Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
MULTICULTURALISM
Like most Caribbean cultures, Puerto Ricans are an ethnic mix of Native American,
European and African genes. About 78% of the island classifies itself as white (meaning of
Spanish origin, primarily), 8% as black, 10% as mixed or 'other', and 4% as Taíno Indian.
Along the coast of Loíza Aldea, where African heritage is most prominent, distinct features
from the Yoruba people abound, while in the mountains, a handful of people still claim dis-
tant Taíno bloodlines. Many of them are right; advanced ethnographic study of Puerto Ric-
ans in recent years uncovered a strong connection to the island's first settlers.
Practice your Spanish by reading El Nuevo Día, Puerto Rico's biggest-selling daily newspaper, online at www.elnuevodia.com .
Puerto Ricans might tell you that ethnic discrimination doesn't exist on their island, but
politically correct Spanish speakers may be aghast at some of the names Puerto Ricans use
to refer to each other - words like trigueño (wheat-colored) and jabao (not quite white). It
may sound derogatory (and sometimes it is), but it can also simply be a less-than-thoughtful
way of identifying someone by a visible physical characteristic, a habit found in much of
Latin America. You'll also hear terms like la blanquita, for a lighter-skinned woman, or el
gordo to describe a robust man.
Identifying which terms are racial slurs, rather than descriptive facts, will be a hard dis-
tinction for non-islanders to make, and it's wisest to steer clear of all such vernacular. Com-
pared with much of the Caribbean, Puerto Rico is remarkably integrated and even-keeled
about ethnicity.
The island's most important challenge is to correct the historical fact that the poorest is-
landers - those descended from the slaves and laborers who were kept from owning land
until the early 20th century - have been short-changed when it comes to higher education.
As in the United States, the issue of racial and economic inequality in Puerto Rico - while
still visible - has improved immeasurably in the last 40 years. While urban deprivation and a
lack of provision of housing are ongoing issues, the relative economic conditions in modern
Puerto Rico are significantly better than in most other countries in the Caribbean.
El Boricua is an online monthly bilingual cultural magazine for Puerto Ricans worldwide. It can be found at www.elboricua.com .
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