This essay deals with a very complex situation. It focuses on the Puerto Rican community in the Diaspora of the U.S.A. This community has both differences and similarities with other Hispanic communities in the Diaspora. The basic similarities are ones of colonial history, language, religion, and second-class treatment as citizens and/or residents. The one basic difference is that unlike most other Hispanics, Puerto Ricans are U.S.A. citizens by both imperialistic imposition, and also by birth.
In order to address the issues of theological relevance to the Puerto Rican community in the Diaspora, one must first take into account their colonial history, and how that history, in turn, generated migration to the U.S.A. In addition, one must consider and evaluate the economic, political and social conditions of Puerto Ricans living in the U.S.A. The role of religion also plays a part in making a theological assessment of the Puerto Rican-American community.
Puerto Rico hhas a peculiar status among the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. As one of Spain's last two colonies in the New World (along with Cuba), Puerto Rico experienced the longest period of Spanish influence in the region. On July 25, 1898, however, U.S. troops invaded the island during the Spanish-American War. In 1901, the U.S. Supreme Court defined Puerto Rico as "foreign to the United States in a "domestic sense" because it was neither a state of the union nor a sovereign republic. In 1917, Congress granted U.S. citizenship to all persons born in Puerto Rico, but did not incorporate the island as a territory. Until now, Puerto Rico has remained a colonial dependency, even though it attained a limited form of self-government as a commonwealth in 1952 (Jorge Duany, Puerto Rican Nation on the Move: Identities on the Island and in the United States. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2002, p.1).
As an overseas possession of the United States, the island has been exposed to an intense penetration of American capital, commodities, laws, and customs unequaled in other Latin American countries. Yet today, Puerto Rico displays a stronger cultural identity than most Caribbean people, even those who enjoy political independence. In the early part of the twenty-first century, Puerto Rico presents the apparent paradox of a stateless union that has not only not yet assimilated into the American mainstream. After more than one hundred years of U.S. colonialism, the Island remains a Spanish-speaking Afro-Hispanic Caribbean nation. Today, the Island's electorate is almost evenly split between supporting commonwealth status and becoming the fifty-first state of the Union; only a small minority favor independence (Ibid., p. 2).
Recent studies of Puerto Rican cultural politics have focused on the demise of Puerto Rican nationalism on the Island, the rise of cultural nationalism, and the enduring significance of migration between the Island and the U.S. mainland. Although few scholars have posited an explicit connections among these phenomena, they are intimately linked. For instance, most Puerto Ricans value their U.S. citizenship and the freedom of movement that if offers, especially unrestricted access to the continental U.S. But as Puerto Ricans move back and forth between the two countries, territorially grounded definitions of national identity become less relevant, while transnational identities acquire greater prominence. Constant movement is an increasingly common practice among Puerto Ricans on the Island and the mainland. We can raise questions of Puerto Rican identity, articulation, and definition. Reconsidering the Puerto Rican situation can add much to scholarly discussions on colonialism, nationalism, and transnationalism (Ibid.).
Then original name of the island of Puerto Rico was Boriquen (some pronounce it Borinquen). It means "land of the brave lord." It was the name given to the island by its original inhabitants, the Taino, who were a subgroup of the Arawak, the collective name of the indigenous people inhabiting the West Indies (the islands in the Caribbean Sea, which are divided into the Lesser Antilles, Great Antilles, and the Bahamas). The Taino, a seafaring people, inhabited not just Puerto Rico, but also the other islands of the Greater Antilles (Cuba, Hispaniola, and Jamaica), as well as the Bahama and some of the islands of the Lesser Antilles (an island group to the east and south of Puerto Rico). In actuality, the native peoples of Puerto Rico did not call themselves "Taino" before the Spanish conquest of the Americas. Christopher Columbus christened this subgroup of Arawak indigenous people "Taino," meaning "peace," because it was the first word they uttered when they laid eyes on the conquistador (Himilce Novas, Everything You Need to Know About Latino History. New York: Penguin Group, 2008, p. 130).
Since all Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens-no matter if they dwell in San Juan or San Franciso-and not foreigners, they can travel freely back and forth between the island and the mainland United States without passports or visas. In other words, their movement constitutes the internal migration of Americans, not immigration. Confusion abounds in mainstream society about Puerto Rican citizenship status. Most Puerto Rican mainlanders have a story or two to tell about the time they were asked to give their green card or about Puerto Rico's currency, or Puerto Rico's president. Some may even raise the questions about the issue of "illegal" Puerto Rican immigrants in America (Ibid, p. 155).
Puerto Ricans first came to the United States in the 1860's. After Puerto Rico was ceded to the United States at the end of the Spanish-American War, more Puerto Ricans began making their way way to the United States, and after 1917, when they were given U.S. citizenship, to the U.S. mainland to settle or to sojourn, an experience fraught with risks, uncertainty, and obstacles, including a language barrier, poverty, social isolation, and overt discrimination. In the early days, the majority went to Florida and New York to labor in cigar-making shops. Forty percent of those who arrived between 1890 and 1910 eventually returned to Puerto Rico (Ibid).
The first great wave of migration from Puerto Rico to the mainland United States took place only in the aftermath of World War II and lasted until 1967. The reasons were many, but they essentially boiled down to one issue: economics. During World War II, about one hundred thousand Puerto Ricans served in the U.S. armed forces. Military life exposed these islanders to the "superior"quality of life on the mainland, fueling their desire to move north. In addition, Puerto Rico's population doubled in size to two million during the first quarter of the twentieth century and continued to grow at a rapid pace due to improvements in medical services. With so many more people on the island, the standard of living did not rise substantially, and the unemployment rate soared. By contrast, jobs on the island were plentiful. New York was a major destination for Puerto Rican workers who found low-paying, labor-intensive jobs in the manufacturing sector which eagerly hired unskilled and semi-skilled workers making apparel, shoes, toys, novelties, and electrical goods, and assembling furniture and mattresses. They also went to work in the food and hotel industries, the meatpacking and baking industries, distribution, laundry service, and domestic service. About half of all these were women (Ibid).
Since 1867, islanders have settled on the mainland in spurts, depending on the health of the U.S. economy and mainland job market. Those who went to New York City in the 1960's generally wound up in manufacturing, even though this sector had already began as a gradual decline as early as the 1950's. Then in the 1970's, New York City was gripped by a major fiscal crisis as businesses packed up and headed south and overseas in search of low-wage non-union labor. This shrinking of the manufacturing sector had a devastating impact on New York City's Puerto Ricans, who generally did not have the formal education needed to fill the white collar jobs that were opening in the city's growing services sector (Ibid).
Puerto Ricans have historically been the most socially and economically disadvantaged of all Hispanics. In 1998, for instance, a full 30.9 percent of mainland Puerto Ricans lived in poverty, and 43.5 of Puerto Rican children were below the poverty line, and in 2000, approximately 40 percent of New York City's Puerto Ricans hand slipped to or below the poverty line. The depressed economic status of mainland Puerto Ricans has been attributed to a number of phenomena, such as the disproportionate number of poor Puerto Rican migrants settling stateside as compared to immigrant groups, owing to the fact that Puerto Rican citizenship removes all obstacles to entering the mainland United States. Low levels of educational attainment, limited job skills, disease (including a high incidence of diabetes, high blood pressure, and depression in the Puerto Rican community), and drug abuse have also been frequently cited as reasons for the economically underprivileged class of Puerto Ricans on the mainland. Some social observers have suggested that the culprits underlying all these social circumstances are rampant ethnic and racial discrimination, the language barrier, and the process of transculturation, of straddling two cultures and two languages, which is commonly accompanied by a disorienting sense of being neither "here, nor there" (Ibid, p. 157).
However, it is also important to point out that the socio-economic status of mainland Puerto Ricans is advancing at a steady pace. Large numbers of mainland Puerto Ricans hold professional, managerial, technical, and administrative support jobs, which are cornerstones of economic well-being. Interestingly enough, Puerto Rican mainlanders who live outside the Northeast, have shown better socio-economic outcomes than their counterparts in the Northeast, owing to the human capital and labor market characteristics (Ibid, p. 158).
What would a model theology look like for the Puerto Rican Diaspora? This is a very difficult question to answer, in that, religious practices among Puerto Rican-Americans vary from one community to the other. Furthermore, there appear to be some points of solidarity among the different communities. For example, the worship practices of the Pentecostal movement appears to be similar to that of Santeria and Espiritismo (Spiritualism). Spiritualism (communicating with the spirits of the dead is a practice that dates back to biblical times. We find in the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) divine prohibitions of this practice. Yahweh, the God of Israel, commands the death penalty for those engaged in this practice.
Santeria has its roots in African Spirituality. It emphasizes veneration of the ancestors, some of whom are considered to be "saints," or as is said in Spanish "santos," from which the word "Santeria" comes. The major similarities between Pentecostalism and these other two forms of spirituality are the emphasis on individuals being possessed by external forces or spirits, and also speaking in languages (tongues) other than the vernacular as a means of conveying the divine message. In all these three faith groups, possession by external forces leads to manifestations such as dancing and trances. Pentecostal Christians tend to get offended at this comparison, because they believe that these occurrences in their communities stem from a moving of the Holy Spirit, whereas, in the other two communities, they are prompted by demonic and/or diabolical spirits. The book "Masked Africanisms," by Dr. Samuel Cruz, a professor of Religion and Society at the Union Theological Seminary in New York, is a very good resources for information on the link between Pentecostalism and these other two faith groups.
Liberation Theology is relevant to the Puerto Rican community in the Diaspora of the U.S.A. As in Latin America and other parts of the so-called "Third World," Liberation Theology addresses the issues of socio-economic and political alienation and marginalization. "Essays from the Margins," written by Dr. Luis Rivera-Pagan, Professor Emeritus of Ecumenics at Princeton Theological Seminary, provides much helpful insight in this regard. The Puerto Rican community in the Diaspora suffers from the historical legacy of colonialism, imperialism, discrimination, and second-class treatment in the U.S.A. How then, we ask, does Liberation Theology address the situation of the Puerto Rican Diaspora? I would humbly submit the following:
1. Liberation Theology emphasizes that theology should emerge from the "bottom up," and not from the "top down." In other words, theology should emerge from those who are alienated, marginalized, and powerless, not from those who are in positions of authority and power. Since the Puerto Rican community in the Diaspora is a subjugated and marginalized group, their theological mindset and perspective must emerge from their existential and experiential reality, not from the dictates of classical Western theological hegemony.
2. Those who are in a condition of powerlessness and subjugation are in a privileged position to receive and and understand God's revelatory acts in history. This means, then, that Puerto Ricans in the Diaspora, together with all oppressed people, have been "chosen" to be not only the recipients, but the conveyer belts transmitting the message of God's salvific acts.
3. Oppression and suffering are the starting points for biblical interpretation and theological reflection. The Puerto Rican community understands the message of Scripture in the light of its experience as a colonized and suffering people.
Although Liberation Theology, in the modern sense of the word, emerged within a Christian context, it offers a message of hope for the Puerto Rican Diaspora, regardless of the variety of religious practices within our community. It does not seek to demonize any particular religious expression, but rather, to identify with the liberating elements in all religious traditions, and to establish ties of solidarity with all those individuals whose goal is to dismantle structures of injustice and work for the construction of the Beloved Community. Our Puerto Rican sisters and brothers in the Diaspora, as descendants of our colonized parents, and as a people who have been treated as second-class citizens in the U.S.A, have in Liberation Theology, the call and hope for a society of full equality, justice, and peace.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Rev. Dr. Juan A. Carmona
Visiting Professor of Theology Tainan Theological College/Seminary
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