It's official, Fortuño's administration in Puerto Rico is approaching Rosselló-type decadence and intellectual retardation.
Not only is he an avid statehooder and right-wing member of the U.S. Republican Party (a friend of mine once described him as someone who just happens to have a Spanish suriname, to his own lament, of course), has thrown thousands of people onto the streets and into the unemployment lines, is promoting a military-style police force (to beat-up university students, of course), he now promotes the banning of books! (For more information, click here, here, and here)
In a theater review, I described "la isla del encanto" as "a land in the clouds, bordering the unreal and the fantastic - that to fathom it is to envision a dream dancing with a nightmare." With this most recent occurrence by the Fortuño administration to hinder the political, social, and intellectual development of the island, I believe my description is evermore accurate and relevant.
Any society that begins to censor books, especially under the mantle of "protecting young minds" must prepare itself for the advent of a long, treacherous nightmare.
Books, especially from our Boricua masters Edgardo Rodríguez Juliá and José Luis González, enable humanity to produce a critical eye onto our contemporary and historic realities - to understand the complexities of being human and the urgent issues that affect us. And, hopefully, to find solutions to those problems. "El entierro de Cortijo," by Rodríguez Juliá, for example, is one of my favorite books and actively seeks to portray the sometimes painful intersection between class, race, popular culture, political corruption, and sexism in the colonial urban Puerto Rican context. Just because there is one sex scene (between a Senator and a poor mulata, at that!) in this, one of the most popular pieces of Boricua literature, is, I believe, not the real motive of Fortuño's regime. It is because it deals with all the aforementioned issues.
Any society that begins to censor books, especially under the mantle of "protecting young minds" must prepare itself for the advent of a long, treacherous nightmare.
Books, especially from our Boricua masters Edgardo Rodríguez Juliá and José Luis González, enable humanity to produce a critical eye onto our contemporary and historic realities - to understand the complexities of being human and the urgent issues that affect us. And, hopefully, to find solutions to those problems. "El entierro de Cortijo," by Rodríguez Juliá, for example, is one of my favorite books and actively seeks to portray the sometimes painful intersection between class, race, popular culture, political corruption, and sexism in the colonial urban Puerto Rican context. Just because there is one sex scene (between a Senator and a poor mulata, at that!) in this, one of the most popular pieces of Boricua literature, is, I believe, not the real motive of Fortuño's regime. It is because it deals with all the aforementioned issues.
Censorship has no place in Puerto Rico, Señor Fortuño!
2 comments:
well i just think its a horrible thing to do. shutting young adults from knowledge in the world is a dumb move.
Jesse Diaz: if you blind them, then how will they progress? i think selfish moves such as only lead to digression
Jesse Diaz: its the reason why there is prejudice, hate, and pure ignorance in the world today.
without knowledge of what is, then how are we to build on it?
Jesse Diaz: thats how i felt about the situation. and i thank you for bringing it to my attention, because i really dont keep up with issues such as that
situations such as that, inspire me to study anthropology. at least this way, my children (if any) my friends and family would get a lesson from me if anything
a little helps a lot in the diversion of prejudice
just 1 comment even if it is in form of a question.. Isnt it odd that some of our public officials,(of their own desire) have placed themselves in a possition of distrust? The gentrification demon can be detered, but this is one demon that will never truly go away. Not in a city where higher end developers even have a chunk of the (thank God its over)olympic hope. We need to open or hearts and our minds to some thinking outside the box in order to succeed. We also need elected officials that will be good and fair to all citizens. We should be spearheading this so that our community can be seen by all as heros, since these issues hurt all citizens and communities. I have a brother incarcerated in a federal prison. He is serving a life sentence for an invisible crime. He is one of the old school salsa heros of humbolt park, having played the boathouse numerous times in the 70s and dubbed at a young age the male Celia Cruz for his (then)high voice. Through his religious activities, my brother was able to befriend one of the remaining political prisoners. How is this for thinking outside the box! I do not have to share your ideology for the island in order to help safeguard the survival of our community here with truth and sincerity. sorry for the long words but have been following your writings from afar. Ariel Rosa ps contact forms on my website www.arielrosa2010.com
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