And not just Puerto Rico, the Hispanic culture, there's a lot of racism that goes on and it's dark skin and light skin, right? Talk a little bit about that in terms of Puerto Rican culture.

Yeah, that exists, yeah, till this day still. Um, you know, uh, one of the phrases that was very common in Puerto Rico was, uh, Uh, when babies were born, the grandmothers and the aunts would say, was the baby con pelo bueno or pelo malo? Was he born with good hair or bad hair?

We'll discuss race and how it plays a factor and how we didn't even talk about this topic because we were afraid.

A Black Executive Perspective.

Welcome to a Black Executive Perspective podcast, a safe space where we discuss all matters related to race. Especially race in corporate America. I'm your host, Tony Tidbit. And again, we're at this fabulous studio at the university of New Haven. WNHU 88. 7. We want to give them mad love. For hosting a Black Executive Perspective podcast, talk about another serious topic. So go charge, chargers and keep kicking butt this summer. Also, I'm pretty sure you guys have been, but if you haven't continued to check out our partners, CodeM Magazine, whose mission is to save the black family by first saving the black man, check them out at CodeMMagazine. com. So let me ask you guys a question. Have Have you ever heard of the phrase, no taxation without representation? I'm pretty sure you have. It's one of the founding rally cries of the American revolution that led to the American independence. To quote the hit Broadway show, Hamilton written by the great Puerto Rican playwright, Lin Manuel Miranda, the main character, Alexander Hamilton says, Why should a tiny country across the sea regulate the price of tea? Today, our guest, Adrian Alvarado, will discuss the still overlooked narrative of Puerto Rico's status as a pro, uh, oppressed island colony of the United States and the implications it has over a century. on the people of Puerto Rico and the island's ability to self govern and to be free. Let me tell you a little bit about my man, Double A, Adrian Alvarado, accomplished Puerto Rican American actor and author with a rich, diverse career spanning both print, television, and film. His big break came on the ABC's long running daytime soap opera, General Hospital. where he portrayed the character of Detective Cruz Rodriguez for three years. Adrian's portrayal of Detective Rodriguez earned him recognition for his exceptional talent and established him as a working actor with credits such as Marvel's The Punisher, Law Order SVU, Blue Bloods, to name a few. Adrian now can add author to his credentials. With his soon to be released memoir, Flipping My Script, Adrian dives into the diaspora of the Puerto Rican and Latinx experience in America, tying in family and a unique and complicated relationship between Puerto Rico and the United States of America. Double A, Adrian Alvarado. Welcome to a Black Executive Perspective, my brother. Oh, thank you. Thank you very much. Excited, man. Now listen, just so everybody knows. People are like, didn't I understand double A? I heard that before. Yeah, Adrian's been on the Black Executive Perspective. He's one of our producers. He's been a founding member of BEP. So this is nothing new for him. The only difference is now he's on this side of the camera, right? We got Noelle now, uh, in the background, pulling all the levers and make this look good. So we're very excited, uh, for him to be here. Talk about this topic that a lot of people don't talk about. I'm looking forward to, to it as well, because he's going to educate me on my lack of knowledge of the history of Puerto Rico and what's going on today. So buddy. Real quick, tell everybody a little bit about you, and then we want to find out why you wanted to come on BEP to talk about this. Well, you

know, we love BEP. Thank you. Thank you very much for having me. It's nice to be on the other side of the glass. Thank you, Noelle, our fabulous producer. Um, Noelle, you know, I grew up in Jersey City. You know, I was born and raised in Jersey City, uh, in the two months. You know, I was brought to Puerto Rico. Uh, you know, my, both my parents lived there. We have a home there. Uh, I went to school in Puerto Rico for two years as well in Jersey City. So I enjoy that duality of having, you know, being able to experience both Puerto Rico and Jersey. So it brings that uniqueness of my experience when we talk about Puerto Rico and the relationship with the United States.

Got you buddy, awesome. So, and just so we're clear, you were born in Puerto Rico and then you came to the United States, is that correct? No, no, I was born

in Jersey City. You was born in Jersey City, got it. Yeah, yeah, my parents were born in Puerto Rico. Your parents were born in Puerto Rico. And then, you know, uh, I would go every summer and spend summers, you know, with my grandmother until I was twelve years old. Got it. Uh, but no, I was born in Jersey City. That was, that was one of my dad's, uh, you know, my dad's a man of a few words. Yeah, right. But he said, one of my main goals when I asked him, I said, What do you want when you came to America? I wanted my kids to be born in the United States. That was like his, he didn't want to be rich, he didn't want to

be rich, he's one of those kids born in the United States, right? All my kids born in the

United States, I love this country, he's a funny guy.

So your father, you still have a lot of family in Puerto Rico, on the yards, correct? Yeah,

yeah, I still have my roots there, my father's still living on the island, uh, cousins, my uncle's still living on the island, and uh, yeah, I have some cousins.

I can tell you flat out and I'm at least speaking from my knowledge and I would imagine a lot of other people feel the same way. Puerto Rico is a part of the territory of the United States, but a lot of us really don't have a lot of information about Puerto Rico. So why did you want to come on BEP to talk about this?

Well, because I, one, I love Puerto Rico, you know, and it's, uh, and it's my ancestral home, you know, uh, it's where my parents were from. It's where my history starts. And, uh, you know, I, I just, you know, when I was a kid, I, I started this self discovery journey. So I just always just wanted to learn more about myself. And the more I learn about myself, uh, the more I want to share about Puerto Rico. Because I run into a lot of, a lot of Puerto Ricans who are here. Who don't know the history, you know, and then there are a lot of people, you know, I lived in California for 12 years and, you know, predominantly, you know, Mexican Americans out there. So, you know, when they would run, run into me and say, Oh, you're Puerto Rican, you know, you guys, you know, reggaeton, you know, just, uh, so it was different. They don't, they don't know anything about, you know, that we were citizens, for example, you know, that, you know, uh, every Puerto Rican is a United States citizen automatically. So we'll get into that though, too.

Well, listen, bro. Let's, let's start the history lesson. Let's start learning the knowledge, the enlightenment. So double A, you ready to talk about it, my brother? Let's talk about it. All right, bro. So when I was going through the description, we talked about. Puerto Rico being a colony, right? So can you define just for everybody, let's start off on letter A. So everybody is on the same page. What, what's the definition of a colony? Talk a little bit about the history of Puerto Rico. All right. Well, I'm going to just

read it, just read it out. Not going to be my definition. Okay. But colony is a territory that is under the political control of a distant country. Right. Known as the colonizing or Imperial power. Sounds like star Wars, right?

I mean, yeah, a place far, far away. Far, far away.

My boss is far, far away. Uh, so typically colonies are established through conquest, settlement, uh, or annexation, and they are subject to the laws, governance, and economic policies of the colonizing nation. Okay. In a nutshell. All right.

So, so, now that's, we got the definition of colony. Now let's, let's, let's go all the way back. Talk about Puerto Rico, its history. How it was established, give us some, give us some education.

Well, you know, long story short, you know, a lot of folks know this, but for those who don't know, Puerto Rico was colonized by Spain in 1493. Uh, and leading to the decimation of the indigenous Taino population. And then establishing an agricultural economy based on coffee, sugar, and tobacco. Uh, after over 400 years of Spanish rule, Puerto Rico was ceded to the United States after the Spanish American War. Right? Uh, it became, in 1898, it became an unincorporated territory. subject to sovereignty, uh, uh, but, but not fully integrated in the nation. Right. So it was just a status that continues to influence, you know, the political and economic relationship with the United States today, you know.

Okay, buddy. And then, so, and just when you say 1493, I start thinking Christopher Columbus. Yep. So was, was Christopher Columbus the one that And I hate to use the word founded, but

he was, he's credited for discovering, you know, America, you know, but he landed in his second voyage. He landed in Puerto Rico. Okay. In his first voyage, he landed in the, in Haiti. That was his first, uh, uh, and he named it Espanola. And then once they made a settlement there, he wrote back to Isabella and then they started, you know, navigating the whole, the whole Caribbean and started discovering Cuba, uh, you know, Puerto Rico and such.

Got it. And then, so obviously. when you come on somebody's territory, right? Even though you want to call it another name, even though there's people already there, right? Um, and they most likely were friendly. Hey, come on in. We'd love to meet you. Right. But when you read the definition of colony or colonization, that means you're coming in and you're taking over. All right. And then now you're, you're making these people, uh, more subjects than friends. So talk a little bit about the colonization and the oppressed, the oppressment, the, excuse me, how people were oppressed. Um, from their conquerors, uh, back from 1493.

Well, you know, long story short, you know, Taino actually means peace. Um, so that's the first word that they said to Columbus when he landed. Uh, and he named them Taino Indians. Uh, but they're, they're actually called Arawak Indians. So that's their real native name. Uh, but you know, it started there. You know, they brought them, you know, Gold and beads and parrots and all of these things and I mean his eyes went like this We found it right, you know,

so they were being friendly

They were

sharing some of the wealth and minerals and stuff of that nature of the land with their new friend and then all of a sudden, you know, it became Jekyll Hyde

Yeah, Jekyll Hyde, you know, you know, they grabbed one of the swords and cut themselves You could see right away that they had no weapons and didn't know of weapons. He's like, Oh yeah, we can easily take over these people with 50, 50 men. And that's what they did.

Wow. Wow. And then so people have been oppressed. Yeah. Talk a little bit about the history of the people from that time frame up to before it became a, uh, excuse me, a territory in 1898.

Well, yeah, I want to define oppressed. Oppressed really means, you know, when somebody has control of you, right? So, you know, when somebody's in control of you, You know, that's oppression. And then you can add to that with, you know, physical oppression, mental oppression, stuff like that. But you know, uh, Puerto Rico means rich port, so it became a rich port, right, of people coming to the island, the Spaniards, you know, uh, you know, and then they started bringing, you know, The slave trade, that's when it started opening up and you started getting a mix and those are the people that I'm really talking about. I'm not talking about the Spanish elite who ran the island and still do run the island to be honest with you. Right, right. Um, so those people did fine. Right. I'm talking about the modernization since the United States has taken over, right? Because, you know, you had, you had, you know, you had Spain, you know, you had some oppression and I'll speak into, uh, you know, In a little bit, I'll speak into, you know, when the revolts first started, right, uh, because what happens naturally, you know, you start making the peasants work the fields, you know, and you don't pay them nothing. I'm tired of this. Stuff like that. There's no hospitals. People start pushing. They have no hygiene, you know, and stuff like that. And we had, you know, these great doctors like Emeritus Batanzas. Let me, I'll get into that. I don't want to mess up his name.

So thanks for that, man. So can you do us a favor and talk a little bit about, you know, we were talking about oppression. Talk a little bit about, you know, how the colony in the United States, how it impacted the people and its ability to really govern itself.

So you know, uh, according to the history books, right, the United States liberated Puerto Rico from Spain, right, uh, in 1898. Right. So right after that happened, we're going to go back to why, you know, Spain had its foot on our throat. You know, we had two major revolts, El Grito del Ares, and at some, in 1868. And, and shortly after that, Spain promised to give us independence, that we were going to run our own island, our own country. And shortly after that, The Spanish American War happened. Right? So then those plans went out of the way. Like, what Spain promised, the United States was like, And, uh, we, we didn't promise you nothing.

Well, yeah, because the United States won they won

and they ceded Puerto Rico to us, right? So, then right after that, there was a big hurricane that happened, right? San Cediaco destroyed thousands of the island's farms, right? It's like nearly an, the entire year's coffee crop, right? So right away we start the relationship with, because we have hurricanes, unfortunately, it's a beautiful place, but in the Caribbean, there's always a hurricane. And this was the beginning of the non responses that we get. You know, we recently experienced this with Maria, you know, and it was modern times, you know, where my people were in the dark for six months, right? And we had, you know, we had our president throwing paper towels at everybody. Right, right, right. Um, so this goes back to this, right? So after that hurricane, you know, everything's decimated, uh, and all the crops are lost, and the U. S. sends no money, right? So, okay, you don't send any money. So instead, the following year, they pass the law, right? They actually, the following year, they outlawed Puerto Rican currency, right, and then declared that the island's peso, you know, they didn't recognize it anymore, and it lost 40 percent of its value. Right? So, right after the hurricane, Then they, they devalue our currency, so now we can be dependent on their currency, right? And then every Puerto Rican lost 40 percent of, of their money overnight, right? So then the very next year, in 1901, I'm going to read this here, they passed the Hollander Act, right? Which raised taxes on every farmer, right? So not only you took this island, you let the hurricane just reset everything, oh, you know what? Let them, let them see how they're going to need our money, right? for a little bit. Then you're going to devalue the currency, right? Right? You're not going to help, right? Then you're going to pass and raise taxes on the farmer. So what happens? The farmers, you know, uh, less cash, you know, 40 percent less income that they had. They had to borrow money, right? From who? The US banks, right? There was no usury. What's the word? Usury law restrictions. Uh, so interest rates were so high, you know, that within a decade, Farmers were defaulting on their loans and guess what happened? The banks foreclosed on their land.

Let me ask you this. I think I know the answer, but I'd love to hear it from you. So, the United States wins the war, the Spanish and American war. They gain these territories, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, and San Domingo in the Philippines, right?

Not sure about Jamaica, but it's a British territory.

Okay, and, um, and, uh, So they gain these territories. Why would they, if they gain in land, and the people that are there, um, and they, and the people, and, and all the resources that are there are probably great for the United States, why would they devalue the currency, and then more importantly, try to get everybody to foreclose? Tell me a little bit about that.

Well, I mean, the why is, you know, is a good question. It's just control, right? I mean, if you take, you know, you're colonizing a country, now you want to assimilate. Right. That would be my main thing. Right. And there's also a racial factor to it. I think. Right. You know, I mean, there were peasants, you know, my, my ancestors were cane cutters, you know, they were, they were poor people. Right. You know, so there's that aspect too. It was like, I'm going to get into how they looked at us when we get into our next segment. I'll tell you, maybe this is one of the reasons, and it'll, it'll explain to you exactly why, how they look at us.

Right. Yeah. Right. So, so that, that's, that's a So, right off the bat, as you be, as Puerto Rico becomes a part of the United States, the people there are already behind the eight ball, okay? They were behind the eight ball when Spanish ruled. And then when they came here to the United States, not even when they came, when the United States took over the territories, they even pushed them further behind the eight ball. Is that correct? That's correct. Okay. So tell us, man, who was Charles Herbert Allen?

So I'm gonna, some of the information I just gave you, I grabbed from the specific book, right? All this information is around in the archives of the United States. Uh, but I'm gonna reference a book by, uh, Nelson Dennis, right? Who is the author of a book called War Against All Puerto Ricans. Um, Nelson Dennis is just real quick, he's a former, uh, Uh, representative in New York State Assembly, you know, from 18, 1997, 2000, uh, in New York 68, uh, Assembly, just to give you a little bit about his background. And his district included East Harlem, Spanish Harlem neighborhoods, which were highly populated by Latinos. Uh, and he's half Cuban, half Puerto Rican. But in his book, he goes into detail on, on this topic and many, and presents a valid argument on how the U. S. declared war against Puerto Ricans. So Charles Herbert Allen, he was the first. Civilian US governor of Puerto Rico, right? And he was appointed by 1900 and he was appointed by then president William McKinley and in my opinion He was he was the greatest pirate of the Caribbean. I mean he had nothing on Jack Sparrow, man He's got this guy raided Raided the island, right? So okay. He was appointed by McKinley He was only their governor for 17 months, but in that time he single handedly stole And wired the whole entire economy of Puerto Rico to the United States, right? And he built himself a nice empire in the meantime, right? And that empire is still very prominent and profitable to this day. And

it's Just to be clear, he was the first governor. He was the first Because they allowed them to be able to vote for governorship and stuff like that.

No, not at all. Not at all. So, you know, you had When Spain controlled the island, they had their own governors, Ponce de Leon, but they were all Spanish, they were appointed by the crown. Nobody voted. It wasn't a democracy, it was, we were ruled by the king, Queen Elizabeth in Spain, you know, the kings and queens from Spain. Almost a similar thing to American Revolution, you know, we were ruled by, you know, King Henry over there, you know, it's like whoever was the king at the time. He wasn't here. Right. Right. So, um, I lost my train of thought there, wait.

No, no, no, we were talking about them, the governor. Yeah,

so the first appointed governor. So basically before that, it was all Spanish governors that were appointed. And then, when the United States took over, they appointed their own governor, from here. And his name was Charles Herbert Allen, and he was only there for 17 months. But then he raided Oh yeah, so I'm gonna read an excerpt here, uh, from Mr. Nelson's book, War Against Puerto Ricans, right? Uh, but the company that he started, I'm just gonna say it, it's Domino Sugar. Okay? So, you know, everybody's got it in their house. So that's my, that's our inheritance.

And, and, before you go there,

why is sugar important? Well, you know, we were agriculture, right? It was sugar, tobacco, and coffee. We produced the most sugar in the world. And at that time, there was a law that passed. Uh, we're gonna get deeper into this, because that's a whole other subject, but there was a law specifically passed that they started adding sugar to all the food products in, in America. So sugar became a prominent, and that's why Puerto Rico became very, and Guam, and all these, all of a sudden, the United States were like, we're very interested in their sugar. Because everything was gonna change. Right? Food wise. Uh, look at that, we're a sugar based eating country. Right? It's just sugar and everything. Everything, yeah. Okay. But before that, people ate pretty good. Pretty clean. So, that coincided with this. Mr, Mr. Allen was there and, uh, I'll read an excerpt from War Against Puerto Ricans. And he wrote in his first annual report to President McKinley, and I'm going to quote, The year, the yield of sugar is greater than any other country in the world. Molasses and rum, the incidental products of sugarcane, are themselves sufficient to pay all expenses of the sugar planters and leave the returns from his sugar as pure gain. Okay. The introduction of fresh blood is needed. The island population is unfit to assume management of their own affairs, and labor of the natives can be used to benefit all parties. Thrift and industry have always marked the pathway of the Anglo Saxon. End quote. All right. So Domino Sugar continues today to generate a billion dollars minimum a year.

So that's Domino Sugar. So, so sugar, they use sugar as exportation. Any other material, how, how else did they raid the island?

Well, you know, uh, By destroying, eventually controlling the sugar industry, right? And what started happening, you know, they would start paying, you know, the peasants, you know, a dollar a day. And then come back, refine the sugar, and try to sell them the sugar for two dollars. Right? Right. So this started happening. Right? And then a few things started happening where, you know, uh, you had leaders come up that were, you know, fighting for these rights and that, that's, that's been, that's just the beginning of the fight when, when, when we were being taken over. Uh, the political movements started, there was a big independent movement that started in 1868, you know, just like Cuba had a revolution, you know, we tried in 1868 and another time after that, twice. So it wasn't like we were never trying to get our independence. Always, it was always just independent group there. Um, so, and it's also a very strategic place. It isn't just sugar. You know, uh, Puerto Rico, besides being a resort island, is a military base. So that was the beginning of the transcontinental, you know, where the, they were starting to build the Panama Canal. Right? So they, where did they pass through? They got to go to Puerto Rico. So having strategic military point that protected shipping. Think about it, right? Because I had British Islands, you have Okinawa Islands, and you know, if we're there, right, then at least we could, then that's what they do. Right. I literally was in vacation. I go there every year, and before we go, we always stay somewhere, and we were near the airport, and every 25 minutes there were F 18s taking off. Okay. From the international airport. Right. And people were wondering why, and we figured it out. At the time, the president was vacationing in a nearby island, somewhere else. I forget the name of the island. And they were just patrolling.

Right. So tell us a little bit about the people, right? So, Puerto Rican people, you know, uh, you know, you had span, Spanish people, you know, obviously it was a slave trade as well. So slaves were, came over. So there's a, uh, Afro Spanish level. So talk a little bit about the people, you know, in terms of their ethnicity. And then, like you were saying earlier, Hey, some, a few times we were trying to become independent, but it didn't happen. So talk a little bit about that.

Okay. Well, you know, we're, we're a melting pot, you know, like I said, we're a rich port. You know, starting with, you know, obviously we still have, uh, you know, in my DNA, I still have indigenous blood. I have 18 percent DNA from Puerto Rico, Caribbean area. It says so. We're still, we're still here. Um, and then you had the fusion, obviously, of the Spanish. You know, the Spaniards, uh, and the Conquistadores who came to the island and then, you know, shortly after that, you know, they brought in, you know, the African slaves, you know, and then there was a mixture between, you know, the peasant Puerto Ricans and the Africans. So there's also that melting pot, you know, with the Afro Latinos, which is my grandmother. Um, and you know, we are, you know, we, we come in all shapes and colors, you know, uh, my, my grandmother comes from the mountains of Cuamo and they moved to Salinas and they were just simple people, you know, just living off the land, you know, uh, chickens, you know, she had her own chickens, she had her own pig pen, you know, I grew up in the eighties doing all that stuff with her, you know, she was just, you know, feeding the chickens in the morning in the late afternoon. She had this canal that would run past the house and I So to me, that was Puerto Rico. That gives you a sense of the people. That's who I was then. You know, as a kid, just playing. You know, climbing the mango trees. You know, the canepa trees, this fruit that we have there. Uh, so it was just like, it was like an Eden for me when I was a kid. You know, so my experience of being in Puerto Rico was very rich. And everything changed when we would come to the States, which is stuff that I would, that I talk about in my upcoming book, where it's like, I, I felt rich in Puerto Rico. And even though we were here in the United States, we would go hungry, you know, and my grandmother always had her own chickens. So she never went hungry. You know what I mean? So there's that. So we lived off the land, man. Most, most of the population lived off the land.

Was, so let me ask you this. Was, Some of the people, were they open to being Americans or being American territorial with some people like, we don't want this. So talk a little bit about the political ramifications, you know, in terms of now becoming the territory of the United States. And then to your point, you know, um, people coming over here now in the United States, because I believe it's Chicago, Philadelphia, New York city, uh, you don't have the biggest Puerto Rican populations.

Actually Hartford does now. They used to. Hartford here in Connecticut has the biggest Puerto Rican population in the United States. Unbelievable. Um, but yes, it's, it's changed, you know, throughout the, the century. Right. You know, because you know, you're first taking over your agricultural, you have no infrastructure. Right. Because it's totally destroyed. Right. So now you are really dependent on the United States. Right. And in that time, you gotta remember it was the twenties, thirties, and forties. Yeah. World War I. Yeah, World War II. There was a lot going on in the world. So there was a very important reason that the United States wanted to be there. Right? And they also needed soldiers.

Correct.

Okay? They needed soldiers. So they, they, they, they passed an act that immediately, you know, enlisted twenty You know, you know, uh, millions of, you know, Port, Port, 20, 000 Puerto Ricans into the, into the minimum. Where they send them? They send them to the Panama Canal because they speak Spanish. So there was, there's all these layered reasons, right? And then, you know, you, you had guys, you had gentlemen like, uh, Pedro Albizu Campos, who, who was one of the main leaders at the time. Um, he was a, Harvard educated individual. His father was a Spanish merchant and his mother was mulata, right? Oh, well, sorry, she was Afro Latina, but they were called mulata on the island. Um, so he was shunned. Long story short, this guy was the smartest person. He spoke many languages. He, he, they wanted him to be, uh, you know, a clerk for the, in the, in Washington for the Supreme, you know, he was going to be a judge, you know, like a judge, big time. Um, and. He joined the military. I'm going to tell you his story, because this tells you a lot about the movement. It's not really about the independence movement. I don't want to get too caught up in it. I'm just going to touch on it. Where, you know, Albus Ducampos went to the military. And he was an officer. And he enlisted. And they stationed him with the black people. with the black battalion because he was, he was sort of brown skin, you know, he was in between, kind of a little dark, a little darker than me. I'm a light Puerto Rican, you know, considered. Um, so his experience when he was stationed down in the south and how he was treated. And how, you know, he saw he was treated, and the blacks were treated, and he was always the smartest person in the room, changed his perspective. He wanted independence from that moment. He wanted nothing to do with being a clerk here. He went to Puerto Rico and defended the farmers. You know, he was their lawyer. Right. Right. Um, but, you know, he got really radical. So the United States were like, eh, we don't like you. They turned on him. Yeah, they turned on him. And we can, that's a whole nother, that's a whole nother podcast about Mr. Aldo Sucampos. Right. But he was, uh, uh, you know, uh, at that time the leader of the independent movement. And they're still there. They're still there. That, that group is still there. Still wanting independence. Uh, the, the island currently has voted to become a state. You know, so there's, there's a, people feel a lot of certain ways. Guys like my, my dad, you know, he loves America. You know, he's like, it gave me every opportunity I want. He, he, you can't say nothing bad about America to my dad. Right. He's old school like that. He's 78 years old. He's like, Oh, I love America. I love, you know, it's like, well, you know, the best, you know. Um, so you, you know, guys like my dad love this country. Right. You know, and there are some who hate it. You know, not hate it, but like, just wanna be their own person. They wanna be their own country, or, you know, hate, I didn't mean you, but they just wanna be their, can we run our own stuff? Right. You know what I mean? What's, what the heck? You know? So there, there's always that faction, they're still there. Right. Um, and that's, uh, you know, the politics, the politic, the politics of Puerto Rico, you know, they, they're, they're, they're, they're feisty. Yeah. I love 'em. It's a little more feisty over here now, but they, they've always been feisty over there,

so. Just recently there was a Puerto Rican Day Parade in New York City, right, you know, hundreds of thousands of people came out Um, people wave in their flags, right? So, talk to a little bit about the pride of Puerto Rico for people who still, who now live in the United States.

Yeah, uh, yeah, I mean, you know, I get that a lot, too. They say, why, why, Puerto Ricans, you guys love your flag. You know, you dress yourself, you make it a cape. You know, you, you, you, you, you. Seriously, you know, people walk around, my sister was walking around with a cape in the Puerto Rican Day Parade. Uh, you know, it's, it's such a pride. It's a prideful thing because, you know, under the U. S. rule, there was a, there was a strong push to Americanize Puerto Rico at the time, you know, and they were imposing, you know, English in schools, uh, promoting American culture, you know, aiming to just assimilate Puerto Ricans and just erase their cultural, our cultural identity, you know, uh, By also passing a law in 1948 called the gag law, right? We call, you know, la ley de la mordasa, as we call it. And basically it prevented you, it forbade you from owning the flag, displaying the flag in your home, speaking against independence, saying anything bad against the United States. Like you couldn't say a speech and say, Hey, these tyrants, you go to jail.

So it was basically all about reprogramming, reprogramming, right? So forget your history, forget your flag, you, and then if you did it, you went to jail. If you promoted the flag or you spoke against it. So we talk about democracy, right? We talk about, you know, non dictatorship rule, right? And everybody, but then, you know, But in this situation they incorporated that you got to do this and and be this way. So it's part of that Reprogramming re I don't we saw a repatriate, but it's just really trying to brainwash people to forget who they are and assimilate Into the U.S. Culture

and mr. Albus who couples went to jail for that Like he was arrested like, you know, they released the FBI files. This is all all out there You know where he was arrested many times right after a speech right him in jail for 10 years You Ten years. All right? And he's our hero. He's a, he's a, to the island, Mr. Campos is, you know, he's our, he's our MLK. He's, he's our Mandela. Like he was, he was that guy at the time, you know, and he sacrificed his life, you know, for, for independence, you know? Um, so yeah, you know, the gag law. I mean, that, that, that was a real, that was a real thing. You know, you couldn't sing a patriotic song. Right? You couldn't sing a patriotic song. How

long was that for?

Uh,

You said 1948? It was in

1948 and shortly after that, uh, you had guys like Luis Munoz, uh, Marin, who became the first Puerto Rican voted governor of the island. Uh, who, he was more, he's the guy who made the deal. Right? With America. And it was his Operation Bootstrap that happened to change the whole economy. of the island from agriculture to, you know, uh, you know, where there was manufacturing.

So talk about Operation Bootstrap.

Well, um, Operation Bootstrap basically, uh, you know, I wasn't prepared to, but Operation Bootstrap is, you know, was, was passed with, uh, Luis Munoz Marin and it basically started, that's what, that was the big migration that led to the migration in New York City, you know, and everywhere in America, you know.

I think I read from 1950 to 1970. Like 25 percent of the population came to the U. S. Yeah, my

grandparents were

one of them. Yeah, and they called it the big migration.

Yeah, my grandfather, uh, after World War II, uh, you know, he was on a, he was discharged. I'm not sure why, but he was serving. And shortly after that, you know, he, he moved to Jersey. Jersey City, with my grandma. And I had my dad.

So, talk to us about the current status of Puerto Rico, my friend. Because I know, you know, You know, um, you talked about hurricane before, you had the major hurricane in 2015, Maria pretty much wiped out. It was a direct hit, pretty much wiped out a lot of the island. Um, so talk, tell us a little bit about what's going on today.

Well, today, you know, it's, you're going to, you know, we're still, so throughout the 20th century, Puerto Ricans have pushed for more, you know, autonomy, you know, self determination, you know, while the establishment of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, which happened in 1952, granted it. self government, right? So that's when, you know, you had guys like Luis Munoz Marin and Nabi Sucampos. They were there. They were, they were both partners at the time. And eventually, you know, Marin went on his own. Um, but, you know, Now we have, despite, despite having this, we have a, we have no representation. Basically we go back to no taxation without representation.

So speak on that because that was the key. We talked about no taxation, which the founding fathers, that was a rallying cry, right? So speak to that right here from a Puerto Rican standpoint.

So what we, what we mean by that is that, you know, Puerto Ricans on the island cannot vote for president of the United States. So they have no, no right, no voting rights.

So they keep women. So let's stop right there for a second. And again, educate me because I don't know. I thought, even though they're a commonwealth, they're all U. S. citizens, but they don't have voting rights?

On the island, if you live on the island, if you're a resident of Puerto Rico, you cannot vote for the President of the United States, because you're a commonwealth.

And then, I think the other thing I read, there's not, they're not part of the electoral college, is that correct? No, no, no, not at all.

Well, not a state. Yeah. Right? Uh, I can vote. Yeah, because you, you're, yeah, yeah. But the ones on the island have no representation, and in Congress, we have what's called a resident commissioner in Congress. So there's a, there's a Congress person that we vote for on the island to represent us in Congress, to advocate for us. But that Congress woman, who is currently, um, Jennifer Gonzalez, who I predict to be the next governor of Puerto Rico, that's gonna happen in November. Um, but she's there, but she has no vote. So, she can't vote for politics, she can't vote for anything. She's just there. Hey, Puerto Rico. Just as a figurehead, right? Yeah, yeah, Puerto Rico needs this. Hey, how about, you know, like, just, just there, representing us. So, there's no vote. Wow. There's no vote. So, that's what we mean. No taxation. So, we're being taxed.

But you're being taxed. Wait a minute. If I remember correctly, what you were saying, You know, back in 1800, 1900 under McKinley, taxes went up 40%. Oh

no, they took our money, the 40%.

So now, they're still taxing you. But you don't have no representation from a political standpoint.

Not at all. Not at all. Yeah, and you know, the debate persists whether, you know, Puerto Rico should become a state and independence, you know, a lot of people want it to become a state, but you know, if you really look at this political landscape, there's no way you're going to, you're going to want this, either political parties are going to want, you know, almost 2 million Puerto Ricans in Puerto Rico voting for president of the United States.

Let me ask you this though, because I think I read something and it said that, um, you know, they, they put it up to vote for a couple of times. And it came close to passing, but they didn't get a big, they didn't get no, yeah, it died out. Right. So, and that's the people. So what, you know, what's their mindset are, you know, because if, if to your point, if some people are like, Hey, this is probably better for us economically, if we become if statehood and let's be fair, Hawaii became a state, Alaska became a state. And let's be fair. We both know they became states more strategic military situations. Right. Um, because Hawaii is 5, 000 miles away from mainland right? At least from the East Coast. From L. A. to California is a little closer, but still. Um, so why did it die out? Is it just

Well, it's the divide and conquer strategy, right? Because we're so Now, a lot of us have assimilated to the United States. You know, um, guys like my stepdad. You know, my late stepdad, you know, he was born in Puerto Rico and came here and worked and lived and I didn't want to go back to Puerto Rico. You know, I talk about that in my book where, you know, you know, how it was tough on my on their relationship, him and my mom's relationship. You know how, you know, we went when I lived in Puerto Rico, was with him and my mom, you know, when I was in the first and second grade. And his experience out there, he was Americanized already, you know, so he didn't want to live there.

You know, buddy, it's, it's, it's, you know, a lot of times people think that Anybody outside of, uh, white people, they're, they're a monolith, right? All black people vote, they think this way. All Asian people vote, and they think this way. All, you know, Puerto Rican people, Hispanic people, they vote. And that's just not true, right? It's not true. And that, and to your point, that, that divide and conquer strategy is one of the reasons why we, we've to ourselves have ripped our own power away, right? Because at the end of the day, if you can divide them, you can control them, right? And so it's interesting that you sharing that today about that same strategy has been incorporated in the island of Puerto Rico. And let's be fair all across, right? And so, which makes it hard for a people to come together and do the right thing. for their own base, for their own, you know, viable, you know, situations. So from an economic standpoint, talk to us a little bit about, you know, where they are today. What's some of the struggles the island of Puerto Rico is going through?

Uh, you know, I mean, you know, like I said, we're behind the eight ball, right? So, um, when you can't govern for yourself, you can't, you don't really control your money. That's number one, right? So, you know, I, I've had, I've had conversations with people, you know, when it's, I tell them I'm Puerto Rican, this gentleman told me, he said, hey, what's up with your politics over there? Everybody's, you know, like, they're stealing, they got governors, they're stealing, and this and that, and setting mayors. I'm like, hey, man. Before you talk about my kitchen, make sure that your house is clean. Okay. What's up with your politics? I'm like, I'm like, are you kidding me? I'm like, do you, are you watching? What about the

politics here? If it's a,

if it's a, if it's a, whatchamacallit, shit show here, what do you think it is over there? I mean, we can't even govern ourselves. You think these, you know what I mean? Like, people have no understanding of what's happening. Right. Now, economically, obviously, you know, the island, you know, it's a tourist island. You know, we're not, we don't, we don't make any, you know, many things like that that people are ordering, you know, like besides some food, still agriculture, uh, but even we import more food than we export, right? Um, the grid, you know, so economically, you know, uh, electricity prices are ridiculous now. And like what's happening right now, uh, the island's been for sale for quite some time. So when you

say the island's been for sale, like what do you mean?

Yeah, I mean, look, Puerto Ricans are leaving. You know, selling. I went to, I went to Vieques, which is, there's two little virgin islands that are off the coast of the northeast side. And, you know, I've been to both of them, Culebra and Vieques. And, you know, my disappointment was that every business was not owned by a Puerto Rican. On the beach, everywhere, everything was just taken over. And that's what I mean. Uh, so all the luxury, all the nice places, we don't own. We're, we're losing them, right? So that's, that's what, there's a fire sale going on, and that's part of what our government, you know, the guys in charge there are allowing, right? It's a bit, it's a, currently a Bitcoin haven, right? So they're advocating now for young, for everybody who's in Bitcoin to just move to Puerto Rico. So, right now what's going on in Puerto Rico, just to put it in a nutshell, there's a thing called Act 22, right? Basically, any, you know, any American citizen can move to Puerto Rico, establish citizenship, right? Which takes six months or something, I'm not, you know, sure on the facts. You, Tony, you want to go establish your business over there. Once you establish a residency, you pay zero, zero on your gains tax. Whatever you make through your corporation, you get to keep. And, uh, I, I, I hear conversations of people in West, oh, my friend just, my friend just moved to Puerto Rico. Oh yeah, he moved to Puerto Rico. He goes there. They buy these condos. They buy these empty buildings. They leave them abandoned. You go to Puerto Rico, you see so many abandoned buildings in San Juan all over the place. And people from the United States are buying them, establishing residency, they're not fixing them. They go there, pass through the airport, buy a cup of coffee, wash their money. So that's happening right now. How can, how can you economically ever, ever get to a point? When our own government is allowing for rich people, elite people, to go there and wash their money. Right, right. It's like, uh, what was it, the place that everybody washed their money in, the Cayman Islands or the Bahamas? We're America's Bahamas. That's where we are right now. Right. You know, you got guys like, what, Jake Paul, YouTuber, he's over there, you know, bitcoining it, you know, not paying any taxes.

Buddy, it's, you know, listen, when you create safe havens, when you see them as safe havens, that's what they become. So that's, you know, economically, that's tough. Let me ask you this. I remember when I was in the army, um, a good friend of mine, um, he was, he was from Chicago. He was Puerto Rican. And, you know, at that time in my life, I thought when it came to race, everything was black and white. Right? And me and him, we started chatting. Um, And then he started telling me about, he said, Tony, you don't know, he said, look bro. He said, and not just Puerto Rico, he said the Hispanic culture, there's a lot of racism that goes on, and it's dark skin and light skin, right? Talk a little bit about that in terms of the Puerto Rican culture.

Yeah, that exists, yeah, to this day still. Um, you know, uh, one of the phrases that, uh, was very common in Puerto Rico, uh, when babies were born, the grandmothers and the aunts would say, Was the baby con pelo bueno o pelo malo? Was he born with good hair or bad hair? So, that was a thing. Right? So, yeah, it still exists. Um, and, you know, like, in Puerto Rico, if I was to pull a driver's license, my race would say white.

Right. Okay.

Here, I'm not white. Right. There, I'm white. That's how they classify me. And then so forth and so on. And it's very prominent. You see it in the hotels, you know, in the banks, the people who are behind the tellers. They all are light skinned. They all are light skinned. You know, a majority. My dad made a point of this. Like, you walk into a place, you don't see not one person brown collar in there. He's all, you know, he's an old grumpy guy now, so he just says all kinds of things, you know. But he's saying the truth. But he's saying the truth. He's saying the truth. He just says the truth. He's like, these are all, you know, whatchamacallits. So yeah, that's, that's still there.

That's the thing though, buddy. So, and we talk economics. We talk, you know, political. We talked all these other things and we talked about divide and conquer. That's part of the divide and conquer, right? If we can get them to divide themselves based on this group is light, this group is dark, and we'll get them fighting over jobs and all that type stuff. Then all of a sudden, again, we can control them, right? So those are the things that unfortunately are permanent and across all cultures when it comes to race, right? In terms of how people look.

Yeah, going back to, uh, going back to Pedro Albizu Campos, you know, you know, he was mixed, right? He was, his mom was, you know, Afro Latina. His dad was this white Spanish merchant. His father didn't recognize him till he graduated Harvard. He didn't recognize him.

That's insane.

So this, this is, that was the culture then. Right. Right. So if it, that's not that far removed, you know. So yeah, that was a, that was a huge thing and it still is shameful and there's also, you know. A lot of what we call, um, machismo, you know, and I, you know, I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I get into that, uh, in my writings where, you know, it's, you know, these men, you know, who, you know, multiple wives, you know, I grew up with a lot of Puerto Rican men having multiple wives, you know, my father, one of them, right? Uh, my father had eight kids. Okay, uh, seven. I don't even know. I might, I might be off one. So, you know, that's prominent, right? And, and, and it, and it goes, and for me, this is my personal thoughts about it. Cause it's, it's, it's, it comes from a deepest source of, of not really having control. Right? When, as a Puerto Rican, think about the psyche, right? You're an island, you've been governed by Spain, now you're governed by United States. The only thing you can control is maybe your wife in your, in your home. And some guys do that radically where it's a problem, it's a domestic problem in Puerto Rico where women, you know, get killed and abused monthly. You know, like, it's a big deal. Wow. Big epidemic. Wow. And that's, that's ingrained in the culture. You know, so, uh, you know, there's a lot of layers, you know, um, that, unfortunately, you know, we hold ourselves back with some of that stuff, you know, and, uh, you know, in my book, uh, that's a big part of it, you know, uh, domestic violence, you know, my mom, you know, experienced a lot of that, I saw a lot of it, and it changed me, it changed who I am and how, you know, I view myself as a man and what I think a man should be, you know, uh, so as a Puerto Rican male, I, I, I, I made sure Never to follow that path. Right. Uh, and, you know, I'm still in the path, you know.

Buddy, that is awesome. And, and, number one, thank you for sharing that, right? Because, you know, that's tough to share. And listen, you've been blessed, you know, in your life. You know, actor, author, you know. You've, you've lived over a lot of places in the country. Let me ask you this. If you can, if you could wave a magic wand, you know. Based on everything that we talked about, you know, Adrian is governor of Puerto Rico. What, what's some of the solutions that you, you know, would incorporate to, to, to build the island back up and solve some of these issues?

Um, well, first of all, you know, I would start with maybe giving some of that sugar money back. You know, just, we could just start with the interest. Give me some of that sugar money back. Right, because how else could you really build an infrastructure, right? You know, Puerto Rico. You need

to keep your own money. Right? Yeah, right.

You know, currently, you know, it's at the, right now it's at the point of no return. I kind of see, you know, where it's like to be able to be independent and govern yourself would mean that the U. S. would have to give us some money back, right? You can't move in, take all the furniture, the plumbing, the electrical, and then go give you an empty house. Buddy, we know that story. Nah, nah, nah, I'm not an economist, right, but. We've seen that story. No, I'm not an economist, but I would hire some very good economists. You know, very smart people, I would hire very smart people. Very smart people around me, uh, but you know, I, I, I would start, I would restructure the, uh, political system, right? The culture, right? I would start, we currently have, uh, 79 babysitters. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, excuse me. We have, I meant, we have one governor and 78 mayors in the island of Puerto Rico, right? So, on an island the size of Rhode Island, so it's 100 by 35 miles. Okay, so just think about that. If 79, not a lot of chiefs, not a lot of Indians. They're already divided within tribes. So everybody's trying to fight for their own tribe. Everybody's tribal. Yeah. Okay. So that's, that's the first one, right? With 78 mayors populating 3. 2 million people, or 2 million people. New York City has 8 million people. One mayor. Just to give you perspective.

Right.

Okay, so let's start there. Because that would eliminate a lot of money. People put their hand in there. I need money getting paid. Mayors houses, all these things, all these things. You don't need that many people. Right. So I would start there, you know, um, now, if you want to see the strategy of divide and conquer working now, here it is. It's live, 78 Mayors. I mean, there it is. Every person

fighting for themselves, carving out their own stuff.

And all the funding comes from Uncle Sam. So, you know, hard to

come together when you have

hard to come together. So that's, that's number one. That's I would start there.

Got it. So listen, my man, I mean, this has been very insightful. You've educated me a lot. I mean, a ton of stuff. I didn't know. I'm, matter of fact, um, I'm thirsty to learn more. Right. And I, and I got a million questions too. Right. But I think one of the major things in terms of going back to the last phrase, you said divide and conquer. Um, when you conquer, when you take over territory and, um, the first thing you want to do is conquer the people, right. You want to, you want to spread them out. Where they don't, they're not all thinking of doing the same thing, or they, they're not thinking of getting together and banding together to take back what's theirs. So, I can definitely understand that, and that's something that's been implemented in, like I said, in a lot of places. Final thoughts. Give us a final thought, man, on, on what you want everybody to walk away from.

Well, you know, first and foremost, you know, to all the viewers, you know, uh, who, who joined BEP, uh, uh, you know, I want to express my sincere gratitude, you know, um, embracing this podcast, you know, it truly means a lot, uh, you know, uh, it's just, it's just been an amazing journey, you know, doing this with you. Um, you know, we get our ups and we get our downs, but that's the way it goes, you know, when you're trying to make stuff happen. Um, but, you know, I want to invite people to my website, you know, at adrianalvarado. net. Um, you know, subscribe for updates, you know, I got a blog coming out weekly. Uh, and just stay updated on the release of my book, Flippin My Script. Uh, it's a memoir about family, the 80s. Self discovery and Hollywood dreams. So, you know, it should be a great journey. It's been a labor of love of my wife and I for the last 17 years and I just can't wait that, you know, I'm eagerly anticipating just sharing these colorful characters that I grew up with and they were part of my life. And I just want to remember that no matter what, I want you guys to remember that no matter where you are in your life, you know, you can always flip your script. You know what I mean? You can always just change your narrative. Uh, and, uh, because nobody else, you know, no, no, you don't want to allow nobody else to change it for you. So that's what I got to say and love and light.

Buddy, that's awesome. When is your book coming out?

Um, so stay up to date. It's coming out this summer. I'm not going to release a date here just yet, but it's going to be an announcement, but definitely before the fall. So

sometime in the summer?

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, within the next, yeah.

And, and, and, and final question I have for you, the title Flip the Script, right? Tell us why did you come up with that title?

Flipping my script, uh, you know, it's one of my, I, I, you know, growing up, you know, I grew up a movie fan, you know, I'm, uh, I took history film classes, and one of my, one of my faves. It wasn't one of my favorite movies. One of these movies I saw was a Wesley Snipes movie called Sugar Hill. Yeah, I remember that. Remember Sugar Hill? And, you know, it's two brothers, you know, hustling in Sugar Hill, New York and whatever, whatever. And at one moment, you know, they're, you know, they're getting infiltrated and stuff's happening. And then Wesley Snipes says, It's time for me to flip the script. It always stuck to me, you know. And when I started writing my book, it had many different titles. And what I noticed throughout the theme was that I kept, every time I ran into adversity, I would just embrace it, you know, face it, and then flip it. You know, to my, I said, well, how can I make, to my benefit, you know, um, and it ties into, you know, my Hollywood career script, uh, so it just, it ties into just the journey of, you know, where, where, you know, where we started, you know, we all have a story, right? I have humble beginnings and there were times where if I followed a certain path, you know, cause I felt like, you know, speaking of the narrative of what we just spoke about Puerto Rico and how we haven't really been able to govern ourselves, there's been this narrative written for us. Right? Of who we are. Right? And, you know, what we look like. You know, and, and so forth. So, that's part of it where it's like, no, I, you know, as a kid, people were calling me typical Puerto Rican. Right? And I'm like, what do you mean? You don't even know who I am. You know? So I flipped it. I flipped the narrative. And that's my goal with this book. To flip the narrative of the Puerto Rican experience and what, what people think Puerto Rican, who we are.

Well, buddy, I really appreciate you coming on and sharing that. Number two, uh, I can't wait for the book to come out. Cause I, knowing you and your stories and stuff of that nature, you got a lot of things to share. So I'm pretty sure everybody's going to, uh, look forward to it and enjoy it. And then when it comes out, we're going to put it on the website. We're going to promote it. We'll have you come back on. You know, read some excerpts out of it, get a little bit deeper in it so people can get a better understanding of not just the book, but more about Adrian Alvarado. So love you a lot, my brother. Thanks for coming on the Black Executive Perspective podcast, sharing your perspective about Puerto Rico. Really, really appreciate

it. Appreciate it. Love you too, man. Thank you.

So I think it's now time for Tony's Tidbit and listen, as always, a tidbit is about, you know, our conversation. So today's tidbit is freedom is the right of all nations. Puerto Rico struggle is not just about governance, but about the dignity of choosing its destiny, right? And you heard a lot of that today from double a Adrian Alvarado. So really appreciate, appreciate him coming on and sharing that perspective. And so now just real quick, I want everybody don't forget to check out. Need to know by Dr. Nsenga Burton that on the Black Executive Perspective Podcast, you don't want to miss that. She's going into diving into crucial topics, stuff that's shaping our community and our world. So you definitely want to tune in to gain more perspective. So check her out later this week. And then obviously one of the things that reason that we put this, uh, podcast together, Double A and I is we want, this is about bringing people together, right? It's about coming on and talking about different perspectives. Educating people about things that they may not be aware of. So we want everyone to incorporate our call to action. Less stands, L E S S, L stands for learn. We want you to be open and learn about new things that you may be not exposed to. New people, new cultures. Learn that, that's going to help you become more enlightened. E stands for empathy. Once you've learned, now you should be more empathetic to your friend, family, colleague about what they're going through. S stands for share, share what you learn to your friends and family so they can be enlightened as well. And the final S stands for stop. We want to actively stop discrimination when it walks into our path. So when you're at the Thanksgiving table and Grandpa says something that's inappropriate, you say, No, Grandpa. We don't say that that's inappropriate. So if everybody incorporates less L E S S, we're going to have a more fair, more understanding world. And guess what? We'll all see the change that we're looking to see. So you can follow a black executive perspective podcast and listen to our next episode, wherever podcast. And please don't hesitate to follow us on our socials. Black LinkedIn X, YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok at a black exec for our fabulous multi talented guests who will be behind the glass soon on another episode, Adrian Alvarado for Noellele Miller, who's helping us behind the glass. I'm Tony Tidbit. We talked about it. We love you. And we're out.

A Black Executive Perspective.