RETHINKING WHO WE ARE

Recently, I finally sat down and interviewed Arleen Ramirez for my documentary film “Boricua Soy Yo.” You may remember, in the September issue of the Buffalo Latino Village, I wrote a column and highlighted Ramirez.

Arleen Ramirez is a Soprano singer and Ladino Music Artist who is spearheading the BorikenSphared Ladino Music Project, a research project that explores Judeo-Spanish heritage and how that heritage influenced cultural traditions throughout Puerto Rico and the Caribbean.  Arleen is a proud Puerto Rican who was born and raised in Mayaguez and has made a living and career as a Ladino Music recording artist, and through her Music Project, she is trying to educate others on Sephardic heritage in Puerto Rico; a heritage many Puerto Ricans don’t even know existed or failed to acknowledge.

Growing up as a Puerto Rican in Buffalo’s lower West Side, we typically have been taught that Puerto Ricans are made up of Tainos, Africa,ns and Spanish conquerors who enslaved and captured the island. As I continue to learn more about the history of the island and the history of the people who have ties to the island, this oversimplification of what makes up a “Boricua” eye-opening.

There are far too many layers to our history and heritage, and to simply tie the European or non-Taino and African side of our heritage to “Spain”, hides the complex nature of our diversity as a people and does a disservice by to not truly showing how diverse and culturally rich our island of Puerto Rico is. It never occurred to me that there were Puerto Ricans whose cultural backgrounds may have been different than the Boricua Trinity (Taino, African, Spanish) we’ve always been taught but the more research I do with this film project, I’m uncovering so much that has either been forgotten, hidden, or just gone unexplored.

The island of Puerto Rico was settled by people who flocked to it from all areas of the world, and in doing so, the Puerto Rican identity has always been fluidly changing and being reshaped and formed. You see it in our language, customs, ane traditions we practice.  For instance, the phrase““Ojalá”, (which means “hopefully”) comes from the Arabic phrase “inshallah”. You see it in the foods we eat such as Alcapurria which itself has Middle Eastern influences (falafel) to even buñuelos which has a historical connection to Sephardic Jews who settled in Puerto Rico throughout Latin America.  

I challenge anyone reading this, whose families have ties to Puerto Rico, to investigate your history, customs, and cultural practices. You may be amazed at what you will   uncover.

I don’t intend this to be a paradigm shift, I just want folks to know Puerto Ricans are made up of more than what we’ve been taught. There are many layers to the Puerto Rican onion, and I’ve only begun to uncover but a few.