[speaker001:] Okay, well, I don-, I mean, what thoughts do you have on the subject?
[speaker002:] Uh, you know, we even lived there for a, a while when my husband was in the Navy.
[speaker001:] Oh, you did?
[speaker002:] In fact the first year we were married, he was already over there, had been there two years when we got married and so our,
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] we had a one year honeymoon.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] Uh,
[speaker001:] That's wonderful.
[speaker002:] Uh, it was very nice, um.
[speaker001:] Well do you have, you probably have a different sense than I have. I went to an inner city high school in Chicago.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] Um, and that's not where I am originally from. It was a divorce situation of my parents.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] And it was a, a cultural shock to me.
[speaker002:] I'm sure.
[speaker001:] Uh, in terms of what I went through. The high school is now called, in fact, it was called Tulley High School and now it's called Roberto Clemente [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] [LAUGHTER] Roberto died while we were down there as a matter of fact.
[speaker001:] That, yeah, that's exactly, about twenty years now.
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] Uh, what was it like living there, I mean did you find that people appreciated having the privilege of being,
[speaker002:] It's like anywhere else. People are individuals and I find it really difficult an, and, frustrated trying to make stereotypes, you know.
[speaker001:] Right, I agree with that, yeah.
[speaker002:] And, uh, i-, I can understand the, the frustration you must have gone through, uh, going to the, the school, uh.
[speaker001:] We-, I didn't mean that in a totally negative sense.
[speaker002:] No, no, it's just, if, if it's not part of your culture,
[speaker001:] Right.
[speaker002:] and you come upon something that you're totally unprepared for,
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] uh, the firs-, I had gone to a very, uh, uh, [NOISE] [snapping fingers], um, conservative, uh, college and when I started teaching school it was in an inner city situation,
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] although it was not Puerto Rican, it was, uh, a Mexican American and black students.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] They weren't like any of the Mexican American or black people I had gone to school with so it was,
[speaker001:] Right, that you had ever been.
[speaker002:] it was very, very, different.
[speaker001:] Right, I mean, I'll give you and idea that I had, um, and I would say, I would say the ones, the majority appreciated what they were having in this country.
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] Uh, but a lot of the ones that didn't e-, even in the minority, not in the sense of the cultural world, word, they made it worse for the other kids in school. And, you know, Chicago, back then, even had bilingual classes.
[speaker002:] Oh, really.
[speaker001:] Yeah, and I mean, I had geometry, the teacher was from Cypress Greece and,
[speaker002:] Huh.
[speaker001:] it was, Spanish and English, so if you can imagine how I even go-, [LAUGHTER],
[speaker002:] Oh, my.
[speaker001:] And, I mean, and I guess I look at is as an enlightening sense.
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] Um, but I think basically, I think they should leave things the way they are right now, I mean, I don't really have enough in terms of an argument, pro or con in terms of making any type of change.
[speaker002:] I'm not, so much against their making, uh, it a state.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] But I would want a very, very, very clear majority, because if the minority can be so, vociferous, whether you're talking this group, or, or,
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] any other group that, that has a stake in something.
[speaker001:] Right, that's exactly.
[speaker002:] And they can make, as you said, uh, so well, the, a, a few can make it so miserable for everybody else.
[speaker001:] And that's exactly, I mean, I can remember instances that, uh, wasn't as, uh, you know, bad, Lord, I don't know how it would be today. Well I know what it looks like,
[speaker002:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] I've been back up for a reunion.
[speaker002:] That, that my give you a clue.
[speaker001:] It does, yeah, um, but its' , but it's an experience I wouldn't change, I mean my husband, um, grew up in, um, a majority, uh, WASP, southern Ohio, you know.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] So that, um, when he saw where I, you know, saw my later teenage years, he was just, I hate to say aghast, because that sounds so trite, but he was. And yet, how did I turn out the way I did turn out.
[speaker002:] Yeah, right. *needs slash unit
[speaker001:] And I said that's really irrelevant. What you find is that, um, if you can talk to like, I mean, I learned a lot about the, um, Island of Puerto Rico from talking to these kids.
[speaker002:] Oh, I'm sure,
[speaker001:] You know, and you lived there so you know that parts of it are beautiful and parts of it are squalor.
[speaker002:] Same as, as any other part of the world,
[speaker001:] Like here, yeah,
[speaker002:] really.
[speaker001:] it's the same.
[speaker002:] I, I don't, I don't think it's really to their best interests,
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] to, uh, uh, attain statehood as it is right now, they have the best of both worlds. They have, uh, representation,
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] but they don't have to pay all the taxes and so forth that we do.
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER] This is true.
[speaker002:] Uh, being that it's an island economy, um, everything is imported and yes, the cost of living is super high, but, but they're protected in so many ways without having to, to pay for the rights and privileges.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh, I know what you're saying, yeah, th-,
[speaker002:] So, so you know, I, I would just as soon, an, an, and, if, if they voted to, for independence, I would back them a hundred percent. And that's,
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] that's, because, I, I guess, because I'm not into territorialism or whatever, that we have been in the past.
[speaker001:] Right, right, I probably would say the something if I knew that inte-, intellectually that it was good and emotionally that the people there wanted it.
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] You know, it's just, um, I mean, r-, right now they have the privilege of voting with the United States, don't they.
[speaker002:] Yeah, yeah.
[speaker001:] They count, yeah, as a principle, that's what I thought. Um, but I've also been down there. We traveled a lot to the B V I, the British Virgin Islands.
[speaker002:] Oh, yes, uh-huh.
[speaker001:] So you always pass through San Juan in going to places like or.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] I, um, and it's just, it's, I think what they do need is an infusion of some of the United States, um, privileges, some of our resources. The educational, the teachers, the, um,
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] academic opportunity, you know, I don't think we do en-, do enough of a resource transfer, if there is such a thing.
[speaker002:] Part of that though has been, I think, uh, selected by, by them,
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] in that, that whereas they want the benefits of some of, of what the continentals can offer, they,
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] they want to maintain that, um, culture of theirs,
[speaker001:] Uh,
[speaker002:] which, which I understand.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] And, and so often when you, when you bring in the advantages, the resources and so forth, there, there is a trade.
[speaker001:] They'll lose their ethnicity as they say, yeah. That's,
[speaker002:] Most of the people who that i-, that I know about who really, uh, would, fa-, favor statehood,
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] have pretty much assimilated into the, the continental states already.
[speaker001:] See,
[speaker002:] Or they have family here and this way they can go back and forth and, and it's not that much of a strain, and,
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] you know, they're kind of lackadaisical about it.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] At least at the present time. That's the way, the way the pendulum seems to be swinging, right now.
[speaker001:] It sounds like you probably know qui-, I mean to this day are you still in touch with any native Puerto Ricans that you have made friends with, or,
[speaker002:] [Sigh] No, we really didn't keep that up, it's just,
[speaker001:] No, that's natural, I just thought I'd ask that because I wondered what you thought they might think.
[speaker002:] Um.
[speaker001:] Because I really don't have any, um, personal or professional or familial ties down there. I don't know, the peop-, the, the, the, that's just children, but the, the people that I went to high school with, um, I think the majority are in that, the, probably the generation, yours and mine and the one right after us, that, um, their parents did not want to acclimate to the United States.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] Um, in terms of retaining, um, and my background's European heritage and their background it would be, you know, the, we-, I guess I would say the la-, Latin or Latino heritage.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] Not speaking in English, um, having the children drive them everywhere, and these were not old people. These were like in their early forties.
[speaker002:] Um.
[speaker001:] Um, and I always, that always bothered me and then there were some children that I noticed as soon as all the kids were out of high school, I mean they went back to Puerto Rico to live. You know, they had made enough money here.
[speaker002:] And so th-,
[speaker001:] But on the other hand, I guess it's all about choice [LAUGHTER]
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] in everything. Um, was it, I mean how were they toward, that's interesting the, the way, term you used continentals, which I'm sure is the proper term. How were they toward the United States in terms of just general, relationships, I mean, were they glad?
[speaker002:] There really were three major, um, camps,
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] and there were those who, who, uh, were very friendly, very open, any, anything we can do for you, uh, uh, either way, you know, was great. And then there were those at the other end of the spectrum and those that, ho hum, whatever,
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER] Yeah.
[speaker002:] you know, and, and, uh, it, it was interesting, the whole time we were there it was very, very political. There was always some, on Sunday afternoons, uh, going through the, all the little urbanizations, the little neighborhoods with, uh,
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] blow horns, oh, I can't think of the term but, you know.
[speaker001:] I know what you're talking about yeah.
[speaker002:] And with banners and, and a parade of vehicles with their, with their colors of the,
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] of a particular party. So they were very, very, um, passionate,
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] about their beliefs but it, it, it kind of broke down that you couldn't really see, I couldn't see that there was a clear majority that, that stayed. It seemed to shift as, as,
[speaker001:] Yeah, I don't, I don't predict, what you're describing is actually a conflict, very dif-, [beep] hello, uh, you know what, I've got to go, because that's my cordless battery going.
[speaker002:] Oh, oh, I see, okay [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] I'm sorry [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] Well I have enjoyed it.
[speaker001:] I enjoyed talking to you and, uh, thank you for your time.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] Okay, bye-bye [beep].
[speaker002:] Bye-bye.