AQUI ME QUEDO Puerto Ricans in Connecticut by Ruth Glasser Translation into Spanish by José E, Rodriguez Sellas Racquel Requena and Maria de Lourdes Martinez Sponsored by Stone Soup Funded by Grants from the Conne tt Humanities Council AQUI ME QUEDO Los Puertorriquenos en Connecticut por Ruth Glasser Traducido al Espanol por José E. Rodriguez Sellas Racquel Requena y Maria de Lourdes Martinez Auspiciado por Stone Soup Los Fondos Provienen de Becas del de Humanidades de Connecticut“Que Bonita Bandera” (What a Nice Flag) Oo a sunny Saturday moming in May of 1995, a group of Puerto Rican youths took to the streets of New Haven. Dozens of teens and children | marched the miles from the Hill to Fair Haven, formin, a human bridge | between the two New Haven neighborhoods of greatest Puerto Rican concen: tration. The march ended with a rousing rally and picnic New Haven aldermen Rail Avila and Tomas Reyes were two participant i who were impressed by this activity, They later wrote’ Six weeks of planning and the day was finally here,..The young, onganizers. | called themselves Youth Alive, and the event which they organized centered around the recent death of a Iriend, Apolinar (Moyo) Cirino and the many young people in New Haven who died as a result of gus, violence, crime, this was more than just a tribute to p young people appreciate their drugs and neglect, For the | Moyo. it was a tool that would be used to he | lives by advoc The young leaders escorted Cirino’s mother on the long march through the New Haven and Reyes watched A young person picks up a microphone and begins to chant “Youth Alive! ! hen: “We wil ive!” Suddenly the goup begins to see more people fon listen to hi ‘Oh When the Saints’ and as the procession makes its fist Danny out of breath running to join his peers with a hero's cheet for making it As they enter downtown they shout, they sing, they cry out: “WE WANT TO LIVE! JOVENES PRESENTE! ATTENTION! introductionnN en eee J MERECEMOS RESPETO! NO MORE GUNS!,” and to the REST IN PEACE”? Although some of the marchers were several generations removed [rom the island of Puerto Rico, they showed great pride in their heritage, Along with their signs, they carried @ Puerto Rican flag. As they crossed from Elm Street into Fair Haven, they sang a Puerto Ri an song, Another adult witness. Menen Osorio, remembered! {Que Bonita Bandera.” [What a Nice Flag]. They they kept They only knew one son didnt even know the whole song, they only knew a few words came words, but L said, my God, look at this, these Kids ame ow about themselves Through their marching, songs and chants, Avila and Reyes said, the youth “tell us to pay attention to them, Not by eteating chaos, but instead by utilizing the vehicle of free speech and the power of their numbers, in a peace- ful and organized way This march was an impressive event carefully planned and executed by the youth themselves. And yet this labor of love and pride and passion was ignored by the mainstream press. In fact, many Puerto Ricans, inclucling, some of the organizers of the march, feel that the press routinely presents negative images of Puerto Ricans while neglecting the positive, As Tomas Reyes later remarked: Te press is very quick to spectaculaize the two Puerto Ricans that got shot at story five times. But the fon Grandl and Poplar— you know they'll run th fet that you have Puerto Ricans in r themselves, they alwys get a miztor thats tainted utively important decisionmaking post- Tainted Mirrors Both the march itself and the poor coverage it received point to the chronic lack of impottant information about Puerto Rican history and current activity within our state, Newspapers, televison and movies usually neglect stories of positive community action by Puerto Ricans, focusing instead on tales of crime and drugs and decay. Schools typically have little information on the history of Puerto Rico and the migration of Puerto Ricans to the main. land. ‘These omissions in the current media and in the history texts cheat not just Puerto Ricans, but people of all ethnic and racial backgrounds, {JULIO MORALES: With the suropean peasant there was really tue when [there was a frst generation, sec= fond generation and third generation and they kind of moved geserationally. With the Puerto Rican we have somebouy Ike ‘self who has been living inthe United States fo forty-five years, and Puetto Rieans who will come hee tomorow for the very frst tine, 90 that sve have Puerto Ricans at very illerent stages. Some of us speak only English, some of ts speak only Spanish, some of us speak both and lel very comfortable inthat. So that there a difference in tems of how we have experienced or te experiencing Connecticut DAVID BURGOS: Puerto Ricans as “American cinzens frst ofall. and 3s, members of Connecticut and members ofthe diferent cites, what Lwant to say is that they've got alot of hardworking, {nteligent people who have paved the ‘yay for Us, and that that cannot be for gotten, and that other people need to pick up the torch and continue running ‘with thal, regardless of the risk. think ‘heres been a very eh history. Look at the number of teachers we have, lawyers. What sad about itis that peo- ple dont know i And shats why this ‘book is important, because 1 think 3 fot fol times people focus on the problems of Hispanies the este, the dropout rate the teenage peegnancy, vely fampant ‘unfortunatly, bur 1 think the beauty of the successes outshines all hat. Pueri> Bicatis ave at the lowest end of the eco= rome ladder: But tthe same time, Pd rather we focus on out stoves, Jbecause | think that helps resolve the problems. NORMA RODRIGUEZ REYES: ‘When Las in high school, !knew more abou the black culture than did about the American cultuge and forget i, 1 knew nothing at all about being Puerto lean, Noghing at al, jus the tle bit fof things [learned leon my parents. But in (ets ofthe history, what was Puerto Rico? Nothing historical about i tle that now ss, 1995, all people, especially people inthe inner cies, should know that Puerto Ricans ake American clizens,