City Councilman Enrique Torres’ Black Power Tattoo Binds ‘Myself To The Black Struggle’

Enrique Torres
Enrique Torres shows off his new tattoo.

Two-time mayoral candidate City Councilman Enrique Torres speaks yarns about the “black struggle” but no one really thought he’d needle a tattoo on his arm to drive home the point. He did. Torres, who’s contemplating another Republican run for the mayoralty, posted a photo on his Facebook page sporting a new tattoo in another of his curious declarations for “Black struggle.”

From Torres’ Facebook page:

Today I got my first tattoo. It’s also probably my last. I needed this tattoo to bind myself to the Black struggle. As I felt the thousands of needle pricks in my arm I tried to relate the pain to that felt by my brothers who feel like they are lesser.

I know it’s ridiculous to compare my pain to that felt by a man called the N-word or to a young black man in jail far more often than in college. However, I want to put myself in their shoes. I want to be an instrument of change to injustice.

Torres speaks often, to anyone willing to listen to him, about the “black struggle” and “saving the black man” from government programs he claims keeps them down.

Torres was born in Bridgeport and moved back to his family’s native Cuba when he was a boy. They eventually returned to Bridgeport. He and his wife Michelle run the popular Harborview Market in Black Rock. The food and the view from Harborview is outstanding but some view the conservative Torres’ views on social issues in support of saving the black man as peculiar.

What can Enrique actually do about it? Please, stop into his Harborview market and he’d be happy to discuss it.

Republican candidate for governor Tom Foley conducted a meet and greet at Harborview Market on Sunday. Gee, would be interesting to hear Foley’s views about the black struggle. Maybe Torres gave him some pointers.

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34 comments

  1. I voted for Rick last year but what the heck really. O_o He is right though, that social programs hold blacks back but he should also tell why some are on these social programs because the truth is a lot of jobs do not hire black people when blacks are qualified for the job.

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  2. In one of his posts Rick seemed to be defending the people of Feguson MO, the same people rioting over a person who went for an officer’s gun. Not cool Rick, going through his Fb profile.

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  3. I’d suggest reading a article of what Charles Barkley said the other day on not being black enough. Black people’s biggest enemies in America today is not white people, it is ourselves!

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      1. Thank you, Steve.
        Ron is very familiar with my voting record on the council. And I am sure he will tell you I had a better voting record than many of the minorities on the council.
        And I am sure that my rocket would be stronger than Tattoo Man.

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        1. Bob, you know I was trying to make you feel like a celebrity the way you do me. I honestly do not think you are a racist, nor are you nearly as disturbing as Rick Torres. I mean Enrique.
          Can you forgive me, Massa? 🙂

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        2. Bob Walsh, you are so right about your voting record on the city council, we knew we could always count on your vote. On a number of votes you were the leader who got things passed. Let me thank you.

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  4. Rick Torres is a very intelligent man. Like many intelligent people, he can be myopic in his viewpoints, passionately held as they are. I know him well and also wonder about how the no safety net approach of the conservative thinkers is actually going to improve the lives of millions. We live in a time of greed (and charity, though greed may systematically get the upper hand), this country has been thoroughly robbed by the banks and the corporations who have taken the companies overseas. These postulates are not hard to prove. This is not a time for no social programs, but some rethinking the emotional dependence on them would help. Sorry for ranting, but I am not trying to write a paper or edit the thoughts. Rick is a decent man with honest intentions. That alone is worthy of admiration and at the very least, a less cynical tone when discussing him.

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    1. Yes, he is a decent man, however Mr. Torres’ behavior as of late is rather peculiar to say the least. After he called himself Rick since forever, he decided to refer to himself as “Enrique” to get in touch with his Hispanic heritage. I’m curious as to how that worked out for him. The tattoo however doesn’t make him any more in touch with African Americans than he was before; he’s not African American and never will be. What’s next–the Star of David on his other arm?

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  5. I guess my first reaction to this was “strange/peculiar.” But then I wonder is it me or him. I think as a society we are usually following what is normative and what is usually viewed as acceptable. At long as we are ‘in the box’ then such behaviors with feel strange to us. As a society we don’t typically strive for free thought, but rather consensus in thinking. The irony is we comment/critique him for getting this tattoo, yet we give and draw much attention to it in doing so. I may not always agree with Torres, but I give him much credit for being an independent thinker who can think ‘outside the box.’ If there were more independent thinkers, maybe, just maybe, be would remedy some very serious issues that challenge us in this city and society more broadly.

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  6. Ricky Torres, are you out of your damned mind to think a tattoo will bring you closer to the black struggle? If I were one of your constituents and your fellow council persons I would demand a psychological exam because you have lost your damned mind.
    I don’t know where to start with the repudiation of your statements. Let me start with this statement, “I know it’s ridiculous to compare my pain to that felt by a man called the N-word or to a young black man in jail far more often than in college.” Ricky, what does the statement, more black men in jail than college have in common with the Jheri curl, they were both invented by white men and adopted enthusiastically by white people and both leave a nasty stain on the shoulders of black men. It’s been more than 20 years since the Jheri curl faded, unfortunately the more men in jail than college continues to raise its ugly head by the ignorant, the uniformed and the oblivious.

    There is absolutely nothing you can do that will bind you to the black community short of being reborn a black man. Not having black friends, not marrying a black woman, not hiring black kids to work in your store or getting a DAMNED tattoo. I am a 64-year-old black man who is bound by the black struggle, with a black wife and five black children from the ages 42 to 23 and not one of us has a tattoo, but we all are bound by black struggle by virtue of racism and discrimination we all have experienced.

    Ricky, you try to compare the pain of a getting a tattoo with the pain of the black struggle in America is offensive and pugnacious and you should be ashamed of yourself. All you can ever be, Ricky, is a white dude. You have worked your entire life being the best white dude as you can be so may I suggest you just continue to be the person you have lived your entire life trying to be. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with you living your life as a white dude, but don’t demean or debase the struggle of my people in America by saying a tattoo with help you understand our struggle.

    In closing may I suggest in case you don’t believe what I’m saying to you, go to P.T. Barnum, the East End, the East Side or the Terrace after 9:00 at night and show the brothers your struggle tattoo and see if they show you the empathy of a black man? Someone once said, ’tis better to keep your mouth shut and let people think you are a damned fool, rather than open your mouth and remove all doubt. Brother, and I use the term loosely, SSSHHHHHH …

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    1. Donald Day, you haven’t heard anything yet, Torres’ words about blacks are far worse than what is here. This guy truly believes he has the answers for the black struggle and many people have heard it like Lennie and those who hang out at his store. The sad thing about this is whites sit around listening to his views about blacks and they don’t try to correct him, they do nothing.

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      1. Hey Ron,
        When were you at Harborview to see “whites sitting around listening to his views about blacks and they don’t try to correct him, they do nothing.”?
        Without you there to tell “whites” how it really is with the “black struggle,” how would “whites” know what to say? Why interrupt Rick (Enrique) when his current experience on the City Council and the questions he raises and the voice he uses is providing better representation, independent of the Finch administration, than we have had in years?

        I was present at Gary Crooks Center today for a meeting. I did a lot of listening and note taking and some talking. Tonight a resident will be visiting the Main Library to attend the Forum and understand how five Bridgeport citizens are taking time to reach out to community and to listen to people as well as add information to the discussion through an informed and invited neighborly community. They are generous of spirit and willing to listen to other Bridgeport taxpayers and voters. Who will run for Mayor next year? What are the real issues of the moment? What will they be next year? Time will tell.

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  7. Ron, how do you know Rick Torres sits around with white people and talks about his views? How do you know nobody questions his views? You can’t possibly know that. This guy needs a checkup from the neck up.

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    1. Andrew C Fardy, I was told this by two people who are on OIB who have heard Torres go into what he calls his “black ministry,” and this is not new, this has been discussed on OIB. Andy, I did not hear him talk about this but I trust who told me.

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  8. The single most profound thing I have ever heard uttered in a public forum in real time was from a crack-addicted black man, Rodney King, when he said, “can’t we all just get along?” I remember thinking, “No Rodney, we can’t.” Who CAN feel the “black struggle?”
    Currently, there is a movie out called “Kill the Messenger” about white Gary Webb, who broke the story of the CIA looking the other way while the Nicaraguan drug lords funneled crack into Los Angeles, sold for money to buy guns for the Contra Rebels, that whole Ollie North thing, but not the side that was aired in his hearings. White Gary Webb was ostracized from his career as a journalist when the larger papers out of jealousy and the CIA out of malice wrecked his life. He committed suicide (maybe). I wonder if his children feel anything resembling the pain of the black struggle to this day. The larger black people got rightly outraged at this continuing destruction of their communities. One black man, in a hearing with some CIA head, called out, “where is Gary Webb?” He apparently found the white man to be relevant to the black struggle.
    One of my friends, Joel, Jewish, was a founding member of the Congress of Racial Equality in NYC. During the freedom rides in the early ’60s, Joel got his head beat in in Delaware. His friend Mickey Schwerner, one of the so-called Mississippi three, was murdered in 1964 trying to press for voter rights in the deep dead south. After Mickey (Jewish) was dead, there was certainly no chance left to feel the black struggle, nor any color identification, I imagine. I do not believe there are separate emotions set aside for skin color. Yes, unique presentations of hate people get to experience, unique job rejections and police profiling, I get it. But are the feelings unreachable by someone of a different color? Doubt it.
    It is almost trite to respond to the level of some comments here, and I say that with no malice, just a fact. It is clear some people have not spent years trying to reflect on humans as a whole from certain statements. Who cares if Rick Torres got a tattoo? Who cares? Well, he does, I guess. It would be interesting to see the reactions if he got a white-supremacist tattoo on the other arm, just to balance it out a little. I suspect if you put the reactions side by side and mixed them up, many statements would be hard to distinguish if they were aimed at the black power tattoo or the white. Rick is Cuban, not white, though the census has always used white as the Latino classification (to some Latinos’ dismay). He was raised in a Bridgeport housing project. At least put those real details into the calculations, so the equation has a chance of balancing out. If you find him to be a fool, imagine what the largely white Republican establishment will think about it, or not understand? He has spent 20 years of his time and personal resources trying to get a position in that party.
    Maybe he has lost his mind. I for one, have always had crazy friends, they are more passionate and fun to be around. They are risk-takers. They don’t hide behind popular public opinions. If he wants to sympathize with the black struggle (visually), I think I will watch and see what happens. Hopefully, as often happens, he won’t be killed off in some way by the people he wants to empathize with. If a hero wants to show his cards, at least give the bad guys a chance of offing him first. I think most everybody else, myself included, has a lot more studying to do regarding inclusiveness. Judgement based on the content of character not the color of skin. Maybe Enrique has a dream.

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    1. Park City too, Torres has been out there and involved with politics for a long time and all one has to do is to look and read what he has said as a elected official and as a candidate to see where Torres’ concern about the black struggle was about and one would think blacks would have spoken out and thanked Torres for his efforts, well you won’t find that anywhere.

      You make a lot of good points so maybe you can enlighten us about Mr. Torres’ efforts in the black struggle.

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      1. Mr. Mackey,
        When someone says they’ve got your back, we don’t generally ask them how, we just face forward to see where the fight is and assume they are behind us. I don’t have any specific answers to how or what he said. Could possibly toss out a policy idea or two I heard, but that is not my intention here. I like a person who is willing to step out of the box and throw their hat in the ring or whatever analogy comes to mind. Bridgeport is a small pond for such a big city, and in the world of ideas it has been as small as it gets. If he brings relief to a few people by turning his attention towards them, then good enough for me. I see he looks peculiar with arm in his, but I have always been all for the arm in arm approach. That is what the symbolism is to me here. At the least it is entertaining, I don’t think he will divert anyone’s struggle. All the best.

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        1. PC too,
          Thank you for putting a bigger frame on this story. It’s fun to have friends and associates who dream big dreams and then actually go out and make some come true. And it’s great to have friends who get off their backsides and go out and work for others, some who need it because they are vulnerable, and others too busy or too stuck to be bothered.
          Rick makes great croissants and asks great questions as a representative of the people. He is not owned by anyone but is loyal to many. Up on representation! Up on entertainment! Up on serious issues! Time will tell.

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        2. PC too and JML, it’s nice to be all warm and fuzzy about Mr. Torres but let me explain what that symbol means to me. That despicable symbol means death to white people, cops and firefighters. That is the symbol of black power used by the black panthers. I have been shot at, had stuff thrown off roof tops at us, I have been fire bombed, I fought fires in houses that were booby trapped to hurt firefighters in areas where they were known to be here in Bridgeport. So putting that symbol on his arm is offensive to me and others. Mr. Torres does bring up good causes and articulates his stand very well, but sometimes he acts and speaks like he is half a bubble off.

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          1. Andrew C Fardy, so you are saying Mr. Torres supports death to white people, cops and firefighters because of the symbol of black power used by the black panthers?

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          2. Ron, I am saying that’s what that symbol means to me. I don’t know what Torres was thinking and I think he does not know what he is thinking.

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          3. Andrew,
            You have every right to be upset as you describe. I have a friend as well who was shot at in Harlem trying to pick people up off the street while working on an ambulance. I also know a former Black Panther who was a fireman. So many things get crossed and mixed interpretations, I would not try to disagree, other than to say while the symbol may have more than one level of meaning, not just the violent action you mention, it would be disingenuous to try to talk you out of feeling the way you do about it. I’m sure you can go through the years with your experiences and make up your own conclusions. The one thing for sure is many people have extreme experiences in conflicts over race, religion, even trauma in their own families and they stay polarized from the effects. It takes a lot of effort and willingness to move away from the places it brings us, but it is always possible. Not right or wrong, but possible. I don’t mean to sound like I know it all, just always pressing for the side of peace, I would say.

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  9. PC too,
    I find Ricky’s response to the black struggle disingenuous at best and duplicitous at its worst.

    If Ricky is empathetic of the black struggle then one would think as a member of the common council he could find a better way to address those inequities blacks face on a daily basis in Bridgeport than a tattoo.
    If Ricky were trying to be empathetic of the black struggle, as a member of the common council he should address why blacks in the City of Bridgeport can’t get hired as police and firefighters since David Dunn was thrust into the position of Director of the Civil Service, when in the 30 years prior to David Dunn blacks were hired for both. I say thrust because he was given that position without the benefit of experience or testing. As a member of the common council, if he wanted to be empathetic of the black struggle, why wouldn’t he question why more blacks aren’t being hired as department heads in the City of Bridgeport, which at the current time is the lowest in 30 years? If he were empathetic of the black struggle, why wouldn’t he question why more black vendors aren’t hired for city contracts and/or services? These are things he can question as a member of the common council and would have a greater impact on those same blacks he is trying to reach with his black struggle tattoo!

    PC too, blacks don’t need his empathy, blacks don’t need a handout; we just need a hand up. Blacks need to be able to get jobs in the city in which they are schooled, live and pay taxes. Blacks should not be denied that opportunity at the expense of white suburban males who receive 60% of all police and fire jobs since the hiring of David Dunn. If the numbers are this abysmal with respect to hiring for blacks in police and fire, one could easily surmise they are this abysmal in other branches of the city government.

    Mr. Torres, your empathy for the black struggle can be better served by keeping the doors of opportunity for Bridgeport residents who happen to be black who want a job in the city in which they live. Your empathy for the black struggle can be better served if you fight to bring a qualified individual into the office of the Civil Service while getting rid of the patronage system the Mayor favors to run the Civil Service department. Mr. Torres, I’m not saying your motives aren’t pure with respect to wanting to better understand the black struggle in Bridgeport, what I am saying is you could have found a better outlet to express that empathy without the need of a tattoo. Had you asked, I’m sure Brother Mackey or myself could have explained to you the needs of the black community and what you could do to help fuel the need to change for the better, the black struggle.

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    1. Donald Day, if Mr. Torres could act on the issues you mention then I would have no problem coming out and supporting him and asking others to support and vote for him, but … Time will tell.

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    2. Mr. Day,
      Bravo, well said and I think you are correct on all points except I believe Rick Enrique Torres would answer each of your points as best he could if you address them to him. What I think you should do is send this letter to the CT Post, editor, because you ask legitimate questions that deserve answers. I could see you are a respectable man who has raised a family from a previous, quite angry post, now I see you can write a well-thought-out neutral tone also. I will limit myself to minor comments from here on, because I am carving out a spot on the hill in this discussion I am not really trying to place myself on. We all were born long after any of these struggles began, I hope we all work to address them. Be well.

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