Stand Up for Puerto Rico promotes equity by raising awareness on the issues that affect the lives of 3.5 million U.S. citizens. Join the conversation by using the hashtag #StandupforPR to denounce injustices against Puerto Rico, share your thoughts, but most importantly share your solutions.
More than half of all Puerto Ricans live in the continental U.S., a number that continues to increase, thus representing a key component in the American political process. Stand Up for Puerto Rico calls on leaders to unite in a peaceful and diplomatic way, to define an economic and social strategy for prosperity in Puerto Rico.
It is a non-profit, non-partisan organization whose mission is to engage and build up the voice of the people of Puerto Rico, its diaspora, allies, friends and supporters through civic engagement. It is a movement powered by social media through which all voices can be heard.
(#StandUpforPR)
We are a 21st century civil rights movement that urges the United States Congress to accept its responsibility over Puerto Rico’s economic, social and political conditions; which stem from its unincorporated territorial status.
Our goal is to elevate the conversation and engage our leaders on matters yet unaddressed in order to establish an economic and social plan for a prosperous Puerto Rico.
Orlando Campus
Address: 550 N Econlockhatchee Trail, Orlando, FL 32825
Friday Oct. 23, 2015 – 6:30pm – 8:30pm
“There will be war to the death against all Puerto Ricans.”
–Puerto Rico Chief of Police, E. Francis Riggs-
When it won the Spanish-American War in 1898, the U.S. acquired Puerto Rico as a new “possession.” The American who led the invasion, Gen. Nelson A. Miles, promised “liberty” to Puerto Ricans. He also promised “prosperity” and “the advantages and blessings of enlightened civilization.”
This never occurred.
Puerto Rico was stripped of her land and natural resources by U.S. banking syndicates. By 1934, the theft was so extreme that Puerto Ricans organized an island-wide agricultural strike. In response to this strike the Yale-educated Chief of Police, whose father owned the Riggs National Bank, promised that “there will be war to the death against all Puerto Ricans.”
I lived all my childhood, teenage and early adult years in the Island.
It wasn’t until 1999 that I moved to the United States.
I went to a Catholic private school for all of my schooling. Needless to say, I grew up totally Americanized.
We learned about the history of the Island but nothing like I learned when I first read this book.
It took me 60 years to become fully aware of what has been done to Puerto Rico by “the master”.
Puerto Rico has never been independent .. only for a few days after freeing itself from the claws of the Spanish empire.
After the Spanish-American War, Puerto Rico, along with several other nations under Spanish rule, became bounties of war and were handed over to the United States.
But I digress ….
I read the “War” book in total disbelief ….
How could the “greatest country in the world” do these things to another country under their “protection”?
I completed my reading withing three days.
I couldn’t fathom that these things occurred in my country. I was born in 1950 … the year that the “revolution” was squashed by the might of the super-power and the corruption of the local government.
Last night, I had the opportunity to meet the author and thank him personally for taking the band off my eyes and for educating me about the true story of Puerto Rico, my country.
The battled raged back in the 50’s and it’s still raging to this day.
In 1950, after over 50 years of military and colonial rule, the Nationalist Party of Puerto Rico staged an unsuccessful armed insurrection against the United States. Violence swept through the Island: assassins were sent to kill President Truman, gunfights roared in eight towns, police stations and post offices were burnt down. In order to suppress this uprising, the US Army deployed thousands of troops and bombarded two towns, marking the first time in history that the US government bombed its own citizens.
Nelson A. Denis tells this powerful story through the eyes of the controversial life of Don Pedro Albizu Campos, the president of the Nationalist Party.
Esta versión de La Borinqueña fue interpretada por Ednita Nazario, Ruth Fernández
y Cesar Hernández en un especial de Navidad del Banco Popular de Puerto Rico.
~Himno Verdadero de Puerto Rico~
~Uploaded on Apr 15, 2008~
Himno revolucionario de Puerto Rico
This video was complied to honor the death of another great Puerto Rican Hero .. Filiberto Ojeda. The lyrics are those written to express the feelings behind the colonization of Puerto Rico at the hands of “the master”.
Did you know that this Labor Day is the 120th anniversary of the national celebration? Former President Grover Cleveland signed legislation in 1894 making Labor Day a national holiday.
I wasn’t going to write any post about Labor Day today. There are plenty out there. However, I ran into the information above ….. 120th anniversary of such an important day!
As with many holidays, the main thing is getting the day off, celebrating the beginning or ending of summer, going to the beach, the ever present BBQ.
Usually there is so much more than that and how easy we forget!
Labor Day in the United States is a holiday celebrated on the first Monday in September. It is a celebration of the American labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of their country.
Labor Day was promoted by the Central Labor Union and the Knights of Labor, who organized the first parade in New York City. After the Haymarket Massacre, which occurred in Chicago on May 4, 1886, U.S. President Grover Cleveland feared that commemorating Labor Day on May 1 could become an opportunity to commemorate the affair. Thus, in 1887, it was established as an official holiday in September to support the Labor Day that the Knights favored.
The equivalent holiday in Canada, Labour Day, is also celebrated on the first Monday of September. In many other countries (more than 80 worldwide), “Labour Day” is synonymous with, or linked with, International Workers’ Day, which occurs on May 1.
But the Labor Day holiday has a storied past, one of violence and celebration, that’s embedded deep in the history of the American labor movement. And while it has spread around the world in different forms, Labor Day has distinctly American roots.
When did Labor Day begin?
The modern holiday is widely traced back to an organized parade in New York City in 1882. Union leaders had called for what they had labelled a “monster labor festival” on Tuesday, Sept. 5, according to Linda Stinson, a former historian for the Department of Labor (the idea for a general labor festival may have originated in Canada, which today also celebrates “Labour Day” on the first Monday in September). Initially that morning, few people showed up, and organizers worried that workers had been reluctant to surrender a day’s pay to join the rally. But soon the crowds began flowing in from across the city, and by the end of the day some 10,000 people had marched in the parade and joined festivities afterward in what the press dubbed “a day of the people.”
When did it become an official holiday?
The practice of holding annual festivities to celebrate workers spread across the country, but Labor Day didn’t become a national holiday for more than a decade. Oregon became the first state to declare it a holiday in 1887, and states like New York, Massachusetts and Colorado soon followed suit. Under President Grover Cleveland, and amid growing awareness of the labor movement, the first Monday in September became a national holiday in 1896.
Why is it on the first Monday in September anyway?
Labor union leaders had pushed for a September date for the New York demonstration, which coincided with a conference in the city of the Knights of Labor, one of the largest and most influential of the unions. The first two New York City Labor Days took place on the 5th of September, but in 1884, the third annual New York City Labor Day holiday was scheduled for the first Monday in September, and that date stuck.
~~A GALLERY … THROUGH TIME~~
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~~The History behind Labor Day~~
~Published on Sept 3, 2012~
Labor Day is an American federal holiday observed on the first Monday in September (September 3 in 2012) that celebrates the economic and social contributions of workers. In 1882, Matthew Maguire, a machinist, first proposed the holiday while serving as secretary of the CLU (Central Labor Union) of New York. Others argue that it was first proposed by Peter J. McGuire of the American Federation of Labor in May 1882, after witnessing the annual labor festival held in Toronto, Canada.
Oregon was the first state to make it a holiday in 1887. By the time it became a federal holiday in 1894, thirty states officially celebrated Labor Day. Following the deaths of a number of workers at the hands of the U.S. military and U.S. Marshals during the Pullman Strike, the United States Congress unanimously voted to approve rush legislation that made Labor Day a national holiday; President Grover Cleveland signed it into law a mere six days after the end of the strike.
The September date originally chosen by the CLU of New York and observed by many of the nation’s trade unions for the past several years was selected rather than the more widespread International Workers’ Day because Cleveland was concerned that observance of the latter would be associated with the nascent Communist, Syndicalist and Anarchist movements that, though distinct from one another, had rallied to commemorate the Haymarket Affair in International Workers’ Day. All U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and the territories have made it a statutory holiday.
It Is What It Is 