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Careful not to let anyone influence your opinion without first checking the facts. When I asked several acquaintances if they were going to the 2005 Puerto Rican Festival and they said: “I’m not sure, I heard there are problems there,” I immediately recognized the agenda setting power of the media. The media does more than just inform us. It influences what we think about and plays a role in how we form the opinions we take for granted. However, when stories are received in segments, incomplete or framed with common stereotypes, inaccuracies can distort public perception. That sums up the streams of information I’ve seen regarding the annual Puerto Rican Festival in Rochester, New York. This event, which yearly survives without a big slick public relations campaign, has recently been the target of benevolent critics. Well, it’s time to come out in its defense because like so many, I know the festival’s good record. Thus, two words for those who from their ivory towers continue to position it with acts of unrest and lawlessness: “Get real.” If you're really interested in bettering our community, circulate facts and stop politicking at the expense of this much needed cultural treasure. |
If the current hot air should cause its demise, it would only serve to ignite further outrage and discord, leaving only the streets for us to beat our conga drums on. That would not be so good. A friend and mentor prompted this story when asking: “what do you think about the community call for peace and calm at the P.R. Fest?” A day later, July 21, I read an article entitled ¨Parade added to P.R. Fest¨ with hopes of averting post festival late night motorcades and incidents on Clinton Ave. The article in relating arrests and unrest with the festival, primes the uninformed reader to reach an easy conclusion: Puerto Rican Festival and Latino violence equal unsafe. Why is this such an easy conclusion? Mainly for two reasons. First, the Latino community has been framed through violent stereotypes since the Zoot Suit Riots. Media content analysis studies have shown this stereotype is still beign sustained by the mediated images which show Latinos in crime and violence, which far outweigh the images of Latinos in non-criminal, non-violent portrayals. Second was the articles lack of a counter point championing the festival’s fine record.
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Just before the festival, another article suggested a large number of Puerto Ricans gathering inspires fear. What?!!! Was that framed through the infamous 2000 Central Park groping mob episode, and if so why are we linking it to our festival? In that article, a recent Frontier Stadium Latino night was crowned as the perfect example of a carefree Latino event. First, I think the organizers of the Frontier event and even more so, those who supported it should be acknowledged. But can't we find something in the barrio to blame on that event as well? C'mon somebody had to loose some hubcaps that night. Really, I am overjoyed when mainstream venues embrace our contribution to American culture. Such events prove that we Latinos, despite our over joyous dancing styles and rhythmic tendencies, can behave in public places. Admittedly, this last generalization may not be all inclusive by omitting the current fusion of Latinoness and hip-hop culture which seems to mostly exhibit the frustration of our youth. People behave better when not frustrated. Is anyone working on that report from a thematic perspective?
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Again this article had an undertone of unsafe, resonating in ink when alluding to the Rochester P.R. festival. Where´s the support for this? Clearly from watching West Side Story a few too many times. Then came the biggest blow to my Latinoness, the underlying insinuation that a non-Latino entity can get it done, but we stumble. O. K. why not just slap every aspiring Hispanic-Latino with a little more condescension and then tell them ¨bad latino, you should just let the people that really know how to, do it. Why don´t you go see if they´ll hire you¨ Reminiscing about days “when getting a few thousand Puerto Ricans together inspired pride rather than fear” won't solve our social woes, it only adds to the stigma and was un-warranted in this case. The timing was suspect too. So, after reading this, if you´re thinking- wow, he's all ethnically peeved (did I just say peeved, I meant angry) and wants to get all loud to rectify matters. Let me reassure with a resounding: Nope! That only feeds the beast. I've found a better way. I just put on my nice wool blend sport coat, bought with dollars earned as a skilled carpenter and smile for the picture. Vaya! Horacio de Jesús Martínez,
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| According to current festival President Ida Perez, during the past ten years of her affiliation, “we’ve had no incidents on site… I think someone was escorted out once.” I was there the past two years and did not witness any unrest at the site. This fact is somehow missing from the media reports I´ve seen and read. Police sources acknowledge that in this regard ¨it’s as typical as any of our local festivals¨said Rochester Police spokesman Capt. Joe Dominic, adding that “it’s unfair to hold it responsible for the barrio incidents.” In 2005, a daytime parade was reinstated. In organizing it, Carlos Santana of the Spanish Action Coalition hopes that with it's return, after budgetary reasons caused its elimination, the impromptu late night motorcades, from drivers parading back home, down “la avenida,” Clinton Avenue, on the final night of the festival will cease. Santana, who is ever vigilant on Clinton Avenue, says he hopes the parade will give the people “what they have been missing and trying to do with the unauthorized processions.” The police have been called into the Clinton neighborhood , the past three years on the final night of the festival, to enforce city ordinances which limit noise, loitering and unauthorized processions. Some barrio neighbors perceive it as an unwelcome intrusion, a singling out of their group. According to sources, police have arrested people refusing to disperse from public places in defiance of police orders, and not festival goers on their way home.
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