A Taina/Boricua Youth's perspective. Keeping the memory of the ancestors alive.
https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/anani-kaike/episodes/Bonus-episode-His-Voice-Was-More-of-a-Storm-Than-a-Man-remembering-and-reflecting-on-Don-Pedro-Albizu-Campos-130-years-after-his-birth-e26aioe Listen here Inspiration doesn't strike on demand and poems do not appear just because you want them to. This one is no exception. Over the past few years I yearned to write a poem about Don Pedro Albizu Campos, I even wrote a few that were reasonably good. However none captured the essence of …
These photos are tragic and alarming, people have lost so much, their homes, their livelihoods and some have even lost their lives; to them, we send our deepest condolences. However what concerns me very deeply is, Puerto Rico’s topsoil coloring the waters that raged throughout the island earlier this week. Those waters tell another story …
Many don't know his name. He was the president of the Partido Nationalista Puerto Rico. He called for armed revolution, simultaneous uprisings in towns around Puerto Rico, and an attack on La Fortaleza. But we have to ask, why? Why did he do these things? Was he a psychopath who tried to violently overthrow the United States? Or was this born from a profound need for extreme actions? We cannot fully understand him or his valiant fight for independence without understanding the circumstances from which he evolved. Some call him a terrorist, and others call him a hero. This is the story of Pedro Albizu Campos, known affectionately by many as Don Pedro.
Luis Munoz Marin rose from being, in all estimations, one big failure to being a senator and later the governor of Puerto Rico. It was quite a feat, but what he did with his newly acquired power was another story. Marin declared martial law to quell the 1950 Nationalist uprisings, had two towns in Puerto …
Continue reading Luis Muñoz Marin: Puerto Rico’s Parasitic Governor
On October 30, 1950 Vidal Santiago Diaz and 41 Police and National guardsmen engaged in a 3 hour gunfight. The police and guardsmen were convionced there were at least 20 to 30 Nationalists inside. Here is the story of how one barber held 41 heavily armed police and National guardsmen at bay for 3 hours, was shot 5 times, once at point blank range in the head and still survived.
L-R Hatuey (my little brother), Mr. Eddie Palmieri and I "Remember that our music is the most exciting and complex, and it puts you to dance, not to sleep!"Eddie Palmieri https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/voice-of-the-water-lily-our-stories/id1584164088?i=1000540225815 https://open.spotify.com/episode/3LL0fVSMBmY9fNWn3m9gYe?si=6wU_g03_Q4qpVAlZUVKxUA https://anchor.fm/anani-kaike/episodes/Ep--31-In-conversation-with-El-Maestro--Eddie-Palmieri-on-music-with-social-consciousness--his-creative-process--1978s-Lucumi-Macumba-Voodoo--Aristotle-as-a-point-of-reference--and-so-much-more-e1gd11h/a-a6e2sqa Last week I had the greatest honor of meeting the incredible Maestro, musical genius and cultural icon, Eddie Palmieri, ahead of his …
Hatuey was a great Taino Cacique and Waribo (warrior). Even though Hatuey was killed in 1512 we can see the spirit of his resistance reverberating in movements ever since. To understand Hatuey's story we must understand the Taino way of life before the Spaniards landed on our shores. The Taino lived on the islands of …
Carpetas, started by governor Blanton Whinship in the 1930's, were used to systematically spy on thousands of Puerto Ricans from the 1930's to the 1980's. It was so widespread it even became a verb in Puerto Rico, te carpetearon. Carpetas contained secret police dossiers that included a realm of personal information. Calls would be tapped, …
Continue reading Las Carpetas: How the FBI spied on over 100,000 Puerto Ricans
I am excited to announce my new podcast, 'Voice of the Waterlily-Our Stories'. This music podcast will be an exploration of Latin Music over the last 100 years intertwined with a historical and personal perspective. Tune in weekly for great music, stories and history. It will be available on many digital platforms, including Spotify, apple …
Continue reading Voice of the water lily- our stories (My New Podcast) Ep 1; S 1
Today I’d like to highlight one of Puerto Rico’s many horrible governors, for the reason that he reminds me so much of Trump. When I saw the orange man tell people to ingest bleach and later heard, advisors were trying to stop him from holding press conferences, I was struck by how similar this was …
Continue reading Emmet Montgomery Riley: Puerto Rico’s governor Trump.
Voice of the Water Lily 