{"id":36849,"date":"2016-03-10T17:20:29","date_gmt":"2016-03-10T23:20:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=36849"},"modified":"2016-03-10T17:20:29","modified_gmt":"2016-03-10T23:20:29","slug":"what-price-statehood-for-some-puerto-ricans-a-loss-of-independence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/what-price-statehood-for-some-puerto-ricans-a-loss-of-independence\/","title":{"rendered":"What price statehood? For some Puerto Ricans, a loss of independence"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Rebekah Frumkin<\/a> and Hannah Rank<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

LA PERLA, Puerto Rico \u2014<\/b> It\u2019s a sunny February morning in La Perla, a low-income neighborhood beside Old San Juan\u2019s northern city wall. Lifelong resident Lourdes L\u00f3pez-Rivera stands on a beachside cliff, considering the Caribbean\u2019s cyan expanse.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey keep talking about development here,\u201d she says, shaking her head. \u201cThen we\u2019ll have to move.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

[soundcloud url=”https:\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/251227665″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=’450′ iframe=”true” \/]<\/p>\n

The neighborhood is small \u2013 332 residents \u2013 and battling a reputation<\/a> as a nexus of drug trafficking and violence. While drug trafficking does occur in La Perla, the neighborhood<\/a> is also home to a thriving community center, an athletic court and a series of professional murals impossible to overlook for their detail, color and diversity of subjects.<\/p>\n

\n

Read part one<\/h2>\n

For Puerto Ricans in Chicago, no one’s an island<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

These facts are lost on most non-residents, however. Just standing at the entrance to La Perla prompts unsolicited advice from strangers: \u201cHey, I wouldn\u2019t go down there if I were you. It\u2019s dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n

L\u00f3pez-Rivera has wide, expressive eyes and the demeanor of a patient elementary school teacher. It\u2019s a little before noon on a Wednesday, but La Perla\u2019s streets are empty save for a few strutting roosters. L\u00f3pez-Rivera waves to a young man perched on a rooftop, an old woman standing in a shaded doorway. A spotted puppy darts out of a shuttered house and begins licking L\u00f3pez-Rivera\u2019s feet.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re divided here in La Perla when it comes to politics,\u201d she says in Spanish. \u201cSome of us are in the New Progressive Party, some are in the Popular Party and some of us are Independentistas.\u201d<\/p>\n

L\u00f3pez-Rivera is referring to three of the six registered electoral parties<\/a> on the island. The 49-year-old New Progressive Party (Partido Nuevo Progresista) favors statehood. The 70-year-old Puerto Rican Independence Party (Partido Independentista Puertorrique\u00f1o) favors independence. The Popular Democratic Party (Partido Popular Democr\u00e1tico) is the oldest at 78 and favors maintaining the island\u2019s status as an unincorporated territory with self-government. Gov. Alejandro Garc\u00eda Padilla is a member.<\/p>\n

\"Lourdes\"
Lourdes L\u00f3pez-Rivera believes statehood will benefit Puerto Rico’s low-income communities. (Hannah Rank\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

During Puerto Rico\u2019s 2012 gubernatorial election<\/a>, the status quo Popular Democratic Party beat the New Progressive Party by a hair\u2019s width margin: 47.7 percent to 47.1 percent, respectively. The Independentistas earned just 2.5 percent of the vote.<\/p>\n

L\u00f3pez-Rivera believes statehood will help lift the island\u2019s debt, a burden that falls hardest on low-income communities like La Perla.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe understand the kind of benefits it could bring to our community,\u201d she says. \u201cNot only our community but also our island. We\u2019re fighting and working for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

To L\u00f3pez-Rivera, statehood means many things. For one, the chance to fully benefit from Supplemental Security Income and Medicaid, which currently covers citizens of the island at half the rate<\/a> of mainland citizens. Or the elimination of costly port tariffs. Or an influx of financial support that could revitalize La Perla, which is facing municipal threats of redevelopment and displacement every day.<\/p>\n

“We understand the kind of benefits it could bring to our community. We\u2019re fighting and working for that.” \u2014 Lourdes L\u00f3pez-Rivera on statehood<\/div>\n

Roughly six miles east from La Perla in a San Juan neighborhood called Hato Rey, Keyla Polo, 36, is cooking lunch at Compromiso La Vida, a women\u2019s detox center. Like L\u00f3pez-Rivera, Polo wants change. But she worries change will come at a steep price: unmanageable property taxes.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people will lose their houses if they pay taxes,\u201d she says in Spanish.<\/p>\n

Polo was born on the island but moved to Syracuse, New York at the age of 17. She worked as a nurse and raised her family in the U.S., returning later to support her ailing grandmother in a town called Bayam\u00f3n. There, she spent much of her savings, suffered feelings of isolation and depression, and began using heroin.<\/p>\n

She has been at Compromiso La Vida for five months and is now clean. Although she misses her children and New York, she has kept busy. She\u2019s painted the center’s dining room walls: a chain of ivy rings the room\u2019s perimeter, and the words \u201clove,\u201d \u201cdreams\u201d and \u201chope\u201d appear in cursive beside the kitchen door. She cooks three meals a day for the other women and staff, sometimes preparing dishes for as many as 15.<\/p>\n

When it comes to alleviating the island\u2019s debt, Polo\u2019s opinions tilt towards statehood.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel bad for the country people [who will pay taxes],” she adds in English. “But in the other way I feel like yeah, we\u2019re gonna have a lot of help to be a state.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Keyla\"
Keyla Polo cooks three meals a day for as many as 15 people at Compromiso La Vida. (Rebekah Frumkin\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On the island\u2019s easternmost tip in the low-to-middle income town of Fajardo, Gerardo Jones is also on a path to recovery. After several years of crack cocaine abuse, Jones quit and decided to dedicate his time to helping others like him. Now he works as an advocate at Intercambios Puerto Rico, a nonprofit dedicated to decriminalizing drug use and reducing harm for users on the island. He says drugs were an effective escape from his family\u2019s politics.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy family wanted Puerto Rico to be part of the United States,\u201d Jones says in Spanish. \u201cWhen I started smoking marijuana, it opened doors of consciousness for me. I realized there was this problem with my family. They accepted being colonized.\u201d<\/p>\n

“Right now the Supreme Court is discussing the issue of Puerto Rico, and many times there aren\u2019t even Puerto Ricans there in that discussion.\u201d \u2014 Rafael Torruella<\/div>\n

Intercambios Director Rafael Torruella is a member of the Independentista party and sees a clear connection between drug use and the island\u2019s colonial status.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re part of the United States and a colony of the United States that has no control over its borders, a very important nexus of [drug] traffic,\u201d Torruella says. \u201cAnd wherever there\u2019s traffic, there\u2019s going to be more consumption with time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Torruella is gregarious and fluently bilingual, a San Juan native with a doctorate from City University of New York. He sees the island\u2019s $72 billion debt as a form of colonial oppression, one method among many of controlling and subjugating Puerto Rican people.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t believe in colonialism. I don\u2019t believe in imperialism. I think people have a right to be free, and Puerto Rico has not been,\u201d Torruella says. \u201cWhen you look at what\u2019s happening in the insular cases and arguments used to keep Puerto Rico as part of the United States, the narratives that were used to describe our people were really racist and degrading.<\/p>\n

Right now the Supreme Court is discussing the issue of Puerto Rico, and many times there aren\u2019t even Puerto Ricans there in that discussion.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Gerardo\"
As a teenager, Gerardo Jones struggled with his family’s pro-statehood political views. (Hannah Rank\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Like Torruella, renowned artist and poet Rafael Trelles is a member of the Independentista party. His paintings are magical realist snapshots: a figure emerges<\/a> from the mouth of a fish, a pair of \u201cdivine twins\u201d towers<\/a> nearly as high as a tree.<\/p>\n

Trelles says the Puerto Rican government\u2019s ability to make economically viable commercial treaties with other countries has suffered due to U.S. interference.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe actual status is designed to protect the interests of the mother country and its companies in harm of the interests of the Puerto Rican people,\u201d he writes in an email in his native Spanish.<\/p>\n

He believes the island\u2019s debt could be alleviated were it not for the yoke of colonialism.<\/p>\n

\u201cColonialism has destroyed the working culture of the most poor sectors of our population and created a culture of dependence,\u201d Trelles says. \u201cThis dependence has continued from generation to generation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"5LaPerlaIndependent\"<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
“Independent” graffiti can be seen on an abandoned building in La Perla. (Hannah Rank\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"4LaPerlaOscar\"<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
A small cutout of political prisoner and Puerto Rican nationalist Oscar L\u00f3pez-Rivera peeks out from a balcony in La Perla. (Hannah Rank\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"3LaPerlaMural2\"<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
A mural depicting an Afrolatina woman stands adjacent to La Perla’s athletic court. (Hannah Rank\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"6LaPerlaLourdes\"<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
Lourdes L\u00f3pez-Rivera looks out at the Caribbean from a cliffside near La Perla. (Hannah Rank\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"8FajardoContraDrogasMural\"<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
A mural outside Intercambios Puerto Rico reads “No more war on drugs.” (Hannah Rank\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"9FajardoDogs\"<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
Two dogs peer down from the roof of a bungalow in Fajardo. (Rebekah Frumkin\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"OSCARILLUMINATI\"<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
A life-size cutout of Oscar L\u00f3pez-Rivera affixed to an office door at the Interamerican University of Puerto Rico Law School in San Juan. (Hannah Rank\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"Trelles\"<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
Artist and poet Rafael Trelles autographs his 2016 book of poetry, “El pez en llamas.” (Rebekah Frumkin\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"10OldSanJuanMiguelRodriguez\"<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
San Juan resident Miguel Rodriguez has spent much of his adult life advocating for Puerto Rican independence. (Hannah Rank\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"LaPerla\"<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
The La Perla neighborhood sits beachside below the streets of Old San Juan. (Hannah Rank\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>\n
Photo at top: A mural welcomes visitors to the La Perla neighborhood in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico. (Hannah Rank\/MEDILL)<\/div>\n

Frumkin and Rank went to Puerto Rico on the Social Justice News Nexus<\/a> Medill Explores trip.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Rebekah Frumkin and Hannah Rank LA PERLA, Puerto Rico \u2014 It\u2019s a sunny February morning in La Perla, a low-income neighborhood beside Old San Juan\u2019s northern city wall. Lifelong resident Lourdes L\u00f3pez-Rivera stands on a beachside cliff, considering the Caribbean\u2019s cyan expanse. \u201cThey keep talking about development here,\u201d she says, shaking her head. \u201cThen […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":234,"featured_media":36901,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[452,28,675,585],"tags":[2272,2268,2270,2267,2261,2271,1815,2252,2266,2265,2263,2262,2264,192,2273,1811,2269,2253,2260],"class_list":["post-36849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beyond-chicago","category-general-interest","category-social-justice","category-winter-2016","tag-colonialism","tag-compromiso-la-vida","tag-drug-abuse","tag-fajardo","tag-independence","tag-interamerican-university-of-puerto-rico","tag-intercambios-puerto-rico","tag-la-perla","tag-old-san-juan","tag-oscar-lopez-rivera","tag-partido-independentista-puertorriqueno","tag-partido-nuevo-progresista","tag-partido-popular-democratico","tag-promo","tag-puerto-rican-debt-crisis","tag-puerto-rico","tag-rafel-torruella","tag-san-juan","tag-statehood"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat price statehood? 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