CK Ledesma Borrero, a Puerto Rican artist living in Milwaukee, hopes there is a silver lining to Sunday’s Trump rally at Madison Square Garden.
CK Ledesma Borrero, 37, an interdisciplinary Puerto Rican artist in Milwaukee, echoed that perspective.
“It’s the way that the United States Empire has always seen Puerto Rico from its inception,” Borrero said.
Borrero’s work intertwines culture, identity and activism against the patriarchy and capitalism, among other social issues. A silver lining, Borrero said, is that more people may learn about the mistreatment of Puerto Rico after Sunday’s rally.
“Hopefully, this will make people understand that specific party does not have any kind of interest in representing us,” Borrero said.
Latinos make up an important voting bloc
Trump has referred to immigrants as “poisoning the blood of our country” and promised if he’s re-elected to undertake the “largest mass deportation in our country.”
And yet Republicans are, at the same time, courting the Latino vote.
Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, a Republican, voted against bipartisan immigration legislation earlier this year, and accused Biden of wanting to “flood” the U.S. with migrants because “they will eventually vote for Democrats.”
And yet last week, speaking at the Wisconsin GOP Hispanic Community Center on Milwaukee’s south side, Johnson said massive deportations are unrealistic. “They’re here, they’re working, they’re playing by the rules, they haven’t committed any crimes and stuff, that’s sort of the next layer (of immigration reform), and we’re going to figure out how to do that,” Johnson said.
Latinos make almost one-in-five people in the United States. Puerto Ricans make up the second-largest Latino group in the United States — behind Mexicans — with roughly 5.8 million people, according to the Pew Research Center. An additional 3.3 million live on the island.
In Wisconsin, Puerto Ricans make up 1.06% of the population, with just over 60,000 people, according to the most recent U.S. Census Bureau data. The overall Latino population in the state approaches a half million people, and increased almost 8% in the last decade. It is the largest of Wisconsin’s minority groups.
Forward Latino, a service and advocacy group based in Franklin, issued a statement Monday saying that despite the Trump campaign trying to distance itself from Hinchcliffe’s line, Trump’s actions while president suggest otherwise.
After Hurricane Maria in 2017, then-President Trump blocked the release of approximately $20 billion in emergency aid that the island was approved to receive. “Because of this,” said Forward Latino national president Darryl Morin, “numerous projects were canceled or delayed and the majority of the island was without power for over 10 months, causing the needless loss of additional American lives.”
Morin also pointed out that more than a quarter million Puerto Ricans had served in military engagements from World War I through today.
Last night’s comments reminded Hispanic and Latino communities, and all their allies, Morin said, that “American freedoms and benefits do not belong to just those of privilege, but to all Americans.”
Democratic vice presidential candidate Gov. Tim Walz, on a campaign stop in Waukesha on Monday, picked up on that theme of unity over division.
“Their closing argument last night was clear to the rest of the world: It’s about hate, it’s about division, it’s about dividing us,” Walz said in reference to the rally Sunday at Madison Square Garden. “Kamala Harris is out here making the case, as I am, with all of you, that this is a new way forward, an opportunity to be the president for all Americans.”
Cecil Negrón, 71, has played his conguero at several rallies to urge Latinos and minority voters to cast their ballot.
Cecil Negrón, 71, moved to Milwaukee from Ponce, Puerto Rico, when he was 8 years old. He said he’s tired of Puerto Rico being undervalued.
“We are Americans,” Negrón said.
Negrón, a Caribbean jazz musician, said he is focusing his energy on motivating Puerto Ricans and Latinos to get out and vote. This election season he’s played his conguero at several rallies urging Latinos and minority voters to cast their ballots.
“We are here,” he said, “and we are not going anywhere.”
USA Today contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Trump’s rally in NYC creates furious reaction because of bigotry, hate
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