedro Windsor of the Capilla del Barrio brought his whole family.

In the film, important Puerto Rican community history is showcased. Pastor Windsor remarked, “This film is a celebration of the history in Humboldt Park. It takes you on a journey and shows you the struggle and the fruit that was born of that struggle.”

The film shows many scenes from the history of Humboldt Park, including the Three Kings parade and the construction of the Paseo Boricua flags on Division Street. “The film showed me that we should be proud of our contribution to our community and our city,” he commented. José Lopez, Ald. Billy Ocasio, Rep. Luis Gutiérrez, and other early community residents were shown in the film. News articles and documents were also included.

The most important aspect of the film is its coverage of the struggles of the community. Chris Pérez, a BACCA program student, commented, “The effort that people put into making the flags really showed their dedication to the cause.” Batey Urbano member, Cindy Maldonado pointed out, “This film is important because it relates the reason why they put the flags up. They wanted to make sure that people knew that this was a Puerto Rican neighborhood and that we’re never going to leave.” Pastor Windsor agreed, saying, “The whole film was a historical stream. It told the whole story of our community…”
Xavier Luis Burgos, Outreach Coordinator of the Humboldt Park No Se Vende! campaign, remarked, “This film was selected for viewing because it is about the community, and our community leaders want us to remember our history.” Chris Pérez noted, “Humboldt Park is where the flags are located and for that reason people appreciate the movie more.” This film is about us, and it is important to us. Cindy Maldonado commented, “They were trying to educate people on how the history of Humboldt Park began and educate the people in Humboldt Park about their own history.”

Pastor Pedro said that when he viewed the film, “This is a story of Humboldt Park, past, present, and future. I felt good being who I am in Humboldt Park and seeing how God blessed Humboldt Park.”

Jodene Velázquez

On March 9, before a crowd of over 100, the Puerto Rican Cultural Center (PRCC) organized a multifaceted International Women’s Day celebration that was intergenerational, educational, and of symbolic importance for our community.

The event began with opening comments by the Director of Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos Puerto Rican High School, Lourdes Lugo, who passionately conveyed the historical role of Puerto Rican women in the independence movement. As part of the “100×35” campaign, Lugo also spoke on the example of national poet and leader Juan Antonio Corretjer, who supported the women’s liberation struggle in Puerto Rico, which at his time was very uncommon. Her comments were followed by a brief, but informative presentation by the coordinator of the National Boricua Human Rights Network, Michelle Morales. Morales spoke on the issue of incarceration, as specifically experienced by the female Puerto Rican political prisoners during which they suffered blatant human rights violations. Some of the audience members were visibly impacted by their story of hardship, but even more so by their unbreakable love of freedom.

The program continued with a courageous presentation by the students of the Lolita Lebrón Family Learning Center describing a project they engaged in through their Women’s History course. The project, which touched on stereotypes women face on a regular basis. A member of Batey Urbano’s coordinating collective, Janeida Rivera, stressed the need to include LGBTQ realities in the discourse of feminism, which she argued must combat not only sexism, but also heterosexism and homophobia.

Along with presentations, the IWD event also featured several cultural acts, the first of which was several scenes from the new play, “Crime Against Humanity.” These scenes, preformed by young Boricua women, brought further to life the experiences described by Michelle Morales.

Another highlight was the hilarious and entertaining performance by local Puerto Rican poet, Johanny Vazquez Paz. She recited works from her new book, Old Streetwise Poems, which is a collection of poems based on her migration to the US and her experience living in Chicago’s Puerto Rican community. In addition, Judy Diaz recited two poems by Juan Antonio Corretjer as homage to his centennial and commitment to the women’s struggle.

The final portion of the Sunday morning event was a walk to the Adalberto Methodist Church. At the church, Emma Lozano, president of Centro Sin Fronteras, gave a powerful account about the deep solidarity between Puerto Ricans and Mexicans, particularly as expressed by the longstanding relationship between activists from the PRCC and CSF. Following her, all present were moved by sincere words of Flor Crisostomo, who is currently living in sanctuary at the church because of the broken immigration laws of the US. Crisostomo, who has picked up the torch after Elvira Arellano was deported last August, provided a touching account of her experience as an undocumented indigenous woman and the impact of NAFTA on Mexico. She concluded her comments to a standing ovation by all present.

International Women’s Day on Paseo Boricua proved to be a historic moment for participants and the organizers who hope to continue to make this community event part of the annual events in our community.