Yoa | Representing: Puerto Rico, The Dominican Republic, The Bronx
“It was like growing up between two worlds. I used to spend time on the islands and I can take both islands and say the same thing, for my Dominican family, I’m too Puerto Rican and vice versa. Or I’ll have people say ‘ella de afuera’ , you’re from out there. Which always made me feel like an outsider, even though I spoke the language. And my cousins would always introduce me as ‘she’s from out there’ and I’m just like but I’m really from here. And even in NYC, people will try to tell me I’m American. I don’t identify as American, even if I didn’t speak Spanish. People don’t fully understand Puerto Rican culture or even being from the Caribbean, we come in all shades and sizes. My dad is a black Dominican and to my Dominican family, I’m always ‘La Boricua’ because of my light skin. So automatically, my light skin is being associated with being Puerto Rican but there’s Black Puerto Ricans”
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Lyvette and Lisett| Representing: Arecibo, Ecuador, The Bronx
Lis: "Like when people look at us, they see Dominican or Puerto Rican. We don’t look like we are mixed with Ecuadorian at all." --------------- Lyv: "Or people think we are half Black and half white. They never know who we really are. But I think when I went to CUNY Service Corp in Puerto Rico, it opened my eyes a lot with the culture. I had only been to Puerto Rico when I was little, like 1 time. Once I was there, helping the community, it was a whole different story. I got to learn about Bomba, the food, the people, how generous they are. Everything was like a family. It's just different over there. I got more in touch with my culture as I got older."-------------- **Question: Has your identity ever been challenged?** ------------------------------------ Lyv: "Definitely with not speaking Spanish fluently. It was like a whole thing in high school. It was a whole back and forth between Puerto Ricans and Dominicans." ------------------Lis: "They would challenge our identity by saying: which part of Puerto Rico are you from, have you visited your family. It would just get really personal. And it's like why do you have to question me. I know who I am. I don't have to prove anything at all.”
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Jonathan James| Representing: The Bronx, Puerto Rico
“I’ve been to Puerto Rico one time when I was 21 and even then I didn’t know what to expect or appreciate while I was out there. It wasn’t until I started to think about how I was going to raise my kid that I started to pay attention to what I had to teach him. I don’t have my dad so I don’t have anything to teach from that side but I do have my mom and my mom's side of the family. I want to learn as much as I can about what it means to be Puerto Rican . I started searching and reading books and everything I learned at the time, explained why I didn’t know so much. And it made me feel more okay to not know how to speak Spanish or to not know where in Puerto Rico your family is from. Just because they are tied to New York. And how much New York is as important to Puerto Rico as Puerto Rico is to Puerto Rico . How there are so many people that don’t know Spanish who are Puerto Rican because there was a time where they were taught to not speak Spanish. It just made me feel more like oh okay I’m a part of this part of history. Since then I’ve been on a binge of learning and spreading what I know about Puerto Rico. And it's so crazy that you all contacted me at this time for this. This is the first time that I’ve done anything that was like Puerto Rican , aside from going to the parade. Normally when they say calling all Puerto Ricans, I’m like I’ll sit this one out. This was the first time that I was like I’m going to this”
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Sarah Serrano-Esquilin| Representing: Bushwick, Arecibo, and Ponce
“I can speak Spanish for work but I have had so many people shame me that I just stick to English. Growing up secular music wasn't allowed in the house. I didn't get exposed to music until I was in highschool because I told my mom to stop putting me in private school. My first album was Marc Anthony, I got it from my mom's coworker and it was my favorite album. 17/18 is when I went to Puerto Rico for the first time, my grandma had this really big house in the campo. It wasn't until I started taking salsa dance classes and did my thesis around my nuyorican identity, things really started pushing because I couldn't have the dialogues at home. My family would talk but not enough. But I think I connected more because of my husband's family. His mom is like an encyclopedia of history. And doing the thesis and talking all the time with my husband, really helped me to feel that even though I like anime, and cute stuff and horror movies, that doesn't negate who I am. Whatever level of Spanish I speak, it's okay. It's still a colonizer's tongue”
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Allison Torres| Representing: Staten Island, Mayaguez, and Añasco
“I don’t consider myself white but I know I do have the privilege of being white passing…but then again when people see me they know I’m not white. So it’s hard because I have the privilege but then again when white people see me, I’m just a Puerto Rican girl. All my life, I’ve just been seen as the little spanish girl. But then I’ve had other friends tell me, oh you’re Black. But I’m like, I’m not Black, skin wise. But I know in my blood line, I’m Black. I don’t know what I would categorize myself as. I just say I’m Puerto Rican. It’s just sometimes it gets hard. I’m not a fan of labels anyway. I am who I am. I feel like I identify more with the Latin and Black community because the struggles my family went through and my experience, is not the white experience. It’s the Hispanic experience and that intersects with the Black community. At the end of the day, the white person if gonna try to put the Latino and the Black person in the corner”
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Indira Rivera| Representing: The Bronx, Cataño, Aguadilla, Manati, and Caguas
“My first connection with learning about my culture was superficial like making pasteles at Christmas or taking salsa. It wasn’t until high school and college that I started learning more about what happened to Puerto Rico, why do we call it that, what's the relationship to the US? I really got into the history. And it pissed me off. I went to the island after Irma and Maria for a week to volunteer and it was just crazy to see what was going on. Just seeing everything that goes on and having battles within my family between independence and statehood. Trying to educate your family on the jones act and all the things we don’t learn in class that we have to teach ourselves, it’s a lot”
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Jasmine Esquilin & father| Representing: Carolina, Bushwick
“I spent many summers at my Puerto Rican grandmother's house in Brooklyn. She passed away just before the pandemic hit while visiting Florida. Passing at the age of 93, she lived a long life. Though with her went many memories and heritage only a few of us know. Thankfully through my father, aunts and uncles I can piece together the rich history of my family both in the US and Puerto Rico.”
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