This Powerful Poem Is An Ode To Puerto Rico’s Incredible Resilience
Puerto Rican poet Caridad de la Luz , also known as La Bruja, is tired of the injustice the Caribbean the island has witnessed. The situation in Puerto Rico has become so dire “it seems like it’s 1942 all over again,” de la Luz said during the NAHJ Latina reception on Aug. 5 in Washington D.C. The spoken word artist then recited a powerful poem about Puerto Rico’s resilience and strength from the perspective of the island. “I have been a refuge politico (political refuge) to the French, the Dutch, the Spanish, the English, the Catholics, the soldiers, the tourists ― I’ve treated everyone as equal and now there is war against my Puerto Rican people,” she said. “We are fighting an elusive creature that owns me as its paraíso (paradise).” De la Luz then recounts how the island was essentially colonized by the United States, and now is left to deal with a crippling debt crisis that’s taken a massive human toll: We were offered fool’s gold while they r...