[Marxism] Puerto Rican Obituary, Pedro's Vision Lives On

[Alex Briscoe <obeynow20001@xxxxxxxxx>]

Back in another life, when I lived in New York City, I
was hanging out at a lower east side block party
sponsored by the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, with my friend,
Carlos, a Cuban-American activist who had a radio show
on WBAI.

This eccentric figure, dressed in black with a luggage
carrier, a box and a briefcase that read "Reverend
Pedro" happened to come by.

Carlos introduced this Tommy Chong-like figure as
Pedro Pietri, a poet who was well known in the
community.

We exchanged pleasantries and Carlos and Pedro caught
up on news since they had last seen each other.

After a short while, Pedro produced a slim volume of
poetry with a non-descript cover, with the title
"Puerto Rican Obituary" and offered to sell it to me.

Having been the object of leftist lit sales since a
young age, I critically examined his wares, thought
about whether $10 was worth stretching my meager
budget, and decided to hand over my money.

Pedro signed the volume, mispelling my slavic Jewish
last name.

We exchanged more pleasantries and Pedro went down the
block to catch up on old times with his comrades.

When I got home I read Pedro's poetry and was really
struck by the power of his words.  I found out later
that Pedro was in fact, the voice of the Young Lords
movement, from the 1960s and 70s.

I still cherish that slim volume on my bookshelf
today.

I was reminded of this poem and Pedro because I am
petitioning this week at the Fiestas Puertoriquenas in
Chicago for Kathy Cummings (Green) who is running for
State Rep in an area that overlaps Humboldt Park, the
area that comprises the historic Puerto Rican area of
Chicago.

I have been reticent about running a non-Puerto Rican
candidate in an area where there are Puerto Ricans,
out of respect for national self-determination, but
the people we have met have been positive about
Kathy's run, even though she's running against a
Puerto Rican incumbent.

Apparently the incumbent, a democrat, is not doing
much for the community, according to residents.

More info on Kathy's campaign at
www.kathleenjcummings.com

See also www.ilgp.org for information on the Illinois
Green Party's state slate campaign.



I think that the Green Party right now is the best
political expression of the demands implied in this
poem, and that hopefully we can live up to Pedro's
vision.





Poetry: Puerto Rican Obituary
by Pedro Pietri

 Puerto Rican Obituary was first read in 1969 at a
rally in support of the Young Lords Party, an
anti-imperialist Latino youth group in New York. Like
the Black Panther Party, the Young Lords were
community activists, supporting demands for fair and
affordable housing and decent health care, and they
ran free breakfast programs for children.

They linked their neighborhood militancy to a program
that called for the end of U.S. imperial adventurism
in Vietnam and elsewhere, third world liberation, an
end to the oppression of the poor and people of color,
and the building of a socialist society.

The Young Lords were destroyed by U.S. government
provocations in the mid 1970s, but Pedro Pietri
continued on as a radical activist and poet. He saw no
distinction between these roles. Most notably he
helped to found and sustain the Nuyorican Poets Café,
an acclaimed center for oppositional arts and
literature.

Pedro Pietri was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico in 1944
and raised in Harlem. After high school, he was
drafted into the U.S. army, served in Vietnam, and
returned to the United States a fierce opponent of
that war and the system that spawned it. "I realised
who the real enemy was, and it was not the Vietcong in
their black pajamas, but the mercenaries who invaded
their country."

On fire with rage against the system, he wrote, Puerto
Rican Obituary, first published in a collection of his
work with the same title by Monthly Review Press in
1973, as well as eight other volumes of verse.

Pedro Pietri died of cancer, aged 59, on March 3,
2004.

The power, insight, and message of Puerto Rican
Obituary continue to resonate among activists and
dreamers all over the world. As the New York Times put
it recently "three decades ago, a poem ignited a
movement".Eds.


---------------------------------------------------

They worked
They were always on time
They were never late
They never spoke back
when they were insulted
They worked
They never took days off
that were not on the calendar
They never went on strike
without permission
They worked
ten days a week
and were only paid for five
They worked
They worked
They worked
and they died
They died broke
They died owing
They died never knowing
what the front entrance
of the first national city bank looks like

Juan
Miguel
Milagros
Olga
Manuel
All died yesterday today
and will die again tomorrow
passing their bill collectors
on to the next of kin
All died
waiting for the garden of eden
to open up again
under a new management
All died
dreaming about america
waking them up in the middle of the night
screaming: Mira Mira
your name is on the winning lottery ticket
for one hundred thousand dollars
All died
hating the grocery stores
that sold them make-believe steak
and bullet-proof rice and beans
All died waiting dreaming and hating

Dead Puerto Ricans
Who never knew they were Puerto Ricans
Who never took a coffee break
from the ten commandments
to KILL KILL KILL
the landlords of their cracked skulls
and communicate with their latino souls

Juan
Miguel
Milagros
Olga
Manuel
>From the nervous breakdown streets
where the mice live like millionaires
and the people do not live at all
are dead and were never alive

...

Here lies Juan
Here lies Miguel
Here lies Milagros
Here lies Olga
Here lies Manuel
who died yesterday today
and will die again tomorrow
Always broke
Always owing
Never knowing
that they are beautiful people

Never knowing
the geography of their complexion

PUERTO RICO IS A BEAUTIFUL PLACE
PUERTORRIQUENOS ARE A BEAUTIFUL RACE

If only they
had turned off the television
and tune into their own imaginations
If only they
had used the white supremacy bibles
for toilet paper purpose
and make their latino souls
the only religion of their race
If only they
had return to the definition of the sun
after the first mental snowstorm
on the summer of their senses
If only they
had kept their eyes open
at the funeral of their fellow employees
who came to this country to make a fortune
and were buried without underwears

Juan
Miguel
Milagros
Olga
Manuel
will right now be doing their own thing
where beautiful people sing
and dance and work together
where the wind is a stranger
to miserable weather conditions
where you do not need a dictionary
to communicate with your people
Aqui Se Habla Espanol all the time
Aqui you salute your flag first
Aqui there are no dial soap commercials
Aqui everybody smells good
Aqui tv dinners do not have a future
Aqui the men and women admire desire
and never get tired of each other
Aqui Que Paso Power is what?s happening
Aqui to be called negrito
means to be called LOVE


All material © copyright 2004 Monthly Review



Full: http://www.monthlyreview.org/0604pietri.htm


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