Puerto Ricans as a Subordinate Group in America

We were walking to church when mam told us to pray for a man named kick up Truman, el presidente de los Estados Unidos. He is outlet to let us fin bothy get trim back our own country, mam explained. I had heard those stories before. Abuela wantd to tell stories virtually how Puerto anti-racketeering law had neer been free. She verbalise that number 1 Christopher Columbus had come to the island and he had helped Spain to defeat los Tainos. Abuela always spoke about the great injustices Columbus and Spain had d unity to los Tainos she tell her mother was a direct descendent of those early Puerto Ricans, which made us part native Taino.Mam hated those stories. Her parents had come to Puerto Rico from Spain Puerto Rico was her base of operations and she was always upset by the idea that her earliest ancestors might study enslaved my fathers ancestors. She express to let the past stay in the past.At church, I prayed for Mr. Truman because my mother give tongue to to. I pray ed for him because he was going to make up for all the mistakes the Spanish had done to the country all those years ago. He was going to make us free again. Mam said that Mr. Truman was como un savior.We read newspaper articles about the drafting of the new constitution. We were our own country, provided we were not. We were part of the United States, time still beingness Puerto Rico. We were protected, even while we were independent. Walking down the street, I could hear state talking about what commonwealth status could mean for Puerto Ricos future. Some were against it, others scene it was the best way. But the constitution did not solve everything stores closed down, signals became decrepit, breast lost his job.Three years after the Puerto Rican constitution was signed, Pap said we were going to move to America. He had cousins who had gone and had found jobs immediately. He said that more and more deal were leaving Puerto Rico for places like novel York City. I had seen a picture of New York City once. It was called the Big Apple. I had never seen buildings so tall I had always thinking that the deal who could call New York City were the luckiest people in the world. And soon, I would be one of them.We left in the middle of the night. The ride was not desire and I looked out the airplane window, watching the night sky. We landed in an airport outside of New York and took a taxi in. We drove across a large bridge I could barely see the water. It looked like another sky with all the buildings and lights reflected in it. And then, we were inside the city. There were people walking around. I heard people talking to Spanish. There were stores with acquainted(predicate) names and foods advertised in the windows.It was almost as though we had never left home.I couldnt sleep that night I was unplowed awake by the sound of taxis and car horns and people ribing from one building to the next. Mam tried to sing lullabies to me, the same songs she used t o coo when I was a small child, nevertheless now, the songs did not induce sleep but kept my eyes more alert. I thought of home. I thought of touch trees. I thought of the ocean. I was afraid I would never see Puerto Rico again.But Puerto Rico came to me.More cousins and aunts and uncles and friends left the island for America. They did not only come to New York. They went to places like Texas, California, New Mexico, and Florida. My best friend, Juana, went to Texas on vacation. She sent me a postcard of a man riding a bull. He spoke Spanish to me, she wrote.After my Ta genus Felicia moved to Florida, she invited us to visit. I could see the oceans. I could see palm trees. It was warm. It was Puerto Rico in America. Felicia made tostones y arroz y pollo asado. I could have stayed in Florida forever but after two weeks, I was beginning to miss New York. I had grown used to the traffic. I was comfortable in Florida, listening to almost everyone speak Spanish and being able to unde rstand them, but I couldnt help but want to be back in the city, where I could walk from my neck of the woods to Little Italy to China Town and eat something from every part of the world. age later, I left New York for New Jersey to go to college. I had children. My husband was a Cuban man his family had moved to Puerto Rico soon after his birth. We had Cuban and Puerto Rican flags hanging on the outside of our house. When the very first Puerto Rican Day parade was announced, my husband took the Puerto Rican flag down from the front of the house and handed it to me. We left early in the morning, with our children. Flags were for sale at the umteen vendors lined along the street food was also being sold, and light pieces of jewelry with the Puerto Rican flags on them.Boricua, the crowd shouted together. I did not shout with them at first. My children stood on their toes to look over the shoulders of the people standing in front of them. They shouted with the crowd. My husband rea ched out and held my hand. I looked up and down the street, shocked by the thousands of Puerto Ricans gathered together. Spanish was mixed with English people danced together, music was being played from loudspeaker. I felt at home.I leaned against my husband together we screamed with the crowd, BoricuaReferencesU.S. Census Bureau American Fact Finder. (2004, April). portion of People 5 Years andOver Who Speak Spanish at Home 2005. Retrieved April 20, 2007 from factfinder.census.gov.U.S. Census Bureau American Fact Finder. (2004, April). Map of Spanish Speakers in theUnited States. Retrieved April 20, 2007 from factfinder.census.gov.CIA World Factbook. Puerto Rico. Retrieved April 20, 2007 from www.cia.gov.