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Puerto Rico: Identity, Independence & Island Truths · D-constructing Topics

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  What's going on, folks, and what's going on, and good morning.
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  Well, as I'm recording this, it's a morning, beautiful morning here in my island of Puerto Rico.
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  Taking a few days, you know what I mean, to hit that reset button and do a couple
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  of work-related things, a little family thing, a little me thing,
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  a little bit of everything, and this beautiful, beautiful island.
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  And, of course, the legendary Deconstructing Topic podcast.
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  Where hey listen listen whoo deconstructing topic podcast is the legendary host of this legendary,
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  podcast indeed and welcome to my show we got another
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  you know kind of good one educational being that i'm in puerto rico and you
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  see if you are a puerto rican or anybody there but specifically to my little
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  puerto rican audience out there who let's just say living in the states or living
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  somewhere outside the United States was born,
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  you know, in Altaí.
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  Listen, I want to say, if you got parents that are Puerto Rican and you were
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  born somewhere else, you're Puerto Rican.
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  Wherever you go, you're Puerto Rican. Because most likely you're going to carry
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  your culture, your food, your tradition.
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  Somewhere else, it doesn't matter whether it's in New York City,
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  Orlando, Chi-town, Hawaii.
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  Alaska, Antarctica, Mexico, Spain, Africa,
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  they're gonna you know you're gonna do your puerto rican
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  thing and sometimes being a puerto rican it comes
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  with a lot of responsibility like shaking your booty
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  is a thing you know what i mean hey ricky marty let's go so
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  that's what's going on but hey that's where we
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  at now this is the deconstructing tower podcast and
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  you know since i'm in the uh island here i kind
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  of decided to do a little nice podcast outside
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  of you know in the free air because
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  you know you need that little puerto rican air that little air that comes in
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  through there because in reality in new york city there's tall buildings you
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  know we usually like in enclosed doors so you don't necessarily get that like
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  nice little wind so you might hear some wind action like you know what i mean.
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  Obviously, because you always love my podcast and you owe it to yourself to
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  say, you know what? Let me hit the like button. Let me share it.
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  Let me make a comment or two. I've seen a couple of people. I've seen a few
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  people doing on YouTube.
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  Hey, Puerto Rico, let's go. Woo, let's go, papi. You know what I mean?
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  But anyways, just want to talk a little something interesting.
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  And it's always that thing when it comes to the status of Puerto Rico.
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  So it's going to get a little political, but just, how can I say,
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  you know, I just want to try my best in a short amount of time to kind of educate people a little bit.
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  Because it's so interesting about the status of Puerto Rico being a United States.
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  But Puerto Rico, I cannot say it's part of the United States or it belongs to
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  the United States. Is that what it is?
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  Is that what the court kind of say, you know, incorporated, unincorporated little
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  island, whatnot. And you already know.
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  You already know why Puerto Rico is in the position as, you know.
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  Someone who is an American citizen. We already know that the United States of
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  America have had a history of war.
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  And what better strategic position than to keep an eye on South America, to keep an eye on Mexico,
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  to keep an eye on Cuba or any country in that region that, you know,
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  so Puerto Rico is that perfect spot.
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  So let's be straight up you know what it
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  is or trying to sugarcoat what it is we already
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  know what it is so sadly because of that there's
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  a lot of people in the island of puerto rico for years for years for over well
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  i could say hundreds of years with spain but we're talking about under united
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  states many of the people in the independent movement always have seen or felt
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  that this is a colony and so on and so on.
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  And it gets exploited, which yes, it does, you know, for those people in America.
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  In the beautiful land of the United States of America, who kind of went up in
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  arms about Bat Bunny halftime show, let's just be straight up.
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  Stats have shown that United States and the American corporations,
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  you know, have kind of, uh, squeezed more out of Puerto Rico than the other way around, you know?
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  And I don't like to, to, to, how can I say, you know, when, when people start
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  saying, oh, but you know,
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  Puerto Ricans, they get this, they get this benefited, you know and then
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  so on and so forth well again when you uh
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  when you give people lemon you're
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  basically gonna take the whole lemon bag away from them
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  as well so basically that's how you see this situation and
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  you know that's those here in the island and
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  those in the mainland where they are kind of
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  have always been an advocate or have
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  supported or have instanced to say that puerto rica should be independence or
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  independent country from puerto rico yes i am gonna say a country an island
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  country in itself you know what i mean i'm definitely no different than that
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  in dominica republic i'm just saying i know somebody some people want to like kind of,
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  correct me you know but i'm calling it for what it is i think of this as independent
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  you know what i mean it still has this tradition it still has this culture it
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  still has this everything,
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  But, but there's always that little asterisk You know, there's a difference
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  when things happen And, you know, obviously Hurricane Maria Back in 2017, if I'm not mistaken,
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  When things happen, right?
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  And sadly, when things happen That affects the people in Puerto Rico,
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  Basically, you know, you got the Puerto Ricans in the diaspora who's out there,
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  you know, want to do that thing.
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  But sometimes I always say that, and I believe that I'm going to, how can I say it to you?
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  There's a lot of people that agree that have seen this, that there is a disconnection.
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  And I think that this might.
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  Now, it doesn't apply to every country, every, like, let's say Dominican Republic.
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  Dominicans from the island and Dominicans from, that are living in New York City.
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  Because I think there's a little Connection there
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  you feel me But here Puerto Rico and the Diaspora which is the Puerto Ricos
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  That are living in the main state Orlando Chicago New York City there's a little
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  Disconnection a little Disconnection you know what I mean so now Sometimes when
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  there's things That happen whether it's Hurricane Maria Whether the situation with,
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  Rosario the governor where he was Ousted you know Because of the corruption
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  in his Administration and so on Then there's that little thing where you say
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  to yourself Everybody's together, right?
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  But then that goes away Because I always say even in the history of Of coups
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  or The public or the How can I say the El pueblo,
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  como dicen The people Decided to rise up and boycott Or whatever,
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  push somebody From their tyrannical Regime for 30 years Every time there's some
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  type of movement like that whether it's Egypt years ago, whether Syria.
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  You know, Libya, and so on and so forth.
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  Sadly, the powers that be in the United States sense to send a delegation of
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  some sort to mingle with these so-called fighters, you know, movement fighters,
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  whatever it is that you want to call them in those countries.
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  And it's all to implement a puppy.
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  You know what I mean? So in other words, a lot of times that when we see these
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  movements Like what happened in Puerto Rico years ago It's basically,
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  huh, what you got? You know what I mean?
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  You got now the governor of Puerto Rico, Jennifer Gonzalez, not a popular person, but guess what?
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  She got the money, the backing, the donations, and she still got a lot of,
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  you know, a lot of Puerto Ricans, old school Puerto Ricans that they,
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  they tend to go get up and vote.
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  So what happened with one of the disconnections that I tend to see,
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  and one of the disconnections is that if you're in the United States,
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  Puerto Rican living in the United States, who have at least was born in Puerto
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  Rico or at least have lived, let's say if you're 20 years old,
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  30, 40, 50, 60, you have at least lived in Puerto Rico for a good amount of
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  time, like I did, to remember the things.
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  And also have, you know, gone to visit to kind of keep up to date on what's
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  the situation and what's going on in the island.
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  So what happens is this, a lot of times it seems that in the Puerto Ricans in
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  Puerto Rico, they tend to kind of say, oh man, things are bad in Puerto Rico,
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  this and that, which is true.
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  I've been watching, or I try not to watch, but I guess spending time with my
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  family, it's like a sport. They watch TV, right?
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  Because where I'm staying at with my family, it was eight o'clock and there's
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  not one soul outside, which is fine.
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  Everybody's on their own home doing whatever it is.
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  But the fact that you stay home, you get consuming. That's what I want to,
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  something I want to touch.
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  You get consumed and then you watch the nightly news.
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  And me, I did that thing, you know?
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  I did that thing. And the next thing, as you're watching the news it seems like
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  for the first 10 minutes is reporting killings murders cold blood calculated.
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  Gang related drug related you know you know and i'm like okay and i always know
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  puerto rica's always been like that and again these are pockets just like everywhere
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  just pockets new york city I love New York City.
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  I was raised in New York City. I love the boogie down. If, if,
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  if, if, if, if I ever decide to get a tattoo, yeah, your boy is playing like a bagel.
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  If I ever decide to get a tattoo, you know what?
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  The only tattoo I will get is a little map of the bronze because the bronze is what made me.
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  The bronze is what made me and what shaped me to become the person or at least part of.
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  But, hey, shout out to the boogie down bronze. You already know. Thank you.
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  But the fact that that disconnection where sometimes some of the problems that
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  happen in the island gets to get a little bit of, how can I say glorified?
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  Not glorified, but maximized for whatever purpose for you to say,
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  well, I'm here in the United States.
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  You know, that's why I left. You know, you're going to come with a story.
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  But the fact that you come with these stories, then you go to the island.
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  And yes, people will kind of say, yeah, things aren't bad. But you know what?
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  They continue to live life. They are in the island, you feel me?
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  And as much as I am an advocate of the independence of Puerto Rico,
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  if for those people that are in the independence movement, if we got together,
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  because that's the other issue too.
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  The thing with the independence movement is that it's little,
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  you know, you got the socialists, you got the communists, you got the,
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  you know, pro-independence, diehard kind of machetero, you know,
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  movement You got those who are in the pro movement who, let's say, hey,
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  let's work through the movement via political kind of handshake deals, all this good stuff.
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  You know what I mean? We could go on all these separate things, sadly.
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  And what I see is that sometimes there's that thing that, hey,
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  listen, when you have all these divisions, it's that old saying divide and conquer.
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  This is why the top political parties in Puerto Rico, no difference than in the United States.
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  There's two parties, and then the third one tends to, hey, make some moves here
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  and there because of financial reasons.
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  They got some financial backings from somewhere, you know, from some certain sources.
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  But in the United States, the same thing You got two political parties You might
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  get independent here and there You might get a little here and there But no,
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  at least Puerto Rico has a wiggle-wiggle room for some reason,
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  Because in Puerto Rico, people vote You know what I mean?
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  I mean, it's the political truth I think I was abandoned by my family Even as
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  a child when I was advocating for independence Basically saying, why not?
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  You know, even as a young kid, I'm just saying, why not?
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  But just the fact that when you talk to Puerto Rican here, it just, how can I say that?
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  I think sometimes like the best way to describe it, sometimes it's like they just become zombies.
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  It's like, okay, you know, because they're conditioned to say,
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  because I'm living in the island.
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  Listen, we're going to have problems. But I got to wake up every day,
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  go to work, eat, food, feed my family, do this, do that,
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  stay away from the crimes or whatever, stay away from some of these charlatans
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  that sometimes, you know, they're in the ghettos, but they tend to,
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  like, you know, make moves here and there.
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  And, you know, sadly, some innocent people died as well through the crossfires.
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  You already know how that works.
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  But the fact that that's what happens in a lot of times in Puerto Rico,
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  and then that's why there's a disconnect.
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  Because you would think, like, let's say the people of the Puerto Ricans that
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  are in the diaspora, you would say...
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  They will be fighting for you, but they making too much of an effort.
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  And then when they in Puerto Rico, they want you to join the fight. Right.
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  But, you know, there's people be like, you know what?
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  It is what it is. You feel me? So that's why we get into this stagnating thing here.
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  I mean, the island when it comes to status, because what happens is this.
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  When something hits like Maria, we all, we all effed here in the island. You know what I mean?
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  So when that happens That you know We all effed here It's like okay here we
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  go Because sadly you know It's going to be that political work That political thing.
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  Where I cannot say You know people are going to be like Whatever the case might
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  be Hey we're not going to give you this much money This and that this and that
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  You know we got screwed in the island Basically,
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  So that's my situation when it comes to that
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  That you know there's got to be and I'm one and I try I
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  try it and I have done this work in the
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  diaspora sometimes I'll be
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  straight up there are times that I get discouraged do
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  I wish I won't do I I'm not gonna say I wish I'm gonna
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  manifest that I will have businesses I will be in
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  those situations where we could finally get these
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  big people trying to take control because you know talking to a couple of people's
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  here a couple of people's there and it's like okay i gotta i work on this i
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  do this i could do that and there's certain pockets in puerto rico where the
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  wealthy live and they are most likely not puerto rican you know.
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  And if they are, then I don't think that many of them are not going to say interested
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  in hearing about the independence. You know what I mean?
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  So what happens is this, is that they have the money to thwart any movement,
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  even if they just say consciously in their heart, they feel like,
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  hey, the independence is the best option.
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  Not statehood Not containing where we at At the current status Because you know,
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  just in case You know, the status of Puerto Rico has always been that Is that
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  you're nothing but just this little island That belongs to the United States
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  And we just help you here and there Whenever you guys need help And even if
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  you guys need help You ain't gonna get nothing, you know So.
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  That's the situation with that So definitely There's gotta be a better connection,
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  A better something or better whatever it is, we got to make it happen. You know what I mean?
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  So once we make it happen, then we could just get together, do something beautiful,
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  finally get that little kind of connection between what we could do, what we can't do.
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  And if we could get that and we could get together, the diaspora and so on and people in the island.
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  Because, you know, sometimes people in the island might feel,
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  So, hey, you know, sometimes they'll call some of the Puerto Ricans,
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  and we've seen a lot, a lot of Puerto Ricans that are born over in the United
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  States with that little love for Puerto Rico.
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  They might say, well, you're a gringo todavía because you was not born in Puerto Rico. Relax.
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  Let people live. You know what I mean? Let's see how we can work together.
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  But anyways, this is Deconstructing Topper Podcast.
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  Once again, on this beautiful, beautiful morning in Puerto Rico,
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  doing a beautiful podcast.
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  Once again, hit that like, share button. Make it happen. I'm out of here. Peace.