Puerto Rican Migrant as Coming

¶ … Puerto Rican migrant as coming to America in order to become part of the welfare system; participate in the drug underworld; and to espouse the use of violence on the streets has been popularized by the media. Newspapers and magazines have provided their readers with elaborate stories of the inassimilable Puerto Ricans who live in the nation's big cities refusing to work and living on the backs of others. One of the most popular Broadway plays of all time, Westside Story (Wise, 1961), depicts Puerto Ricans as oversexed, aggressive individuals who know only one way of deciding matters and that is with violence. As one might expect, this depiction is highly superficial and built on archaic stereotypes but, nevertheless, it tends to perpetuate an image that has lasting consequences.

The Puerto Ricans are not alone in being depicted negatively. It has been done to nearly every ethnic group at some point in the history of the United States. A fear of outsiders, those who are different than the mainstream, has permeated American culture nearly from the beginning. The physically aggressive and uncouth Irish took their turn. The criminal Italians had their day and the Jews were scorned for a variety of reasons and Blacks have been relegated to second class citizenship since being freed at the conclusion of the Civil War. Today, it is the Puerto Rican community that has become the new target of those who must find a target for their narrow mindedness.

The Puerto Rican emigration to the United States began following the end of the Second World War. This emigration was actually promoted by the Puerto Rican government that was collapsing economically under the pressures of overcrowding within its borders (Whalen, 2001). A variety of methods were reviewed by the Puerto Rican government to control the growth of their population including considering mandatory female sterilization but the Puerto Rican population continued to grow out of control. Mechanization had caused a major shift from traditional farming methods that employed thousands of Puerto Rican natives and the government was unable to absorb the costs of caring for those left unemployed. In cooperation with several large American cities, including New York and Chicago, the Puerto Rican authorities began an organized system of placing Puerto Rican immigrants in job positions (Perez, 2004). Unfortunately, the program of encouraging emigration to America's large cities was largely ineffective (Lewis, 1965). The hundreds of thousands of working-class Puerto Ricans to New York and Chicago resulted in these individuals being placed conspicuously in positions where they were either underemployed or quickly unemployed. This resulted in the Puerto Ricans being placed in a position of being poorly fed and lacking in basic human needs such as clothing and housing. Yet, the lure of an economy where there were minimum wage laws which were in excess of what they could earn on the island, thousands of Puerto Ricans migrated northward. Unfortunately, in a society still suffering from the memories of the Great Depression, witnessing the huge influx of unemployed Puerto Ricans raised concerns of a possible new Depression. Quickly, the media began addressing the concerns about the rapid Puerto Rican immigration and to attach the Puerto Ricans as the cause of the swelling welfare rolls. The seed being planted, the newly arriving Puerto Ricans were branded as being lazy and unemployable which compounded the problem that already existed.

Unlike other nationalities, Puerto Ricans are not subject to the limitations of the United States' immigration laws. Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens and, therefore, are able to travel to and from their island without restriction into the United States. In the days following the end of the Second World War the numbers of Puerto Ricans increased geometrically and the U.S. economy was not prepared to absorb their numbers. The combination of Puerto Ricans immigrating to the United States and the large numbers of Blacks moving northward from the South seeking employment in Northern factories caused a major public policy issue to develop rapidly. Quite simply, the agencies of the large northern cities involved in this process were not equipped to handle the sharp increase in case loads and costs associated with this influx.

Most of the Puerto Ricans settled in specific neighborhoods. In Philadelphia it was the Spring Garden neighborhood while in Chicago it was Humboldt Park. The local Catholic Church, of which most Puerto Ricans were members, provided support but the rest of the neighborhood was often not as welcoming. Finding housing for Puerto Ricans was often difficult and the blatant prejudice that they encountered caused most recently migrated Puerto Ricans to stay within the safe confines of their home and church. This tendency contributed to increased prejudice as non-Puerto Ricans looked upon Puerto Ricans as loners and outsiders. Not unexpectedly, tensions developed between the old time residents of the neighborhoods and the newly arrived Puerto Ricans. These tensions in several major cities boiled over into actual disturbances. Philadelphia suffered one such disturbance in the summer of 1953 and Chicago suffered its own disturbance in 1966 and, again, in 1977.

With the sudden influx of Puerto Ricans and the resulting disturbances, there was a corresponding demand that a cause be found for why so many of the numbers were Blacks and Puerto Ricans. The simple fact that these groups were attempting to better their economic and social position was not sufficient. There had to be other reasons. Within months the Puerto Rican migrant became the most studied ethnic group in America.

The initial studies, particularly those coming out of Chicago, indicated that the Puerto Ricans were assimilating properly, finding jobs in sufficient numbers and believed to be causing few, if any, real problems. The studies suggested that, within time, the migrating Puerto Ricans who were causing problems would soon adjust and become contributing members of society. The studies spend virtually no time addressing Puerto Rican family issues of structure. There were no claims of Puerto Rican women having loose morals or the men being prone to violence and laziness.

The outgrowth of these studies, however, was the creation of heightened awareness of the perceived Hispanic problem, or more specifically, the "Puerto Rican Problem." This heightened awareness resulted in the creation of a number of agencies dedicated to addressing the problem. In response, northern communities began to adopt more Spanish language services, build recreational services directed at Hispanics, the formulation of committees to address crime, juvenile delinquency, and other anti-social behaviors. These efforts were undoubtedly well intentioned but tended to be dominated by cultural misconceptions about the Puerto Rican mentality and ethos. Survey after survey coming out of this era indicated that the average American citizen had little or no knowledge relative to Puerto Ricans. They did not know that Puerto Ricans were American citizens or that they were Caucasians.

The studies that came out shortly after the mass migration of Puerto Ricans to the United States were wrong in their assessment that the vast majority of Puerto Ricans would have no problem in assimilating. Unlike other ethnic groups that had either immigrated or migrated to the United States the Puerto Ricans were hampered by the large numbers that chose to do so. Typically, immigrating and migrating groups are small enough to be absorbed comfortably by the surrounding community but the Puerto Rican migration following the Second World War was so large that the existing Puerto Rican community could not comfortably do so. The American economy, although expanding, was still too small to absorb so many unskilled laborers and political patronage that had assisted so many other ethnic groups in the past was not as readily available as the government had tightened its restrictions on such activities.

Newly arriving Puerto Ricans, being largely Roman Catholic, relied heavily upon the assistance of their local Church for support and guidance. Unfortunately, in the years following the Second World War most, large city Roman Catholic Churches had pastors that were either Irish or Italian. Such individuals were not particularly sympathetic to the plight of the Puerto Rican migrants and were, further, hampered by their inability to communicate due to language barriers. The Church, lacking the foresight necessary to address the problem, failed to expand and open new parishes in the Puerto Rican neighborhoods or to promote the ordination of Puerto Rican priests. As a result, a large number of Puerto Ricans turned to the Protestant faiths because they were more receptive to allowing native born Puerto Ricans to become part of the Church leadership.

Although in some cities such as Chicago and Philadelphia, strong Puerto Rican presence was allowed to develop in a neighborhood in the city where the large majority of Puerto Ricans were to settle- New York City -- urban renewal projects thwarted these efforts. Oddly, the neighborhoods that the Puerto Ricans adopted as their own during their initial migration to the United States became subject to slum clearance and urban renewal during the late 50s and early 60s. This resulted in the Puerto Ricans suffering from widespread disbursement throughout the city and the Puerto Ricans were never able to effectively develop a political coalition that could advocate for its issues. In the city of New York there was a strong Italian, Jewish, and Black presence but nothing along the same lines ever developed for the Puerto Rican community. The concerns of the Puerto Rican community failed to ever gain a political foothold in the city where nearly 90% of all migrated Puerto Ricans lived (Rodriquez-Morazzani, 1999).

As the vast wave of migrating Puerto Ricans began to reach middle age in the 60's and 70s they had still not achieved a standard of living that was remarkably improved from what they enjoyed when they first migrated to the United States. Their numbers had increased significantly as migration had continued and their birthrates had skyrocketed but the typical Puerto Rican family still made far less than the typical White American (Wilson, 1996). The rate of employment among Puerto Ricans was twice that of White Americans and Puerto Rican women were virtually non-existent in the workforce. Not unexpectedly, many Puerto Ricans had no option but to turn to public assistance. The "Puerto Rican Problem" had intensified and the outcry for a solution had as well. Although the greater emphasis of the Great Society programs of President Johnson's administration was placed on the plight of Blacks in America, the situation facing Puerto Rican families was no less serious. Puerto Ricans in the mid-1960s were no better off economically than most Blacks.

Historically Puerto Ricans have been identified as an ethnic group mired in poverty. They have been expected to assimilate to the customs and mores of American society but, unlike other ethnic groups, the process of assimilation has not worked with the Puerto Ricans. Other ethnic groups have come to the United States having left their families and property behind them in an effort to start over in United States. Most never return to their old country and have invested everything in their efforts to make it in the United States. For the Puerto Ricans, however, this is not the case. Puerto Ricans are already United States citizens and are, therefore, free to travel back and forth to the Puerto Rican island freely. Visits home are freely allowed as is the opportunity to send money home. These factors have diminished the need to assimilate and have contributed to the Puerto Ricans willingness to distinguish themselves as a separate group.

When compared with other ethnic groups it is Blacks that Puerto Ricans are most often compared. White America tends to group them together when considering issues such as poverty, crime, welfare usage, and the dysfunctional nature of their families. Yet, economically, the plight of Puerto Ricans is much worse. Unlike the Puerto Rican community, Blacks have successfully managed to build themselves a community infrastructure. Black churches, community groups, and political organizations have managed to establish a strong political voice. Organizations like the NAACP and Urban League have positioned themselves to influence politics on all levels of government while no similar organization dedicated to promoting Puerto Rican concerns exists. Subsequent to the passing of the Civil Rights Bill Blacks managed to get elected to numerous political positions while Puerto Ricans stood by idly and elected nearly no one.