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McDonald's Customer
I' ma put you on, nephew.
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Dr. Jerrell Melendez Badillo
All right, Unc.
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McDonald's Employee
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Listener supported WNYC studios.
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Kusha Navadar
You're listening to all of it. I'm Kusha Navadar, in for Alison Stewart. About a million people are expected to turn out for the national Puerto Rican day parade on Fifth Avenue this Sunday, June 9th. This year's theme is Boricua de Corazon, or Puerto Rican at Heart. So ahead of the annual event, let's take some time to look back on the history of the island in a new book. Dr. Jorrell Melendez Badillo traces the history of the archipelago from its earliest recorded inhabitants to the residents of today, those who call themselves Boricenas or Puerto Ricans. The book explores Taino customs and civilization, Spanish colonization, the enslavement of Africans to work the sugar plantations, an establishment of a Spanish state, and early ideas, freedom and nationhood. The book is titled Puerto Rico A National History, and it's out now. The author, Dr. Jerrell Melendez Badillo joins us today. He is an assistant professor of Latin American and Caribbean history at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He is the author as well of the Lettered Workers, Archival Power and the Politics of Knowledge in Puerto Rico. Jerrel, welcome to all of it.
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Dr. Jerrell Melendez Badillo
Thank you. Thank you for having me. I'm super excited to be here.
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Kusha Navadar
Super excited to have you here and for the topic, of course, as well. You know, in the prologue of your book, you write that there have been and continue to be multiple Puerto Ricos that coexist in the archipelago. So for you, how did you think through the best way to begin this history?
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Dr. Jerrell Melendez Badillo
Yeah, it was quite a challenge writing more than 500, 500 years of history in 200 pages or less. And so for me, it was really important to highlight that idea that there isn't a single Puerto Rican experience, but that there are many. And so what I did as a historian was trying to locate the idea, the origins of the idea of Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricanness throughout time. And a particular element that I was really adamant in having is also not only the people in the archipelago, but the people in the diaspora. So the people that have inhabited what we now call Puerto Rico, what indigenous peoples called borikeng, was always inhabited by peoples that were on the move, that were traveling, going back and forth. And so that hasn't stopped. And I think that what we have on Sunday in New York City is an example of how the people of Puerto Rico continue to identify themselves as Puerto Ricans, even if they're not in the archipelago. And I think that the book also highlights that. You know, one thing that I am very vocal and that I talk throughout the book is that Puerto Rico is a colonial possession of the United States. And although we do not have a sovereign nation state, people have created complex ideas of the nation, and thus they have created multiple Puerto Rican experiences.
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Kusha Navadar
And, you know, you mentioned what's happening in New York City coming up. And listeners, we want to get you in this conversation, too. So do you plan on going to the Puerto Rican Day parade or have you gone in previous years? Are you or members of your family from Puerto Rico? When did you move to the mainland? What parts of your culture are you most proud of? There's so much to dive into. We want to hear from you. Give us a call. We're at 212-433-9692. That's 212-433-WNYC. You can call us. You can text us. I'd be especially interested in from folks who can Speak to what it means to be Puerto Rican today for them. There's so much that we can unpackage there as well. Give us a call, 212-433-9692. Or if you want, if you're on social, you're on Instagram, you're on X, you can hit us up. We're all of it. Wnyc. You know, Jerrel, you're talking about all of these different groups, identities that exist within the archipelago. How do you acknowledge the different groups that have lived on the island of Boriken? Like in the book, how did you try to give service to all of those different identities?
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Dr. Jerrell Melendez Badillo
Absolutely, that was quite a challenge. And the way that I did it was by not simply centering one single experience. So when I was growing up, the history textbooks that I read in high school, in college, were all based on important figures, most of them men, important men, important dates, important figures. And so, as you mentioned, you know, the prologue begins with my grandparents, people that just made it to fourth and sixth grade. And so those were the people that I was interested in learning more about because they had knowledges that, that really formed my way of understanding the world. But they were absent in the history books that I was reading. Queer folks, black folks that were creating ideas of freedom, working class intellectuals, those sort of people were absent in the traditional history books that I was reading. And so the way that I honor that multiplicity of Puerto Rican experiences was by yielding light on some case studies or some people, some characters that have been ignored traditionally in history books. Just to highlight this idea that there's Puerto Rico.
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Kusha Navadar
Sorry to step on you, but the. Is that part of the reason why you wanted to write this book in the first place? In terms of a history? There is history that's been written before, but it sounds like there are people missing from that history. Is that what you're trying to add?
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Dr. Jerrell Melendez Badillo
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. I thought that this was a book that I was going to write later on in my career. But then an opportunity popped up. Priya Nelson at Princeton University Press actually tossed the idea around that she wanted to read a history of Puerto Rico. And so for me, it was an opportunity to write the history that I wanted to read, the history that I wish I had growing up that highlighted the people that I knew. I come from a working class background, first gen in school, first gen, PhD in my family. And so I wanted to read the history and how the people that I saw every day in my neighborhood, in my barriada, forged different ideas of the nation and how they contributed to creating this complex, vibrant, beautiful, also painful history and idea of Puerto Rico. So absolutely, that was the driving force behind writing this book, the way it.
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Kusha Navadar
Was written and the structure itself. I was wondering if we could talk about that as well, because it's 217 pages, the book, it's got 15 chapters total. Can you tell us about how you, how you went about structuring this history?
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Dr. Jerrell Melendez Badillo
Absolutely. So I begin with my grandparents. So the prologue is basically me providing a lens to the reader of how I want them to read the book. And so it is an intimate history, it is a painful history, yet it's also a future oriented history. I think that in colonized spaces like Puerto Rico, the future is contested and so important for us to think about. More so in a moment when we have a very important election locally in November happening, that could end bipartisanship in the archipelago. But after that, I organized the book chronologically. I did not want to begin with Christopher Columbus arriving in in Boriking. In fact, I jokingly say in the book that Columbus was stranded at sea and he was discovered by indigenous communities. So the other way around, Right. And so I begin with indigenous communities, their way of organizing just to highlight their complexities, and then it moves chronologically to the present day. And so I joke around with my students, particularly that I wrote a book that goes from pre Columbian societies all the way to Bad Bunny because the book ends with the rise of Bad Bunny and it uses one, one of his songs to sort of think about the contemporary moment in Puerto Rico.
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Kusha Navadar
I want to talk about Bad Bunny in a little bit, actually, maybe after the break. But if listeners, you're just joining us, we're talking to Jerrell Melendez Bad, the University of Wisconsin Madison assistant professor of Latin American and Caribbean history. The new book Puerto Rico A National History, which is out now, it goes through and adds many new layers to the history of Puerto Rico. And given that there are celebrations happening this weekend for Puerto Rican Day Parade, we want to know, listeners, are you going to go to the parade or have you gone to the Puerto Rican Day Parade in previous years? Are you or members of your family from Puerto Rico? Give us a call. Send us a text. We're at 212-433-9692. That's 212433, WNYC. I'd love to know a little bit about the history of you and your family that came from Puerto Rico. When did your family move to the mainland? What parts of your culture are you most proud of what does it mean to you to be Puerto Rican today? Give us a call. We're at 212-433-9692. That's 212-433-WNYC. Jharrel, while we're getting some calls in, I'd love to talk about the first chapter of the book, which is dedicated to the original inhabitants of the island, the Tainos. Who were they? What information have researchers uncovered about their culture and their belief system?
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Dr. Jerrell Melendez Badillo
Absolutely. So it's very complicated to write a history of pre Columbian societies, mostly because they didn't leave any written records. And so that doesn't mean that they didn't have a history, that they didn't have complex systems of beliefs. But these were Amerindian societies. There's still some debate. So what we know, it's knowledge that has been produced after a careful dance between archaeologists, anthropologists and historians piecing together pieces of ceramic archaeological findings, writings from Europeans and what we know, there seems to be consensus that it's a migration of people that migrated the Southern cone, island hopping throughout the Caribbean. And there's different migrations. And I go into it deeper in the book, but what I want to highlight in the, in that particular chapter is that the people that were in Borique when the Spaniards arrived were a highly complex society that had highly complex beliefs, that there were not simply ignorant native individuals. And also one of the things that I like to highlight in the, in the book is that they were not simply extinct, that they continued. And there's a story of survival there as well. And so in that chapter, I talk about a chieftain cacique who challenged Spanish colonialism in 1511 in an insurrection. And so what we know is that it's a vastly complex society of Amerindian people of the Arawak language, but we know very little. And so as a historian, that's one of the things that I wanted to do in the book. I don't want to perform authority and I think that there's power in simply acknowledging that there's limits to what I can say and I don't want to simply make things up. But what we know, it's mostly from European records that were left particularly after the conquest.
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Kusha Navadar
Yeah, it's interesting that you say you didn't want to, I'm going to put words in your mouth, but assume authority that you yourself could not own, which is that fair to say is what you were saying there? Yeah, it's interesting that you bring that up because then the next question that, that I'm sure people wonder is, well, then where do you go to find that authority? You had mentioned ceramics? Were there any new places you looked for research that maybe were not as covered before, or was that a real challenge for you to find what you could say authoritatively?
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Dr. Jerrell Melendez Badillo
Yeah, absolutely. It was an absolute challenge. It was really challenging to write those those three first chapters of the book were quite challenging for me, particularly because I'm a trained early 20th century historian. But the source that I that I really honed in was the writings of a friar, Fray Ramon Pane, a poor friar of the of a St. Jerome order. And so he arrived with Christopher Columbus in one of the trips that they that he made to the Caribbean. And he, Christopher Columbus basically sent them to live with the indigenous communities in what is now the Dominican Republic in Haiti. And so much of what we know about the systems of belief that they had about their social organizing comes from the writing of this friar that learned their language, that lived with them for multiple years and then wrote this text. Now, one of the things that I do mention in the book is that we got to be careful because, you know, he was basically living with them to better understand them so they could better colonize them. So we need to be very cautious with those sources. But for me, it allowed me to sort of get a glimpse into the social worlds that these indigenous peoples were creating for themselves.
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Kusha Navadar
Yeah. Listeners, we're here with Dr. Jerrell Melendez Badillo, who is a assistant professor of Latin American and Caribbean history at UW Madison, University of Wisconsin, Madison. His book is Puerto Rico A National History. We got to take a break, but when we come back, I'd love to get more into some of the modern history of Puerto Rico and of course, to hear your calls and your texts. We want to know, listeners, are you planning on going to the Puerto Rican parade or is it a staple in your family that you always go to if you're Puerto Rican, what does being Puerto Rican mean to you today? Give us a call, send us a text. We're at 212-433-9692. That's 212-433. W N Y C. Love to get some calls. Up next, we'll take a quick break and we'll be right back. Stay with us. This is all of it on wnyc. I'm Koosha Navadar, and we are talking about the history of Puerto Rico. We're here with Dr. Jerrell Melendez Badillo, who is the University of Wisconsin Madison's assistant professor of Latin American And Caribbean history. New book just came out now. It is Puerto Rico a national history. It covers some of the unknown until now history of Puerto Rico and especially the people who made up the those that lived on the archipelago. And listeners, we want you to get in on this conversation. The Puerto Rican Day parade is coming up very soon. Do you plan on going to it or have you gone in previous years? If you or your family are from Puerto Rico, we would love to hear your story as well. When did your family move to the mainland of the United States? And what parts of your culture are you most proud of? And what does it mean to you to be Puerto Rican today? Give us a call. We're at 212-433-9692. That's 212-433-WNYC or you can hit us up on Instagram, hit us up on X. We are oflovit wnyc. So you know, Jerrel, I'm thinking about this term the U.S. commonwealth. And today people likely know Puerto Rico as an island in the Caribbean. But one of the topics that you explore in the book is the its status as a commonwealth and an unincorporated territory of the United States. Can you tell us how the island gains the status?
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Dr. Jerrell Melendez Badillo
Absolutely. So Puerto Rico was first a colony of the Spanish empire beginning in 1493 all the way to 1898 when the United States acquired Puerto Rico militarily as part of this what people call the Spanish American War. And so after that, Puerto Ricans were sort of in a legal limbo. And it's not until, and I say legal limbo because it's not until 1917 that Puerto Ricans become US citizens as part of the Jones Chafforth act or colloquially known as the Jones Law. Now one of the things that I go deeper into the book is how this is a second class citizenship. And you know, the most perfect example I think is this the fact that we cannot vote for the president in elections. But we can go into that later on. And so from 1917 onwards, Puerto Ricans were basically a territory of the United States. The Supreme Court did a series of cases known by scholars as the Insular cases in which they decided that Puerto Rico belonged to but was not part of the United States. And that's still the law of the land. And it's not until 1952, after the creation of the United nations that there's this global mandate to decolonize the so called third World that the United States basically allows Puerto Ricans to craft their own Constitution. And create their commonwealth just to take Puerto Rico out of the list of colonies in the United Nations. And so all that to say the Commonwealth in 1952 in the heat of the Cold War. Since then we've been a commonwealth of the United States, but the Supreme Court of the US has ratified in multiple locations. The idea that Puerto Rico belongs to, but it's not part of the United States, thus making it a colonial possession in the 21st century.
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Kusha Navadar
You used a term there, a second class citizen, which I think is very hot. How does that look to the average person living in Puerto Rico?
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Dr. Jerrell Melendez Badillo
Yeah, absolutely. So just to give you an example, right now I'm talking to you from Madison, Wisconsin. I am fully protected by the Constitution of the United States Bill of Rights as a US Citizen. Once I jump on a plane in the Madison Airport and then I have to do a layover in Charlotte, unfortunately, and then I land in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Once I step out of the plane, I am not fully protected by the U.S. constitution's Bill of Rights. And this is part of those insular cases that I was mentioning. There was a case that was decided in 1921 in which they argued, the justices argued that the Constitution does not follow the flag. And so this was used in the Iraq war to justify torture. Across the world were places where the US Flag was flying. But just to go back to Puerto Rico, we are not fully protected by the Bill of Rights when we are physically in the archipelago. We also cannot vote for the president of the United States, although we play an important role in the primaries of both parties of the United States. So for a lot of Puerto Ricans, you know, citizenship never meant being fully integrated into US Society and polity.
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Kusha Navadar
Can you talk a little bit more about how that, that voting disparity shows up, especially how it affects primaries. You were saying still having a place there?
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Dr. Jerrell Melendez Badillo
Yeah, absolutely. So the Obama, I think the first Obama administration or election campaign, I must say, was very contested. And it was. Puerto Rico was very important. We have a lot of Democratic and Republican delegates that go to national conventions. And so we play when elections are contested. And I do have an article that just came out in Time magazines made by History a couple of weeks ago about the primaries, making the argument that Puerto Rico is very important when candidacies are contested. So now in this election we have, we know that it's Biden and Trump before going into their national conventions. But if that was not the case, then Puerto Rico, because of the quantity of delegates that we have, we become a very important spot now that's also why statehood for Puerto Rico is so contested, because we would have more representation in Congress than 25 states of the Union just because of our population density. And so that's why we are very important for the primaries. And that's also why Puerto Rico statehood seems very far away for me. And so, yeah, so Puerto Rico plays an important political role, but we don't get to the side. Also, we don't have representation in Congress beyond a resident commissioner, which is a position that was created in 1902 or 1903, in the early 1900s, which is a position in Congress that has, has a voice but has no vote. And so we cannot vote. And so when we think about having 2 or 3.1 million Puerto Ricans in the archipelago and about 8.5 million Puerto Ricans in the diaspora, you know, that's an important political force that it's not fully represented in the US polity.
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Kusha Navadar
Listeners, we're here with Dr. Jerrel Melendez Badillo, and we are talking about the history, both back in the day and modern history of Puerto Rico. The book Puerto Rico, Rico, A National History. We are talking also to you right now, listening. If you are planning on going to the Puerto Rican Day parade or you have a story, a story of yourself, a story of your family living in, coming from Puerto Rico, give us a call. We're here to Listen. We're at 212-433-9692. You can call us, you can text us. And we've got a caller who I believe has a pretty wonderful story. Grace from Far Rockaway. Hey, Grace, welcome to the show.
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McDonald's Employee
Hi. Hello. Yes, I'm in Far Rockway. I was brought up in the Lower east side. My mother was brought up in the Lower east side as a child in the 50s, and she was one of the first children to participate in the Puerto Rican Day Parade in the, like, 58 or 59, because my grandparents on both sides of my family immigrated to the United states in the 50s. And it's a really heartwarming memory that we have of her and of the family being Puerto Rican as being proud, having a heritage, having strength, a bond, that's kind of something that's unshakable as far as Congress and things are involved. I do have my cousin, Anthony Nieves. He's a candidate for the Florida House of Representatives, and he's, you know, he's really involved in what's going on with Puerto Rico and wants to bring light to that and our family. We are, you know, even though some of us are second generation now. We are still very proud to be Puerto Ricans. No matter what happens, it's always us.
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Kusha Navadar
That's wonderful, Grace. Thank you. And I just gotta ask, Grace, are you going to the Puerto Rican Day parade this year?
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McDonald's Employee
Unfortunately, this one year I have to miss. I'm a family entertainer, so I do have entertainment to do on that day. I do a lot of shows in malls and things like that. So, unfortunately, weekends are always tied up for me. But when I have the time on those weekends, I try to make time to be at the parade.
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Kusha Navadar
Well, Grace, we really appreciate your call and that story. That's a. That's a wonderful family story. Thank you so much for calling, listeners. If you have a story or if you're just planning to go to the Puerto Rican Day parade, give us a call. We're at 212-433-9692. I'd love to hear what it means to folks to be Puerto Rican today because it means so many different, beautiful, varied things. So give us a call. We're at 212-433-WNYC. That's 212-433-9692. Jerrell, you mentioned Bad Bunny before the break. Gotta get to that. And what's interesting is how the island really has a new reputation, it feels, due to the increased popularity of rakuten and its music stars. There is Bad Bunny. There's. There's Eladio Carion and young Miko. What effect has the commercial success of the island's inhabitants in reggaeton as a whole had on the island?
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Dr. Jerrell Melendez Badillo
Absolutely. You know, when I was growing up, when I was talking to people that were not from the United States, my reference for them to know where Puerto Rico was was Ricky Martin, maybe JLo. But now we have other reference. And I think that, you know, part of what's happening with Bad Bunny, I think it's so fascinating, and Yomiko as well, is that there's also a queer turn. There's a queer element highlighting other forms of Puerto Ricanness, that it's not the traditional sort of macho gamster sort of rap, but it's also. It has another aesthetic. It has another sensibility. It. It's talking to other audiences. And I think that it has, you know, we are a massive, massive cultural producer.
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Bic Soleil Advertiser
We.
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Dr. Jerrell Melendez Badillo
We have been since always music, art, plastic arts, etc. But I think that Bad Bunny now being the, you know, the hottest star in the world, I think it's important. And also because he has a Huge platform. And so in the book, I end, for example, with a song from his previous record, Umberano Sinti la Pagong, in which he talks about the power outages, basically. And so it captures a moment in contemporary Puerto Rico and he has a platform in order to make an argument about that. You know, the video, I use it in my classes. You know, it's full of, you know, my grandmother hates bat bunny. So there's multiple sort of experiences. I was just in Miami for the last show of the tour here in the US to, to see him. But, you know, I show it in my class because it has a 20 minute documentary by Bianca Grallo on displacement and gentrification and the impact of these tax exceptions that have been passed in Puerto Rico. And so I think that, you know, it's changing the perception that people have of Puerto Rico and it's changing a whole music genre, changing the music industry. And, you know, we've done that in the past. But I think that this artist, Bad Bunny particularly, and Yomiko Biano and Tiano, a trans, amazing trans rapper, are changing the game by also queering the what people consider Puerto Rico. And you know, it's not coincidence that we have pride and we have the Puerto Rican Day parade and we've had people that I highlight in the book, like Sylvia Rivera, who was a chance activists that were bridging that divide. Right, right. Because it highlights that plurality and that beauty of multiplicity in both Puerto Ricanness and queerness and history too. Right.
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Kusha Navadar
I mean, activism in music from Puerto Rico, there's examples of that in the past. Right. This is something that has always been at the heart of expressing and using that platform, like you said. Is that right?
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Dr. Jerrell Melendez Badillo
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. It's always been at heart of using that platform. And I think that, that these artists are doing so, but I think that they are, you know, exemplifying new forms of experiencing Puerto Ricanidades. Eladio Carrion is a child of the diaspora. Although he's from Umacao, Puerto Rico, he was an army brat and he moved all across the United States. And so he's bringing another sort of experience. And I think that's very important. I think it's what they showcase is this sort of plurality. And I think it's beautiful.
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Kusha Navadar
Let's go to Marie Carmen from North Brunswick, New Jersey. Hey, welcome to the show.
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Marie Carmen
Thank you. Thank you for having me. I was born and raised in Puerto Rico and I've been living in the States more years than the years that I have lived in the island. And I feel more Puerto Rican as every day passes by. And my son, who is from mixed heritage and race, racial background, I have exposed him to both the culture and the race of his father and myself. And when strangers ask him what is he or what is his identity, he responds Puerto Rican. And he speaks very little Spanish and understands perfectly the language. And when he answered the question of his identity, he proudly responds Puerto Rican. So I have done my job.
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Kusha Navadar
Marie Carmen, thank you so much for that. I'm looking at the clock. Unfortunately, we're gonna have to pause there just for time, but we've been talking to Dr. Jerrell Melendez Badillo, author of Puerto Rico A National History. To everyone who is going to the Puerto Rican Day parade, have a happy, wonderful, safe time. And Jerrel, thank you so much for hanging out with us.
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Dr. Jerrell Melendez Badillo
Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. Me?
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McDonald's Customer
Imma put you on, nephew.
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Dr. Jerrell Melendez Badillo
All right, unc.
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McDonald's Employee
Welcome to McDonald's. Can I take your order, miss?
- [32:09]
McDonald's Customer
I've been hitting up McDonald's for years. Now it's back. We need snack wraps. What's a snack wrap? It's the return of something great. Snack wrap is back.