A Biblical/Theological Approach to Racism: The Puerto Rican/American Community in the U.S.A.

                                       A Biblical/Theological Approach to Racism:

                                       The Puerto Rican/Hispanic-American  Community in the U.S.A.


The previous essays on a biblical and theological approach to racism have focused primarily on the African-American community in the U. S. A. In the next several essays, I will focus on the impact of racism on the Puerto Rican/Hispanic-American community in the U.S.A.

Some may want to argue that the discrimination against Puerto Ricans and other Hispanics in the U. S.A. is not of a racial nature.  This writer begs to differ.  The mere fact that the basic racial/cultural foundations of the Puerto Rican and other Hispanic origins are indigenous and African point to outright racism.  I know that some will point to the European (especially Spanish) element in the Hispanic culture. They will also follow the party line of Spain being ¨the mother country.¨  But since Spain primarily played an oppressive role against the indigenous and African people, i.e. genocide and slavery, this writer adamantly refuses to think of Spain as the originator of who we are.  And since the U.S.A, through its neo-colonizing activities has also played an oppressive role in our history, it also will not receive the treatment of its culture being a ¨superior¨ one.

We begin with the colonization of the Caribbean (Cuba, Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico) and with the rest of Latin America.  Putting things into historical perspective, we encounter the original colonizing activities by Span in 1492 beginning with Christopher Columbus, and then in 1898 the neo-colonizing activities by the U.SA.  I submit that in both cases, racism played a vital role.

In the public school system, children were taught to sing ¨Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492."  Then they were taught that Columbus ¨discovered¨ America.  This writer wants to demythologize that concept and lay it to rest for once and for all.  Columbus did not ¨discover¨ America.  The indigenous people of the Americas, and the slaves of Africa were not sitting around waiting to be ¨discovered¨ by Columbus or by anyone else.  It would be more appropiate to say that Columbus and company ¨invaded¨ the Americas. The indigenous people of the Americas were not lost.  Columbus was both lost and ignorant.  His ignorance was reflected by the fact that he referred to the indigenous people as ¨Indians,¨ thinking that he was in India, which was the original goal of his journey.

The America that Columbus came upon was not the landmass we know today as the United States, but rather the Caribbean islands and other regions of Latin America, parts of which constitute the ancestral lands of Hispanics in the U.S.A ( Himilce Novas, Everything You Need to Know about Latino History. New York: Penguin Group, 2008, p. 20).

Since a land already populated with advanced ancient civilizations cannot really be discovered. Columbus could more accurately be said to have discovered a water route from Europe and North Africa to the Americas.  It was all an accident, as we know, since the mariner believe his course would take him to the Indies, then taken to mean all of South and East Asia, and later called the East Indies, and even died thinking that he had found a water route there (Novas, p.20).

In 1898, the United States went to war against Spain.  Spanish troops in Cuba, at that time, a colony of Spain were defeated.  American troops began to occupy the Philippines, which were also under Spanish control. Then in July, American troops, occupied Puerto Rico.  In September of that same year, Spain and the United States signed the Treaty of Paris, by virtue of which Spain ceded Puerto Rico to the United States.  An American general was named by Washington to govern the island.  In this sense, Puerto Rico became ¨war booty" for the United States (National Division Board of Global Ministries, United Methodist Church, Puerto Rico´s Search for Self-Determination. Philadelphia: 1979, p. 1).

In subsequent decades the U.S.A. would continue with colonizing activities, both economic and political, in the Caribbean, and in the rest of Latin America.  Whether Latin America was worse off under the Spaniards or under the U.S.A. is a matter of debate.

The main question for our consideration is how we evaluate colonization from a biblical/theological perspective.  This writer believes that land-theft goes against the theological grain of Scripture and the Christian tradition.  Latin American Liberation Theology deals more intensely with this issue.  I refer the writer to my doctoral dissertation ¨The Liberation of Puerto Rico: A Theological Perspective. 1982: Colgate Rochester Divinity School.

Please feel free to share your opinion and perspective on this subject. Your input is very valuable.

In the Name of the Creator, and of the Liberator, and of the Sustainer. Amen.

Rev. Dr. Juan A. Carmona