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Why Some Black Puerto Ricans Choose ‘White’ on the Census. The island has a long history of encouraging residents to identify as white, but there are growing efforts to raise awareness about racism.
New York Times ^ | February 9, 2020 | Natasha S. Alford

Posted on 02/09/2020 6:36:29 AM PST by karpov

LOÍZA, P.R. — A dozen dancers wearing bright, colorful ankle-length skirts gathered around five wooden drums. Their shoulders and hips pulsed with the percussion, an upbeat, African-inspired rhythm.

Loíza, a township founded by formerly enslaved Africans, is one of the many places in Puerto Rico where African-inspired traditions like the bomba dance workshop at the Corporación Piñones se Integra community center thrive.

But that doesn’t mean all of the people who live there would necessarily call themselves black.

More than three-quarters of Puerto Ricans identified as white on the last census, even though much of the population on the island has roots in Africa. That number is down from 80 percent 20 years ago, but activists and demographers say it is still inaccurate and they are working to get more Puerto Ricans of African descent to identify as black on the next census in an effort to draw attention to the island’s racial disparities.

All residents of Puerto Rico can select “Yes, Puerto Rican” on the census to indicate their Hispanic origin. But when it comes to race, residents must choose among “white,” “black,” “American Indian,” multiple options for Asian heritage, or they can write something in. Most Puerto Ricans choose “white.”

But the Trump administration’s slow response after Hurricane Maria and other natural disasters has made many Puerto Ricans reconsider their decision to identify as white Americans, said Kimberly Figueroa Calderón, a member of Colectivo Ilé, a coalition of Puerto Rican educators and organizers who are campaigning for more Puerto Ricans to identify as black on the 2020 census. “We are not the ‘citizens’ that we think we are,” she said.

After Hurricane Maria, Maricruz Rivera-Clemente, the founder of Corporación Piñones se Integra, said it took longer for electricity to be restored in Loíza than in the capital

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: census; puertorico
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If the government got rid of racial quotas and preferences, it would not matter if people identified as white or black. The Democrats want fewer people to identify as white because they promote resentment of whites.
1 posted on 02/09/2020 6:36:29 AM PST by karpov
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To: karpov
there are growing efforts to raise awareness about racism. promote racial division
2 posted on 02/09/2020 6:41:04 AM PST by IronJack
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To: karpov

I served in the Army with an officer from PR who didn’t consider himself black.


3 posted on 02/09/2020 6:45:45 AM PST by wastoute (Government cannot redistribute wealth. Government can only redistribute poverty.)
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To: karpov

There is a simple solution to this: let’s finally end America’s legacy of colonialism and grant Puerto Rico it’s independence so that its people can handle their own affairs.


4 posted on 02/09/2020 6:46:51 AM PST by AC86UT89
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To: karpov

“Elites” at the New York Times love the race card...


5 posted on 02/09/2020 6:47:58 AM PST by GOPJ ( http://www.tinyurl.com/cvirusmap https://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/usmap.htm)
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To: karpov

If corrupt elites can keep us talking about ‘race’ it stops the process of us talking about thing that matter to our lives.

That’s the game.

It’s the same scam ‘elites’ use with their ‘sky is falling’ freak stories like peak oil, ozone hole, dead polar bears, global cooling, global warming etc.

Corrupt elites want us fighting about ‘race’... then we don’t look at the scams they’re using to rip off everyday citizens. The New York Times boys fall for it because they suck up to the powerful who feed them stories. Toxic incentive pattern - it’s why the press is so out of touch with the people. All the news ‘elites’ want us to fight over - “here look something shiny”...


6 posted on 02/09/2020 6:54:29 AM PST by GOPJ ( http://www.tinyurl.com/cvirusmap https://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/usmap.htm)
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To: karpov

You tell a Puerto Rican they are black - there is probably going to be a fight.


7 posted on 02/09/2020 6:55:49 AM PST by 2banana (My common ground with islamic terrorists - they want to die for allah and we want to kill them.)
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To: 2banana

I told my PR girlfriend to turn down that loud jungle music(disco). She was as angry as she was proud. As Potus would say the sex was great.


8 posted on 02/09/2020 7:01:10 AM PST by DIRTYSECRET (urope. Why do they put up with this.)
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To: karpov

If your father, mother, or ancestors further back were white, you can pick your own identity. Before the 1960’s, what we now call Hispanics was listed as White on birth certificates.


9 posted on 02/09/2020 7:06:24 AM PST by Savage Rider
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To: 2banana

Yep and many PR’s are white. Blond, blue eyes the works. I know a few and they do not consider themselves black that’s for sure. As always this is just another news outlets sewing racial strife.


10 posted on 02/09/2020 7:07:03 AM PST by gibsonguy
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To: karpov

let’s get honest on these things.

Human race ___yes
___no

Color of skin?


11 posted on 02/09/2020 7:09:42 AM PST by PeterPrinciple (Thinking Caps are no longer being issued but there must be a warehouse full of them somewhere.)
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To: karpov
Democrats, the party of hate.

Keep the people divided into smaller and small groups. Then, pit them against each other.

12 posted on 02/09/2020 7:16:37 AM PST by blam
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To: karpov

Folks with the darker skin may have had a very light skinned father and darker mother who both had a Hispanic name and blood in their veins. A blacker baby in the same family might had lighter skinned sibling who considered themselves white. Such a black person may consider himself all white due to one or more parents being lighter skinned(but the parents may have had African parents or grandparents). Thus he goes with the “white” in his genetics not with the “black”.

This type of thing is why racism and particularly the race pimping the Democrats do needs to die. Obama was considered “black” but he is actually half white, about 47 percent Arabic and 3 percent native west African.

Some black American asked me why I was racist against Obama. I replied, I’m not against the black in him, I didn’t like the communist “white” in him. (the grandparent Dunhams were part of the Communist party). The poor woman looked totally blown away at my answer as I had blown thru her pat answers and race relation narratives. She could say nothing but turned and walked away.


13 posted on 02/09/2020 7:26:04 AM PST by mdmathis6
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To: karpov

“But the Trump administration’s slow response to hurricane Maria...”


14 posted on 02/09/2020 7:33:33 AM PST by Cold Heart (.)
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To: karpov

So the theory is that “we” are racist because “we” didn’t help the white population of PR fast enough? I guess if they had been listed as “black” then the warehouses would have filled up faster.


15 posted on 02/09/2020 7:34:16 AM PST by Do_Tar (To my NSA handler: I have an alibi.)
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To: karpov

If people are treated the same whether they are Black or White, does it really matter what they call themselves?


16 posted on 02/09/2020 7:35:33 AM PST by x
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To: Cold Heart

Also complaining that power was restored to the capital city faster than other places as a sign of racism. What a bunch of crap.


17 posted on 02/09/2020 7:42:32 AM PST by gunnut
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To: karpov

“But the Trump administration’s slow response after Hurricane Maria and other natural disasters has made many Puerto Ricans reconsider their decision to identify as white Americans,..”
Those PR’s need to get a grip and read the paper or what ever. Their supplies were there on time and left to rot, because your people were on strike. Also warehouses full of Maria’s stuff are still being uncovered to this date. So don’t identify with us and stay in you $hit hole of a country. IMHO


18 posted on 02/09/2020 8:01:49 AM PST by duckman ( Not tired of winning!)
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To: karpov
Everyone knows race, like gender, is a 'social construct' which means you can be anything you want to be.

Who do these people think they are telling black folk they can't be white?

19 posted on 02/09/2020 8:25:36 AM PST by yesthatjallen
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To: wastoute

Many people from PR are of purely European descent, not only Spanish and Portuguese, but French or German. So they’re white, if white means of European descent.

Others are of mixed African and European descent.


20 posted on 02/09/2020 8:35:34 AM PST by livius
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