i’m proud of where i’m from
i represent the red, white, and blue
no, it’s not america – supposedly home of the free
that’s the place that all i pay is nothing but a fee
i represent the red, white and blue
only difference is that this flag has one star (the only star)
which means i am a superstar
where i’m from, everything that is true, we say “wepa”
when we get pissed, we say “coño”
when we laugh, we say “que estúpido”
when we see beauty, we say “que chula”
when we smell food, it “arroz con pollo” (don’t forget the “pernil”)
when we play, it’s a classic game of dominoes
when we love, it’s always a say of “te quiero”
how can anyone dismiss us like students being dropped off at the school yard without a goodbye
its call undeniable love
so genuinely surreal, we fly high above the clouds with grace like a dove
so always remember, when you see the red, white, and blue
think of the island of Puerto Rico, where we speak from the heart in which all we say are true
“IOTD” is image of the day, a concept I came up with. I teach visual meditative therapy – or in easy terms – a mini mental holiday. For some people it is very difficult for them to get their image right. I post an image a day for people to use in their mini mental vacay. Some are serious, some are silly, and some are just beautiful!”
A Puerto Rican (Spanish: puertorriqueño) (Taíno: boricua) is a person who was born in Puerto Rico.
People born and raised in other parts of the world, most notably in the continental United States, of Puerto Rican parents are also sometimes referred to as Puerto Ricans, even though they were not born in Puerto Rico themselves.
Since 2007, the government of Puerto Rico has been granting Certificates of Puerto Rican citizenship to any person born on the island as well as to those born outside of the island that have at least one parent who was born on the island.
Puerto Ricans commonly refer to themselves as Boricuas.
“The majority of Puerto Ricans regard themselves as being of mixed Spanish-European descent. Recent DNA sample studies have concluded that the three largest components of the Puerto Rican genetic profile are in fact indigenous Taíno, European, and African”.
The population of Puerto Ricans and descendants is estimated to be between 8 to 10 million worldwide, with most living within the islands of Puerto Rico and in the United States. Within the United States, Puerto Ricans are present in all states of the Union, and the states with the largest populations of Puerto Ricans relative to the national population of Puerto Ricans in the United States at large are the states of New York, Florida, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, with large populations also in Massachusetts, Connecticut, California, Illinois, and Texas.
The original inhabitants of Puerto Rico are the Taíno, who called the island Borikén; however, as in other parts of the Americas, the native people soon diminished in number after the arrival of European settlers.
The negative impact on the numbers of Amerindian people was almost entirely the result of Old World diseases that the Amerindians had no natural/bodily defenses against, including measles, chicken pox, mumps, influenza, and even the common cold.
In fact, it was estimated that the majority of all the Amerindian inhabitants of the New World perished due to contact and contamination with those Old World diseases, while those that survived were killed by warfare with each other and with Europeans.
Both run-away and freed African slaves (the Spanish, upon establishing a foothold, quickly began to import African slaves to work in expanding their colonies in the Caribbean) were in Puerto Rico. This interbreeding was far more common in Latin America because of those Spanish and Portuguese mercantile colonial policies exemplified by the oft-romanticized male conquistadors (e.g. Hernán Cortés).
Aside from the presence of slaves, some indication for why the Amerindian population was so diluted was the tendency for conquistadors to bring with them scores of single men hoping to serve God, country, or their own interests. All of these factors would indeed prove detrimental for the Taínos in Puerto Rico and surrounding Caribbean islands.
