Comments on: Puerto Rico’s Puzzle: Race, Politics and Imperial Primaries http://dissidentvoice.org/2008/06/puerto-rico%e2%80%99s-puzzle-race-politics-and-imperial-primaries/ a radical newsletter in the struggle for peace and social justice Wed, 08 May 2013 02:53:11 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: Victor Ramirez http://dissidentvoice.org/2008/06/puerto-rico%e2%80%99s-puzzle-race-politics-and-imperial-primaries/#comment-21920 Victor Ramirez Tue, 10 Jun 2008 17:27:37 +0000 http://www.dissidentvoice.org/?p=2135#comment-21920 Traditionally in PR, the closest thing to racial classification is the system of complexion types that are still used in drivers’ licenses and police reports:

Blanca = White
Negra = Black
Marrón = Brown
Clara = Darker than white, possibly olive
Medio Marrón = Midpoint brown
Sonrosada = Reddish
Roja Clara = Pinkish
Amarilla = Yellow

]]> By: Victor Ramirez http://dissidentvoice.org/2008/06/puerto-rico%e2%80%99s-puzzle-race-politics-and-imperial-primaries/#comment-21902 Victor Ramirez Tue, 10 Jun 2008 05:08:46 +0000 http://www.dissidentvoice.org/?p=2135#comment-21902 I had to smile when CNN said on that Sunday something in the neighborhood of “In terms of race, PR voters might be drawn to Obama because he looks like them.”
What’s amazing to me is that segregation in the US has been so severe as to create a schism where blacks and whites living within the same towns may even have sharply different accents. This type of segregation is an anomaly in the Americas and the historical drive for the wierd system of racial classification in the US, a system that has identity and race as the same thing.

]]> By: Victor M. Rodriguez http://dissidentvoice.org/2008/06/puerto-rico%e2%80%99s-puzzle-race-politics-and-imperial-primaries/#comment-21864 Victor M. Rodriguez Mon, 09 Jun 2008 14:28:33 +0000 http://www.dissidentvoice.org/?p=2135#comment-21864 Michael, in some sense you are right, ideology was more important than race in these elections. However, the split was a bit more complicated, most independentistas did not vote and joined the 10,000 marchers through San Juan against the primaries. Jose Rivera, Bronx assemblyman and chair of the Bronx Democratic Party campaigned with Sen. Clinton on Saturday and marched in San Juan on Sunday. He is an independentista.

]]> By: Michael Hureaux http://dissidentvoice.org/2008/06/puerto-rico%e2%80%99s-puzzle-race-politics-and-imperial-primaries/#comment-21828 Michael Hureaux Sun, 08 Jun 2008 20:23:32 +0000 http://www.dissidentvoice.org/?p=2135#comment-21828 It seems to me that the vote in Puerto Rico, tainted though it is by imperial politics, broke down along some classic lines, with the remnants of new deal style Munoz Marinism supporting Clinton and the remains of Albizu-ism and indedepentistas swinging towards Obama. Am I mistaken in this perception?

]]> By: Lloyd Rowsey http://dissidentvoice.org/2008/06/puerto-rico%e2%80%99s-puzzle-race-politics-and-imperial-primaries/#comment-21809 Lloyd Rowsey Sun, 08 Jun 2008 12:29:08 +0000 http://www.dissidentvoice.org/?p=2135#comment-21809 Gracias por esto, Senor Dominguez. I hope to find your most recent book at Amazon.com, because understanding Puerto Rican politics in the United States precedes even an understanding of Cuban politics here.

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