The Puerto Rican Movement: Voices from the Diaspora
by Andres Torres
Temple University Press, 1998 Paper: 978-1-56639-618-9 | Cloth: 978-1-56639-617-2 Library of Congress Classification E184.P85P77 1998 Dewey Decimal Classification 973.04687295
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC
ABOUT THIS BOOK
Little attention has been paid to the Latino movements of the 1960s and 1970s in the literature of social movements. This volume is the first significant look at the organizations of the Puerto Rican movement, which emerged in the late 1960s and 1970s as a response to U.S. colonialism on the island and to the poverty and discrimination faced by most Puerto Ricans on the mainland.
To combat these two problems, and drawing n a tradition of patriotism and social responsibility, a number of organizations grew up, including the Young Lords Party (YLP), which later evolved into the Puerto Rican Revolutionary Workers Organization; the Pro Independence Movement (MPI), which evolved into the U.S> branch of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party; El Comite; the Puerto Rican Student Union (PRSU); the Movement for National Liberation (MLN); and the Armed Forces of National Liberation (FALN). THe Puerto Rican Movement looks at all these groups as specific organizations of real people in such places as Boston, Chicago, Hartford, New York, and Philadelphia.
The contributors, almost all of whom were involved with the organizations they describe, provide detailed descriptions and historical analyses of the Puerto Rican Left. Interviews with such key figures as Elizam Escobar, Piri Thomas, and Luis Fuentes, as well as accounts by people active in the gay/lesbian, African American, and white Left movements add a vivid picture of why and how people became radicalized and how their ideals intersected with their group's own dynamics.
These critical assessments highlight each organization's accomplishments and failures and illuminate how different sets of people, in different circumstances, respond to social problems -- in this case, the "national question" and the issues of social justice and movement politics.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Andres Torres is Professor, College of Public and Community Service, University of Massachusetts, Boston.
Jose E. Velazquez is a social studies teacher in the Newark, New Jersey public school system.
Contributors: Angel A. Amy Moreno de Toro, Luis Aponte-Pares, Francisco Chapman, Humberto Cintron, Jose E. Cruz, James Early, Carlos Gil, Pablo Guzman, James Jennings, Esperanza Martell, Katherine McCaffrey, Jorge B. Merced, Iris Morales, Carmen Vivian Rivera, Roberto Rodriguez-Morazzani, Basilio Serrano, Jan Susler, Carmen Teresa Whalen, and the editors.
REVIEWS
"This is a comprehensive treatment of one of the most important social movements dealing with the issues of colonialism and social justice. I strongly recommend this book to everyone interested in the movements for social change."
—Arthur Kinoy, Distinguished Professor of Law Emeritus, Rutgers University School of Law, and Co-President, Center for Constitutional Rights
"At last we have a collection of writings that does justice to the Puerto Rican Left movements that emerged in the late 1960s. In the 1990s the inequality and marginalization that have been part of the Puerto Rican reality increasingly affects the larger American society. All readers—Boricuas and non-Boricuas—will learn from the experiences described in these pages."
—Frank Bonilla, Thomas Hunter Professor of Sociology, City University of New York
"...the essay by Carmen Teresa Whalen on the Young Lords in Philadelphia provides the rich insight into characteristic aspects of this community that only a historian can advance by using interviews of social actors and examining the record, thus opening new vistas of the Philadelphia experience."
—The Journal of American History
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CONTENTS
Preface
Acknowledgments
1 Introduction: Political Radicalism in the Diaspora -- The Puerto Rican Experience
I. The Core Left
2 Political Cultures of the Puerto Rican Left in the United States Roberto P. Rodriguez-Morazzani
3 Coming Full Circle: The Puerto Rican Socialist Party, U.S. Branch Jose E. Velazquez
4 Pushing Left to Get to the Center: Puerto Rican Radicalism in Hartford, Connecticut Jose E. Cruz
5 Another West Side Story: An Interview with Members of El Comite -- MINP Jose E. Velazquez
6 Bridging Homeland and Barrio Politics: The Young Lords in Philadelphia Carmen Teresa Whalen
7 "Rifle, Canon, y Escopeta!": A Chronicle of the Puerto Rican Student Union Basilio Serrano
8 Unreconstructed Revolutionaries: Today's Puerto Rican Political Prisoners/Prisoners of War Jan Susler
II. Histories and Reflections
9 La Vida Pura: A Lord of the Barrio Pablo Guzman
10 "In the Belly of the Beast": Beyond Survival Esperanza Martell
11 Our Movement: One Woman's Story Carmen Vivian Rivera
12 PALANTE, SIEMPRE PALANTE! The Young Lords Iris Morales
13 Artist, Writer, and Political Prisoner: An Interview with Elizam Escobar Carlos Gil
14 An Oral History of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party in Boston, 1972-1978 Angel A. Amy Moreno de Toro
Photo Gallery
III. Community and Solidarity Struggles
15 Poet, Writer, a Voice for Unity: An Interview with Piri Thomas Humberto Cintron
16 Puerto Ricans and the Community Control Movement: An Interview with Luis Fuentes James Jennings and Francisco Chapman
17 Paginas Omitidas: The Gay and Lesbian Presence Luis Aponte-Pares and Jorge B. Merced
18 An African American-Puerto Rican Connection James Early
19 Forging Solidarity: Politics, Protest, and the Vieques Solidarity Network Katherine McCaffrey
The Puerto Rican Movement: Voices from the Diaspora
by Andres Torres
Temple University Press, 1998 Paper: 978-1-56639-618-9 Cloth: 978-1-56639-617-2
Little attention has been paid to the Latino movements of the 1960s and 1970s in the literature of social movements. This volume is the first significant look at the organizations of the Puerto Rican movement, which emerged in the late 1960s and 1970s as a response to U.S. colonialism on the island and to the poverty and discrimination faced by most Puerto Ricans on the mainland.
To combat these two problems, and drawing n a tradition of patriotism and social responsibility, a number of organizations grew up, including the Young Lords Party (YLP), which later evolved into the Puerto Rican Revolutionary Workers Organization; the Pro Independence Movement (MPI), which evolved into the U.S> branch of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party; El Comite; the Puerto Rican Student Union (PRSU); the Movement for National Liberation (MLN); and the Armed Forces of National Liberation (FALN). THe Puerto Rican Movement looks at all these groups as specific organizations of real people in such places as Boston, Chicago, Hartford, New York, and Philadelphia.
The contributors, almost all of whom were involved with the organizations they describe, provide detailed descriptions and historical analyses of the Puerto Rican Left. Interviews with such key figures as Elizam Escobar, Piri Thomas, and Luis Fuentes, as well as accounts by people active in the gay/lesbian, African American, and white Left movements add a vivid picture of why and how people became radicalized and how their ideals intersected with their group's own dynamics.
These critical assessments highlight each organization's accomplishments and failures and illuminate how different sets of people, in different circumstances, respond to social problems -- in this case, the "national question" and the issues of social justice and movement politics.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Andres Torres is Professor, College of Public and Community Service, University of Massachusetts, Boston.
Jose E. Velazquez is a social studies teacher in the Newark, New Jersey public school system.
Contributors: Angel A. Amy Moreno de Toro, Luis Aponte-Pares, Francisco Chapman, Humberto Cintron, Jose E. Cruz, James Early, Carlos Gil, Pablo Guzman, James Jennings, Esperanza Martell, Katherine McCaffrey, Jorge B. Merced, Iris Morales, Carmen Vivian Rivera, Roberto Rodriguez-Morazzani, Basilio Serrano, Jan Susler, Carmen Teresa Whalen, and the editors.
REVIEWS
"This is a comprehensive treatment of one of the most important social movements dealing with the issues of colonialism and social justice. I strongly recommend this book to everyone interested in the movements for social change."
—Arthur Kinoy, Distinguished Professor of Law Emeritus, Rutgers University School of Law, and Co-President, Center for Constitutional Rights
"At last we have a collection of writings that does justice to the Puerto Rican Left movements that emerged in the late 1960s. In the 1990s the inequality and marginalization that have been part of the Puerto Rican reality increasingly affects the larger American society. All readers—Boricuas and non-Boricuas—will learn from the experiences described in these pages."
—Frank Bonilla, Thomas Hunter Professor of Sociology, City University of New York
"...the essay by Carmen Teresa Whalen on the Young Lords in Philadelphia provides the rich insight into characteristic aspects of this community that only a historian can advance by using interviews of social actors and examining the record, thus opening new vistas of the Philadelphia experience."
—The Journal of American History
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CONTENTS
Preface
Acknowledgments
1 Introduction: Political Radicalism in the Diaspora -- The Puerto Rican Experience
I. The Core Left
2 Political Cultures of the Puerto Rican Left in the United States Roberto P. Rodriguez-Morazzani
3 Coming Full Circle: The Puerto Rican Socialist Party, U.S. Branch Jose E. Velazquez
4 Pushing Left to Get to the Center: Puerto Rican Radicalism in Hartford, Connecticut Jose E. Cruz
5 Another West Side Story: An Interview with Members of El Comite -- MINP Jose E. Velazquez
6 Bridging Homeland and Barrio Politics: The Young Lords in Philadelphia Carmen Teresa Whalen
7 "Rifle, Canon, y Escopeta!": A Chronicle of the Puerto Rican Student Union Basilio Serrano
8 Unreconstructed Revolutionaries: Today's Puerto Rican Political Prisoners/Prisoners of War Jan Susler
II. Histories and Reflections
9 La Vida Pura: A Lord of the Barrio Pablo Guzman
10 "In the Belly of the Beast": Beyond Survival Esperanza Martell
11 Our Movement: One Woman's Story Carmen Vivian Rivera
12 PALANTE, SIEMPRE PALANTE! The Young Lords Iris Morales
13 Artist, Writer, and Political Prisoner: An Interview with Elizam Escobar Carlos Gil
14 An Oral History of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party in Boston, 1972-1978 Angel A. Amy Moreno de Toro
Photo Gallery
III. Community and Solidarity Struggles
15 Poet, Writer, a Voice for Unity: An Interview with Piri Thomas Humberto Cintron
16 Puerto Ricans and the Community Control Movement: An Interview with Luis Fuentes James Jennings and Francisco Chapman
17 Paginas Omitidas: The Gay and Lesbian Presence Luis Aponte-Pares and Jorge B. Merced
18 An African American-Puerto Rican Connection James Early
19 Forging Solidarity: Politics, Protest, and the Vieques Solidarity Network Katherine McCaffrey
Notes
Bibliography
Contributors
Index
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC