{"id":36956,"date":"2016-03-10T17:21:59","date_gmt":"2016-03-10T23:21:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=36956"},"modified":"2016-03-11T11:43:41","modified_gmt":"2016-03-11T17:43:41","slug":"for-puerto-ricans-in-chicago-no-ones-an-island","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/for-puerto-ricans-in-chicago-no-ones-an-island\/","title":{"rendered":"For Puerto Ricans in Chicago, no one’s an island"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Jose L\u00f3pez sits comfortably in his wicker chair as a February blizzard rages on outside, the wall behind him a collage of Puerto Rican literature and artifacts. When it comes to his homeland of Puerto Rico, L\u00f3pez has clear ambitions. He wants his countrymen to decide for themselves what their economic future should be, instead of being saddled with an uncontrollable debt they didn\u2019t solely create.<\/p>\n

\u201cPuerto Ricans need a constituent assembly where they decide what they want,\u201d L\u00f3pez says. \u201cYou could have a level of economic investment in Puerto Rico\u2019s future that could allow it to self-actualize as a nation-state.\u201d<\/p>\n

But he knows Puerto Ricans ultimately don\u2019t have the power to decide their future – it lies in the hands of the U.S. government.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cYou could ask any Puerto Rican what he wants or what she wants and it\u2019ll have no impact whatsoever. You\u2019re asking the wrong question,\u201d L\u00f3pez says. \u201cThe real question is, \u2018What does the United States want to do with Puerto Rico?\u2019 Because Puerto Rico belongs to, but is not a part of the U.S.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"JoseLopez\"
Jose L\u00f3pez envisions a fully autonomous future for his native Puerto Rico. (Hannah Rank\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

L\u00f3pez runs the Puerto Rican Cultural Center (PRCC), an institution in the Humboldt Park neighborhood of Chicago. L\u00f3pez established the PRCC in 1973 with his brother, well-known Puerto Rican nationalist Oscar L\u00f3pez-Rivera. L\u00f3pez-Rivera is currently serving a 55-year sentence for seditious conspiracy,\u00a0similar to charges faced by South Africa\u2019s Nelson Mandela in his fight against apartheid.<\/p>\n

The issue of Puerto Rico\u2019s status is top of mind for Chicago\u2019s Puerto Rican politicians, who don\u2019t always agree on whether the island should become a U.S. state or an independent country.<\/p>\n

\n

Read part two<\/h2>\n

What price statehood? For some Puerto Ricans, a loss of independence<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cFree Puerto Rico so she can solve the problem of her crushing debt without being handcuffed by Congress, its distant and inattentive colonial master,\u201d Rep. Luis Guti\u00e9rrez (D-Ill.) said in a Feb. 11 speech to the House of Representatives calling for Puerto Rico\u2019s independence and action to alleviate the island\u2019s $72 billion debt crisis.<\/p>\n

The expansive, wood-paneled House chamber is a pivotal place for the island of Puerto Rico. It is a room where many of the political decisions affecting Puerto Ricans are made. It is a room where Puerto Ricans have no vote and are not represented save for one\u00a0non-voting resident commissioner.<\/p>\n

\u201cFree Puerto Rico so she can solve the problem of her crushing debt without being handcuffed by Congress, its distant and inattentive colonial master.” -Rep. Luis Guti\u00e9rrez<\/div>\n

It is also in this room that Congress passed the Jones Act of 1920,\u00a0which resulted in heavily taxed imports that make the cost of living unbearably high for many residents there. It\u2019s where Congress passed the 1950 Puerto Rico Federal Relations law that eventually established the island\u2019s status as a \u201cfree associated state\u201d \u2014 belonging to but not part of the United States. It\u2019s where some members of Congress may soon form a\u00a0\u201cfinancial control board\u201d<\/a>\u00a0to review the island\u2019s finances.<\/p>\n

Guti\u00e9rrez knows the Puerto Rican voting bloc in the U.S. has the potential to turn the island\u2019s debt crisis into a topic of national conversation during the 2016 presidential election. He and other elected officials,\u00a0including State Sen. Iris Martinez (D-20th), 30th ward Ald. Ariel Reboyras and 35th ward Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, met<\/a> recently to discuss political mobilization.<\/p>\n

\"Rep.
Rep. Luis Guti\u00e9rrez (D-Ill.), who is of Puerto Rican descent, has been pressuring Congress to take action in alleviating the island’s debt. (Hannah Rank\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The leaders are pressuring House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) to make good on his promise to push along legislation by the end of March that addresses Puerto Rico\u2019s debt challenges. The proposed legislation<\/a> has been stalled while those in Congress deliberate on how to address the debt \u2013 will they allow Puerto Rico bankruptcy protections? Will they offer federal aid? The clock is ticking. Puerto Rico has already defaulted on $174 million in debt payments, with officials on the island warning they will soon run out of money to pay expectant bondholders, a majority of whom are from the United States.<\/p>\n

In Chicago, much of the Puerto Rican\u00a0diaspora is concentrated in Humboldt Park. The community\u2019s centerpiece is its Paseo Boricua, \u201cPuerto Rican Promenade,\u201d a stretch of Division Street between California and Western Avenues, demarcated by giant\u00a0red-and-blue-painted\u00a0steel Puerto Rican flags. The flags were erected in 1995 in honor of the 1.5 million Puerto Ricans who came to the mainland between 1946 and 1966, many of whom worked in the steel industry.<\/p>\n

For cultural leaders here, the question of Puerto\u00a0Rico\u2019s political status has implications that range beyond the economic.<\/p>\n

L\u00f3pez, for example, is thinking bigger than the political categories of statehood versus independence. He wants autonomy for the island, and he also wants North America to display the same border flexibility for migration that it does for trade. He envisions a European Union-like confederacy for the Americas whereby\u00a0all Latin Americans are afforded the right to move across borders without reprisal.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I\u2019m proposing here is if the United States in the last 30 years or so has been promoting the free flow of trade across Latin America, you better start talking about the free-flow of people across borders,\u201d L\u00f3pez contends. \u201cIf you did that, immediately it would solve the issue of Puerto Rico. Because that would mean Puerto Ricans have all the access to the Americas.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the Hermosa neighborhood northwest of L\u00f3pez\u2019s PRCC office sits another stronghold of Chicago’s Puerto Rican diaspora: the Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center. Director Omar Torres-Kortright, 38, came to Chicago after graduating from the University of Puerto Rico with degrees in Hispanic studies and art history. Torres says he saw his transition to the mainland as an act of immigration, not migration.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy experience was that of an immigrant,\u201d Torres-Kortright says. \u201cI came from a country that speaks 100 percent Spanish, I grew up speaking Spanish, my culture is very different from the culture of the United States. So I had to adapt as an immigrant.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Puerto
Puerto Rico native Omar Torres-Kortright considers his move to Chicago the experience of an immigrant: “I grew up speaking Spanish, my culture is very different from the culture of the United States.” (Hannah Rank\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Independence makes most sense to Torres-Kortright because it means severing colonial ties with the United States,\u00a0which would eliminate the cycle of exploitation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like, \u2018We want you to be sovereign, but we don\u2019t want you to be sovereign, and you are sovereign when it\u2019s convenient and you\u2019re not sovereign when it\u2019s convenient,\u2019\u201d Torres-Kortright explains. \u201cI feel strongly that Puerto Rico would be in a much better position as an independent country.\u201d<\/p>\n

He says a lot of his friends are surprised he isn\u2019t pro-statehood, especially given the fact the independence movement is in the political minority on the island.<\/p>\n

\u201cI honestly think that statehood is a dream for many people, but it can never pass Congress, and the United States political system will never allow it,\u201d Torres-Kortright says.<\/p>\n

Melissa Hernandez can be seen most nights handing out food and clean needles to homeless drug addicts in the streets of Humboldt Park, Little Village and Back of the Yards, popular settlement spots for Puerto Ricans in Chicago.\u00a0A majority of the people she helps are from the United States, but some come\u00a0from the island, which is\u00a0slashing funding<\/a>\u00a0for healthcare and rehabilitation services.<\/p>\n

A former drug addict who now works as a dental assistant, Hernandez founded the Puerto RICO Project<\/a>, an NGO that offers harm-reduction services to homeless Chicagoans struggling with drug addiction. Hernandez regularly updates the Puerto RICO Project\u2019s Facebook page with vivid accounts of her nights on the streets and her own emotional struggles, calling for\u00a0more help<\/a>\u00a0for those struggling with drug addiction and poverty here and in Puerto Rico.<\/p>\n

\"Melissa
Melissa Hernandez, who is Puerto Rican but grew up in Chicago, sees the benefits of both statehood and independence, but is wary of all political definitions. (Photo taken by Andrea Bolivar)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hernandez is Puerto Rican, but she was born and raised in Chicago and grew up in poverty. She suffered sexual abuse as a child, became an addict in her adolescence and survived human trafficking. Her political opinions waffle between statehood and independence; she says it\u2019s hard for her to align herself to any political system.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf P.R. becomes independent, I know that people will lose their Social Security benefits, law enforcement support, federal aid,\u201d Hernandez says.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople should go back to their indigenous way of life and screw politics and this slave system.” – Melissa Hernandez<\/div>\n

She worries if the meager support the U.S government provides were to suddenly disappear, Puerto Ricans wouldn\u2019t be prepared.<\/p>\n

\u201cP.R.\u2019s institutions are oppressed, affordable housing and governmental assistance has become a way of life,\u201d she says.\u00a0\u201cPeople should go back to their indigenous way of life and screw politics and this slave system.\u201d<\/p>\n

Straddling the culture of his forebears and his constituents here in the Chicago area,\u00a0Guti\u00e9rrez, too, says Puerto Rico should be set free \u201cso that the Puerto Rican people can free themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photo at top: Steel flags demarcate the Paseo Boricua, “Puerto Rican Promenade,” on Division Street in Humboldt Park. (Rebekah Frumkin\/MEDILL)<\/div>\n
\"00MainPhoto\"<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
“Sea of Flags,” a mural by Gamaliel Ramirez, which resides in Humboldt Park on Division. The mural depicts the Fiesta Boricua Labor Day Weekend parade in Humboldt Park. (Rebekah Frumkin\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"02OscarHead\"<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
A papier mache bust of political prisoner Oscar L\u00f3pez-Rivera rests on a ledge in the home of Oscar’s niece, Lourdes Lugo. (Rebekah Frumkin\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"03HomeofNeice\"<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
Photos and artistic depictions of Puerto Rican nationalist Oscar L\u00f3pez-Rivera hang on the wall in the home of Lourdes Lugo. (Rebekah Frumkin\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"04BelvizMural\"<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
On a wall of Segundo Ruiz Belviz Cultural Center hangs the mural series painted in 1971 by Chicago artist and activist John Pitman Weber. The series depicts scenes from the civil rights movement. One painting portrays the Young Lords, a Puerto Rican nationalist group from Chicago. (Hannah Rank\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"05PRHomeless\"<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
Melissa Hernandez offers food and harm reduction services to the homeless in Chicago through her NGO the Puerto RICO project. (Photo by Melissa Hernandez)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Hannah Rank and Rebekah Frumkin Jose L\u00f3pez sits comfortably in his wicker chair as a February blizzard rages on outside, the wall behind him a collage of Puerto Rican literature and artifacts. When it comes to his homeland of Puerto Rico, L\u00f3pez has clear ambitions. He wants his countrymen to decide for themselves what […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":212,"featured_media":37093,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[452,28,30,675,585],"tags":[61,2290,2285,2283,2288,2286,2284,2265,2287,2289,192,2273,1811,2291],"class_list":["post-36956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beyond-chicago","category-general-interest","category-public-affairs","category-social-justice","category-winter-2016","tag-chicago","tag-chicago-puerto-rico","tag-debt-crisis-puerto-rico","tag-gutierrez","tag-hermosa","tag-humboldt-park","tag-jose-lopez","tag-oscar-lopez-rivera","tag-paseo-boricua","tag-paul-ryan","tag-promo","tag-puerto-rican-debt-crisis","tag-puerto-rico","tag-puerto-rico-project"],"yoast_head":"\nFor Puerto Ricans in Chicago, no one's an island - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/for-puerto-ricans-in-chicago-no-ones-an-island\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"For Puerto Ricans in Chicago, no one's an island - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Hannah Rank and Rebekah Frumkin Jose L\u00f3pez sits comfortably in his wicker chair as a February blizzard rages on outside, the wall behind him a collage of Puerto Rican literature and artifacts. 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