Racism in Puerto Rco

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My personal belief on the matter is simply this: the is racism in Puerto Rico. Racism is everywhere, and while some countries have less than others, it is still existent. Because every country is made up of humans, and all humans are sinners, it is impossible to create a country that is completely free of racism. As sad as it is, there will always be some sort of racial divide until Jesus returns to the earth and sets up his kingdom here. Until that happens, we are all sinners in a sin filled world, and racism is a part of the sin in this world.

I will, however, admit that from the outside looking in, Puerto Rico does seem to have a lot less racism than other countries, such as the United States. Now, before I continue, let me preface this paragraph by stating that I have never lived in Puerto Rico. I have lived in the United States my whole life, and what you are about to read is my take on the amount of racism in Puerto Rico. I am basing this on information that I have gathered from the research I did in preparation for this paper.

For the argument that is believes there is racism in Puerto Rico, there are a few things that support it. The first thing is the evident class divisions. In Puerto Rico, The White Puerto Ricans are usually better off than the Black Puerto Ricans. White Puerto Ricans tend to get the better paying jobs, more important positions in the work place, and higher up positions in the Puerto Rican government. This isn’t the case every time however, as some Black Puerto Ricans are able to make a very good amount of money and some White Puerto Ricans make hardly any. These are rare cases though, and you do not see many like them.

Another way that can show that there is racism in Puerto Rico is how they treat people from the United States. As I mentioned earlier, a slang term for the people from our country is “Gringo”. While I also said that it normally is not used to be offensive, there are many people who use as a demeaning term. Puerto Ricans also tend to think that people from the United States are very racist, and often brag about how much better of a people they are than the United States. This is a subtler form of racism, where it is not in direct view, but hidden in the back corners of their mind as a prejudice.

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Now that I have given the argument supporting the ideal that there is racism in Puerto Rico, I will now give the argument that supports the ideal of Puerto Rico being “racist free”. The primary thing I found that supported this argument was all the personal accounts of people who have lived in Puerto Rico. The majority of articles that I read supported the “racism free” ideal, and supported it because of their personal lives in Puerto Rico. There was one account I mentioned earlier about the lady who was from Boston, and there was also an author of an article who stated that he always saw Puerto Ricans being happy together and the only time they talked about racism was when they were bragging about how little to no amount there is in Puerto Rico. Almost every article I read had an author from Puerto Rico that would repeatedly state how nice it was in Puerto Rico and how they loved the “racism free” aspect.

My final argument for the “racism free” ideal is this: Puerto Rico was much quicker than the United States to accept African Americans as equals openly. Granted, there is the class division I mentioned earlier, but most Black Puerto Ricans are, from what I could gather in my research, very happy with their lives, and are content with where they stand in society. Black Puerto Ricans have been accepted into society much better than the African Americans have been accepted into our society. In the United States, African Americans are still highly discriminated against just for their skin color, while in Puerto Rico they are accepted into society and allowed to apply for any role they would like.

Looking at these two arguments/ideals, one can see how some may say that there is no racism in Puerto Rico and how others can say that there is racism in Puerto Rico. My final thoughts on the matter are simply this: there is racism everywhere. No matter where you are, there will always be some sort of racism there. I believe this because the world is full of people who are sinners that will never be perfect. No matter how great you think you or your country are, there will always be some racism in you/it. This is because of our sin nature, and until we are in heaven, there will be racism in our lives. However, just because it is everywhere and always will be for now, this doesn’t mean that you cannot prevent it. As a Christian, we should try to be kind to everyone, no matter what color or nationality they are. We cannot stop racism, but we should try to see people through God’s eyes and stand up for people who are being discriminated against. Racism is a big sin that is very hard to see at times, but it is a sin we can fight against; we just need to trust God and do our best to live like him.

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Bibliography of Research

- Unspoken Truths of the American Ethnic Landscape

http://unspokenethnictruths.blogspot.com/2010/06/curious-case-of-racism-in-puerto-rico.html

- Is There Racism in Puerto Rico?

http://newtopuertorico.com/living-in-puerto-rico/is-there-racism-in-puerto-rico/

- Racism in Puerto Rico

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism_in_Puerto_Rico

- Puerto Rico Population (2017)

http://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/puerto-rico-population/

- Demographics of Puerto Rico

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Puerto_Rico#Demographic_statistics