The annual Puerto Rican parade will take place Sunday at 11 a.m. kicking off from Central High School ending with a festival at Seaside Park. From Keila Torres Ocasio, CT Post:
Puerto Ricans began arriving in Connecticut in the early 1950s, when the Caribbean island first became a U.S. commonwealth. The status change meant Puerto Ricans became U.S. citizens at birth and could travel freely to and from the island.
The first Puerto Rican immigrants were drawn to Connecticut, and especially Bridgeport, by industrial and factory jobs. They were among the first Latinos in the state and still remain the dominant Hispanic group.
“I do remember a time when Puerto Ricans were looked at by a lot of people here as different or exotic,” said Max Medina, an attorney and former Bridgeport Board of Education chairman.
The population grew quickly, though, and by the 1970s the number of Puerto Ricans had ballooned to more than 100,000. In response to their needs, an abundance of organizations were created in the greater Bridgeport area, like the Puerto Rican Democratic Club, the Puerto Rican Coalition and the Puerto Rican Youth Organization.
Read entire story: www.ctpost.com/local/article/Parade-events-celebrate-Puerto-Rican-heritage-4653415.php
Puerto Rican Day Parade, Feliz todos y cada uno!
Puerto Rico was ceded to the U.S. along with the Philippines and Guam as a result of victory in the Spanish-American War at the turn of the 20th Century. In 1917 all native Puerto Ricans were granted U.S. citizenship. Puerto Rico became a “Free and Associated State” of the U.S. (translated: “Commonwealth”) in 1952.
*** I have seen and marched in both P/R parades in Bpt and New York in the past. As an outside Puerto Rican observer and citizen, the Bpt parade has continued to turn into nothing more than a colorful raise your flag and represent, festive urban ghetto “get-together” parade of drunks, politicians, kid bikes and motorcycle riders and Toyota club members with a few floats and clowns thrown in for good measure! Bpt once again decided to do their own thing breaking away from the concept of one large State P/R parade that would march every summer in a different city or town in CT! Latino representation, participation and donations from a much larger pool and larger numbers in general. Arrangements beforehand for all available floats (utilities, banks, business companies, etc.) marching bands and entertainment just a week after 4th of July celebrations from all over CT. More cities and towns to get involved, larger pool of volunteers and donations with not just one city but the whole state available to help make it a national ethic statewide resident and tourist type of celebration that can capture the colorful melting pot the Constitution State is today! It has the potential to attract many eyes and interest from Puerto Ricans, Latinos and nearby tourists as well as savvy business in general, no? ***
So to be terse, you were not happy with the parade. New York had a fantastic parade.
Bob, as I feed little Lucia Lee Salcedo (10-month old Filipina-Chinese, Irish-Italian, 100% Connecticut) daughter at 5:00am and take a quick early morning/daily review of OIB, you and Keila Torres Ocasio bring out the history geek in me today … you’re right to correct Keila’s opening paragraph that insinuates Puerto Ricans became US citizens only in 1952, the year Puerto Rico was declared a “Free and Associated State” (ELA–Estado Libre Asociado) by the US Congress with a big push by the dominant local indigenous political party … but really it’s a made-up term that is ambiguous and inconclusive, which, in turn, causes to this day Puerto Ricans to be in a 100-year plus state of divided loyalty and unresolved identity. It has caused a phenomenon I call the “Miss Universe two bite at the apple” or “What do Puerto Ricans think of and feel when they hear the song, “Que bonita bandera?”
Imagine a young Miss Puerto Rico beauty (e.g., Dayanara Torres) enters the Miss Universe contest and loses, the next day she can fly out of San Juan and land at Bradley to enter the Miss CT and Miss USA contests, win those and then have a second bite at the apple (no visa, no citizenship change required). Likewise, with the undefined and ambiguous status of the made-up ELA “free and associated State” it’s nothing more than a fancy, bowdlerized term for the word “colony,” but of course, we don’t want to acknowledge to the world of nations the USA still owns a colony in the 21st century. Meanwhile, we all continue to bump along merrily down the long and twisting road of history until Puerto Rico, one day, becomes a state of the US or an independent nation like Cuba and the Philippines.
(Oops, almost forgot, yes, Puerto Ricans were granted US citizenship in 1917, in time for what? Yes, the draft of WWI, then WWII, then Korea, then Vietnam.)
Finally, speaking of the the Spanish-American War, I will have to nitpick your phrase, “Puerto Rico was ceded to the US along with the Philippines and Guam as a result of victory in the Spanish-American War …” The US paid Spain $20 million for the Philippines in 1899 dollars … also lost in the mix is the even costlier and bloodier Philippine-American War of 1899-1913 which had some familiar themes, such as the water cure, or as Dick Cheney calls it, 100 years later, legitimate water-boarding, but that’s a posting for another day. CT’s own Mark Twain was heavily influenced by the blowback from the Philippine-American War. I just got a book from Amazon yesterday called God’s Arbiters by Susan K. Harris. It should be a good read for all American history geeks.
By the way, my three year old Leo and I sing “Que bonita bandera” on the drive to daycare with added, made-up phrases of bandera Filipina, bandera China, bandera Italiana and bandera Irlandesa … the beat is still the same, of course!
Enjoy the parade!!!
Gracias Sylvester para las palabras importantes. Felicidades a su niña que es un Americana de todos los personas de Connecticut.