By Tyler Williamson
Medill Reports

Loíza, Puerto Rico, mirrors a visit to your grandmother’s house on a summer afternoon, Christmas in July and apple pie on an autumn day. The curving roads of Piñones on the northwestern edge of Loíza make you feel like the road trip never ends. From El Yunque’s mountains to the small community’s lively streets, it serves as the home to many audacious Boricuas.

Loíza is formally known as “el pueblo de la Cacica,” which translates to “the village of the Cacica.” A cacique refers to a chieftan of the Taino people, and the town is named in honor of Yuisa or Loisa, one of the women caciques on the island. 

The community just outside of San Juan was formally declared a town in 1719, and it remains an epicenter of culture and heritage of the Black population in Puerto Rico. 

Despite being a tourist attraction, Puerto Rico can be experienced as a tethered revival of antiquity where you feel truly enveloped by the experience. It didn’t matter where you were from or what you looked like — once you stepped into Loíza, you were deemed family. 

At least that’s how it felt at Corporacion Piñones Se Integra, or COPI, a community organization that celebrates the history and culture of Loíza – most notably Loíza’s iconic dance, bomba.

 

 

Understanding Bomba 

Bomba is one of the myriad music and dance genres from Puerto Rico, dating back to the 17th century. It was cultivated by enslaved West Africans who worked on sugar plantations along the coastal towns of Puerto Rico such as San Juan, Ponce, Mayagüez and Loíza. 

Specific movements within Bomba have certain meanings. The dance and the experience of protest are fundamentally interconnected, as bomba emerged from the experience of Colonialism. It is a tribute to enslaved ancestors who used dance as a method of expressing themselves.  

Bomba is an improvisational dance with a sense of style and creative freedom. Typically, the music for bomba has a moderately fast tempo, with musicians following dancers movements with close attention to every twist of the skirt. 

Bomba includes between 47 to 56 rhythmic patterns. Instruments include the subidor, the bomba barrel, maracas and the cuà, the two sticks played against the drums. 

The most recognized rhythms in bomba are sicá, cuembé, seis corrido and corvé. 

In sicá, there are eight sections, beginning with the basic two-step: right over left, with hands swaying on the opposite foot. Bomba consists of intricate movements that require focus on rhythm, tempo and beat. 

 

Bomba off the island 

People in the Puerto Rican diaspora often experience feelings of displacement, as many find themselves far from the island. However, through this historic dance and custom, Puerto Ricans across the United States build a shared identity that transcends distance and can be recognized wherever they call home. 

One of these diaspora communities where bomba thrives is Chicago’s Humboldt Park. On Division Street, affectionately known as “Paseo Boricua,” Puerto Rican flags serve as the gateway where the neighborhood begins, and the colorful history and authenticity of shops and restaurants replicate the beloved birthland. 

One of those neighborhood storefronts is AfriCaribe Music and Dance Academy.  

Words and phrases of resistance are spray-painted and graffitied on the pillars of the studio’s entryway, including enlightening statements like “Decolonize the world” and “Empire will fall,” as well as provocative but inspirational sentiments such as “[Bleep] nazis” and “Destroy fascism.”

The school not only teaches bomba at every level, but also the history and significance of the culture.

AfriCaribe has become a covenant housing ground to protect the culture and heritage of Boricuas away from Puerto Rico. 

“Bomba is communication; it’s an energy,” Evaristo “Tito” Rodriguez said.

He started AfriCaribe in 2000 with a vision of unity – to create a space for Puerto Ricans to feel connected to their roots and gain an understanding of where they’re from. Rodriguez wanted to provide Puerto Rican Chicagoans a place to celebrate the African influence in their Puerto Rican birthright.  Rodriguez’s vision came from what he describes as pillars under an umbrella of initiatives, such as an academy, performance ensemble, production company, and education department. Rodriguez’s one-stop shop philosophy is that culture can be defined as “the soul of a group of people.”

The Rhythm of Piñones

Maricruz Rivera Clemente, the director and founder of COPI, reflected on how Loíza is evolving and beginning to heal from its past displacement. COPI serves as a cultural center that teaches bomba on the western side of town.

“This isn’t an official school,” Clemente said. “This is how we pass down knowledge.”

COPI was established in 1999 as part of the beginning of Piñones’ fight against climate change, mangrove degradation and hurricanes.  Clemente took it upon herself to gauge the communities’ deficits, starting with Black people feeling displaced in Piñones. Along with music and arts, COPI does mangrove restoration and fights against proposed developments that could displace local people. 

COPI spread its message with programming – and bomba – in schools. Clemente’s daughter was among the first dancers in COPI’s bomba initiative.

Clemente works daily to build a legacy for future generations that can carry forward COPI’s mission. 

 “The way they react and respond at school,” Clemente explained. “When they say, ‘This is bomba, I’m from Puerto Rico, I’m Black,’ they’re proud of it.” 

Clemente explained the identity crisis many Black people feel on the island, noting how most feel outcast for being Black. 

“You are yourself. You have your identity. You have more than just being Black or being from here,” Clemente said. “We are sharing our Black artists, and this is a way of learning.”

I wondered why one can’t be both when cut from two cloths of history? Boricuas with African roots were uprooted from sugar plantations to the coastal seas. Both can hold true, and for Afro Puerto Ricans, it did. 

Clemente wants to help Black youth in Puerto Rico understand and feel pride in their culture and history. 

“You have the same thing as others; you should be proud of yourself, and we shouldn’t be defined by egotism because of your hair, because of my skin,” she said. “If you see my family, my daughters, everyone has a different skin color. … My grandson looks white, but he’s not, … he recognizes as Black, but he knows when people look at him in a racist way, they will perceive he is better than the others.”  

The Heart of Loíza in One Man

Driving east from COPI’s space in Piñones off Highway 187 over the Grande de Loíza River, I met artist Samuel Lind, a Loíza native whose work embodies Bomba’s significance, customs and presence in Loíza. 

Lind reincarnates not only the presence of the ancestors in his work but also the history of Loíza from its primeval stages to now, expounding through his paintings and sculptures, all beginning with the women of the island. Lind’s work references Loíza, tribes and West African culture in a rare way, including storytelling.  Ahead of his time, he created Loíza ‘s first flag. 

His son Lemuel Lind cherishes his father’s storytelling more than anyone. With a welcoming smile and outstretched arms, he greets my classmates and I at his father’s studio and home. Lemuel Lind begins the tour by explaining how the space serves as both a studio and a home and how growing up there has shaped his worldview. 

As he shared his reflections, he guided us through various parts of the house, where elements of his father’s creativity come to life — from oil and canvas to sculpture, from clay to bronze, and into digital domains where Lemuel’s own artistic expression thrives. 

Samuel Lind often describes his artistic process as one deeply rooted in dreaming. Much of his work is formed through meditation and dreams. He can feel it for as long as he can remember, which is how he gets it out. 

Being a historical figure of Loíza, Samuel Lind shares what inspired him to make certain pieces. Lemuel has high aspirations for the future as he gets to work with his dad full-time and bring his work to life on the digital canvas. 

Looking ahead, their up-and-coming nonprofit, Lind Corredor, is dedicated to uplifting, preserving and promoting the Afro-Caribbean and Taíno heritage of Puerto Rico. Lind Corredor is located in the heart of Loíza and offers workshops, exhibitions, artist residencies and cultural events.

The nonprofit is a movement created for the people by the people to instill empowerment in the next generation filled with leaders and artists, and honoring the legacy of Puerto Rican identity and expression. “Corredor Lind” means a cultural and artistic pathway, as they describe it, based on four core pillars: art as legacy, cultural education, community empowerment and sustainable creativity.  

Their signature programs include “The Taller Samuel Lind,” dedicated to hands-on art workshops, entrenched in the techniques and visions of Samuel Lind; “The Vejigantes Residency,” which provides future artists with mentorship to create work that reflects Taíno and Afro-Caribbean heritage; “Coffee + Art,” a community-based pop-up for locals to enjoy the art exhibitions and coffee; and “Corredor Talks,” bringing cultural leaders, historians and artists together in a series of panel discussions and lectures. 

Tyler is an Investigative Specialization graduate student at Medill. You can follow her on Instagram at @tyreports_. 

 

Reporter’s note: This five-day immersive experience of on-the-ground reporting was more than just a sequence of assignments; it was an awakening to travel journalism that often gets dismissed. We witnessed the everyday lives of people who get overlooked and underserved, and for a week, we were able to create stories to give a new perspective with our firsthand accounts. I learned about the climate deficiencies within the economy and energy, Hurricane Maria rebuilding, and understanding the rich history of Loíza that we were walking through each day. 

Acknowledging Blackness, at any age, is when you recognize identity and preserve your history by any means necessary. I’m honored that I was able to experience a living movement of that notion. Loíza, Puerto Rico, is like your favorite summer trip that you replay all year long because you never forget just how much the city entraps you.