Introduction

Puerto Rico, often called the “Island of Enchantment,” has a rich history that reflects a blend of Taíno, Spanish, African, and American influences. Since its discovery by Christopher Columbus in 1493, the island has undergone significant cultural and political transformations. Despite these changes, Puerto Ricans have maintained a strong cultural identity characterized by a deep sense of pride, resilience, and community. This cultural strength is not confined to the island; it extends to the Puerto Rican diaspora on the mainland United States, where the spirit of Boricua thrives and influences society in profound ways.


You never, ever attack Puerto Ricans and their extended Rican Boricuas on the mainland, ever! If my abuela and abuelo, as well as my parents—especially my mom who had a large voice against injustice and disparagement throughout her life—were here, they would agree.

I remember all the hippies in our living room one day as they prepared to protest the Vietnam War, with my mom being a strong advocate for peace and security on the mainland. She and my dad loved John F. Kennedy, and the day he was assassinated, I remember clearly how they both broke down in tears, rescheduling our family trip to our favorite park.

Although I still remain a terrible rumbero, I grew up with access to our culture minus the spoken language, as many of my friends were from the island and had recently moved to my hometown. I also had friends and family moving from the Bronx as well, and so my immersion became stronger.

One of my best friends was an amazing conguero and, at an early age, was part of an incredible salsa band. I was asked to be coro with them but suffered from stage fright and became the band boy instead, carrying instruments from gig to gig.

It was an amazingly wonderful time, and it was a time when integration with other cultures was not an issue or even brought up, except for an incident between two individuals. Otherwise, the flavor and spice of our interaction was amazing. We had all types of races living together—Ricans, morenos, and blancos—and never did we attack or disparage each other.

Switch reel to 2016 when I first started seeing the ugliness of what we are now facing grow. My own attacks from anti-science and climate deniers were through the roof starting around this time, but after 2018, I started to use these attacks as stepping stones to becoming a much better version of myself. Today, I can say that using my faith and experience, I now see every obstacle as an opportunity to improve myself and the planet.

Rican roots run deep; it is as if we have an extra vein than most people or, who knows, others have this sense of pride and love for their culture. I am not sure, but it is strong in Puerto Ricans. I remained participating in street and other types of rumbas with other congueros, and it only helped to strengthen my connection to my roots even though the language lacked somewhat.

What am I getting at here?

One of my best friends, Negrito, the rumbero from Mayagüez, told me to share your story, and it will help us select the correct leader, one that is not racist or causes divisions. He said there are many latinos y latinas following the wrong candidate, and maybe they will come across your story since many of them already follow you online and offline.

What I shared above was parts of my story; however, the point is that I am deeply committed to learning as much as I can about Adaptive Resiliency in the wake of our Climate and Ecological Emergency, so much so that I bought a climate company and am learning how to expand and make it a source of help and a platform for connecting with others and learning together.

Because one of the candidate’s supporters denigrated our isla, our culture, our heritage, just as they are currently doing to our sisters, mothers, nieces, and other women in our lives, it is our responsibility to ensure that leaders who are racist, hateful, and create walls of divisions are never allowed to lead our country.

With the Climate and Ecological Emergency growing worse, we need to unite and work together, not be all about nationalism or hateful-based divisions. I really do not think people are grasping how difficult living on this planet is going to be in just a few years, and if we do not adapt and become more resilient now, many will find it hard to get by.

So yes, women and Ricans who are now voting in droves, let’s keep this momentum up and vote for a woman to be the next president and our adopted Boricua brother Tim Walz (sorry I previously misspelled your name) to be the next Vice President, not to mention their soon-to-be amazing cabinet.  Voting for Senators that align with our soon to be new President and Vice President is extremely important in our fight for a Net Zero (quickly) world–please realize this point.

Let’s do this. 
Let’s show how strong our cultural identity truly is…

To those anti-science and climate deniers individuals that follow me around the streets, I want to apologize for singing out loud as I am a total salsa fanatic, and it is absolutely not directed towards you. In fact, if you weren’t following me, I would still be singing out loud. I love singing and playing my percussion instruments, and please accept my apology for this fact.

Tito


Here is one of my best friends family in Puerto Rico…


(…in regard to the title of this post, I took it from a comment made in the news media, plus to understand more about why I say this visit eXit235.com on November 5th, 2024.)