Analysis Of How To Know The Puerto Ricans By Jesus Colon

The History of Oppressed Puerto Rico

Jesus Colon, in “How to Know the Puerto Ricans,” makes a statement that I believe explains and articulates the effect centuries of exploitation has had on Puerto Rico, and on the identity of Puerto Ricans. He writes, “So when you come to knock at the door of a Puerto Rican home you will be encountered by this feeling in the Puerto Rican-sometimes unconscious in himself-of having been taken for a ride for centuries.”(Santiago, 71) This assertion is appropriate and logical in the sense that Puerto Rico was invaded, ruled, and exploited by the Spaniards from 1508 until July 1898 when the Spanish flag was lowered and the United States began its invasion. With the exclusion of the aristocrats, who were either

Although black slaves were present in the New World since 1502, the trading of slaves became official in 1518 (Figueroa, Sept. 22). Slaves subsequently became the primary labor force in producing various agricultural goods. Spaniards, during the 1520s-1570s concentrated on creating agricultural goods (cash crops) for export, and then in the 1580s-1620s sought new exports because the cash crops were no longer as marketable. The focus was moved to the growing sugar industry.

As was a common thread throughout slave history, the slaves were not treated well by landowners and aristocrats and often died within 10-15 years of arriving in Puerto Rico. Julia de Burgos' poem “Ay Ay Ay for the Kinky Black Woman” clearly delineates the image of slaves and slave owners. As slavery was a major part of Puerto Rican history and also contributed to its racial heterogeneity, I feel that it is integral in understanding Puerto Rican identity, or better yet, the confusion Puerto Ricans face in coming to form an identity. Burgos intuitively writes about her grandfather-

Ay ay ay, that my grandfather was the slave is my anguish, my immense

There was no one to take care of the peasantry and slaves except the peasantry and slaves themselves. The tradition of hijos de crianza where neighbors and friends “rear other people's children as one's own” (Santiago, 84) continues today. Thus, it is not surprising as Clara E. Rodriguez points out in “Puerto Ricans: Between Black and White” to find a continuance of Puerto Rico's history of racial mixing and heterogeneity. Furthermore, this mixing has created a different set of social attitudes than that in the U.S. Rodriguez explains that “in Puerto Rico, racial identification is subordinate to cultural identification, while in the U.S., racial identification, to a large extent, determines cultural identification.”(Santiago, 82) I wonder though what happens to a Puerto Rican when s/he moves from Puerto Rico to the U.S. How does the idea of race and culture translate in the U.S. ? I think that the transition from Puerto Rico to United States would be much more difficult than the reverse. Puerto Ricans still base classification of races on how someone looks or the class they are a member of, but I do not think that these stereotypes any longer prevent someone from attaining what s/he wants. However, in the U.S. I think that the problem still exists that your phenotype in part determines the opportunities you will be privy to and what your future will