We in Puerto Rico have been fighting forceful assimilation for the last 107 years. It seems that now we are loosing, ever so slowly, although some off us continue the fight. To preserve our souls and our dignity.

Which reminds me that this is not only a Mexican strugle or a Caribean strugle, as these words will tell you:

Buscando América
(Rubén Blades)
Estoy buscando a América y temo no encontrarla.
Sus huellas se han perdido entre la oscuridad.
Estoy llamando a América pero no me responde.
La han desaparecido los que temen la verdad.

Envueltos entre sombras, negamos lo que es cierto:
mientras no haya justicia, jamás tendremos paz.
Viviendo dictaduras, te busco y no te encuentro.
Tu torturado cuerpo no saben dónde está.

Te han secuestrado América, y amordazado tu boca,
y a nosotros nos toca ponerte en libertad.
Te estoy llamando, América. Nuestro futuro espera.
Antes que se nos muera, ayúdenme a buscar.

Te estoy buscando América, te estoy llamando América.

That's a beautiful poem. Thanks for dropping it here.

And I agree, hermano. It is not just a Mexican struggle, not at all. There is a clashing of ideologies about how to live on this planet. Power and Possession sez the Neoliberal. Being and fulfillment sez the Indigenous. And there are other ways to frame it, but I am in full agreement with you. We are many.

I'm sorry to hear about Puerto Rico's struggle, too. Mi corazón is with you and your people on this.

Rafael, you are very correct and that is the sad thing about the struggle. We are so divided in our struggles we have separated ourselves based on who was conquered first. Even among us Xican@s in the Southwest there is a divide from those who live in Tejas and the rest of the Southwest because of the different time periods of being conquered, such Texas Independence vs the Treaty de Guadalupe Hidalgo. We don't we talk about the day Puerto Rico became a victim of US Imperialism. But if you look at the big picture, we were all colonized by the same people, Spain and the US. We need to shift our focus into one de las Américas, once we have, it is hard to divide and conquer.

I got mine.

I've got a lot of work I got to get going on huh??? :-)
I spent the day walking around campus, posting the pictures from your Oaxaca posts--now I will have to do the same with these. I'm wondering tho, have you got a cheap way to get these printed off in color? I've had to use errrm...shall we say, questionable tactics to get the prints made that I did, and I had to use a black and white printer. I'm wondering if you know a cheap place or errm...questionable...way to get cheap color prints?

btw--mamitamala.com is a great site run by a nuyorican feminist--she isn't updating that much right now cuz she's in the last stages of pregnancy, but she discusses puerto rican liberation from a feminist perspective a lot when she is around...She also works for vivirlatino

You know, bfp...I should have thought about how pricey printer ink is. I mean, I am out of it because I can't afford to replace it! Of course, this series itself has to be in color...for the jumpsuits. But you are right. From now on I will try to design and present them with black and white versions. Meanwhile, I have to say no to the question. I don't have any ideas. And that bothers me. I really hate to think of money getting in the way of spreading the word, when all other necessary components are in place! It wouldn't be the first time this proved a challenge. jeje.

I really appreciate that link. Ima scope it out for sure.

I guess Tancredo was right, the U.S. is turning into a Third World Country. First the jail kids, will they turn them into little soldiers next?

Ooops too late!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_Camp_Documentary

mi primera vez aqui - great poem, reminds me of the "everything's free in america" song from west side story - i'm going to have to check otu your site some more