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Community Comes Together for Police Commander Flores' Removal and Opposition to 'Riot Fest'
On Tuesday, June 19 Humboldt Park community leaders and elected officials met at Casa Puertorriqueña to ask for the removal of 14th Police District Commander Linda Flores and to voice opposition to the upcoming punk rock festival 'Riot Fest.' She was visibly absent from the meeting, but Chicago Police Deputy Chief John Escalante was present to hear the community's concerns.
This comes in response to the abrupt closing of Fiestas Puertorriqueñas on its opening day last week, allegedly instructed by the police commander and the Chicago Park District, and other incidents between Ms. Flores and the festival organizers. Community leaders cited numerous alarming and disrespectful confrontations between Ms. Flores and Humboldt Park residents and business owners in the two years of her position in the district. Moreover, the elected officials and leaders noted that Ms. Flores, unlike past commanders, have yet to convene any meeting in order to learn about the community or to get to know its leadership. Lastly, meeting attendees were openly appalled at the idea that 'Riot Fest' would be allowed to take place in Humboldt Park - under the commander's blessing but without community input - and strongly opposed it occurring in this community.
In attendance were State Rep. Luis Arroyo, State Rep. Cynthia Soto, State Senator Iris Martínez, State Rep. Toni Berríos, Lorna Morales-Amill from Ald. Maldonado's office, José E. López, Eliud Medina, Ray Vázquez, Pastor Freddie Santiago, Amy Vega, Tito Medina, Abel De Jesús, and José Betancourt from the Puerto Rican Parade Committee; Carlos Claudio, Eduardo Arocho, Julio Urrutia, Carlos Guevara, Xavier Luis Burgos, and others.
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15 years of La Casita de Don Pedro
Quijote Books
2546 W. Division Street
presents
Waleska V. Castillo Crespo, Author of "Ideas Inconclusas"
FRI, JUNE 22, AT 5:30PM
Fore more information,
melga55@sbcglobal.net
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Our Websites:
View our Photos on Flickr!
Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos HS (Over 13,000 pics!)
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Guided tours of IPRAC and the surrounding Paseo Boricua community will be available at IPRAC with Eduardo Arocho serving as a docent. If you're interested in arranging a tour for your organization, school or church, please contact IPRAC at 773-486-8345.
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Puerto Rican Cultural Center 2739-41 W. Division St Chicago, Illinois 60622 P 773-342-8023 F 773-342-6609
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| 34th People's Parade Recap |
PRCC Celebrates 34th Annual Puerto Rican Peoples Day Parade, A Community Extravaganza
On Saturday, June 16th, 2012, thousands of community residents joined the 34th Puerto Rican People's Day Parade in a carnival-like celebration which engulfed the entire Paseo Boricua on Division Street between Western and Sacramento. Students from Albizu Campos and Clemente High Schools as well as students from the Youth Leadership Community as Campus Contingent, infants and toddlers from the Consuelo Lee Corretjer Daycare Center, the staff of the Diabetes Empowerment Center, Vida/Sida, and C.U.R.A. The royal court of the Puerto Rican parade, the tumblers team, and hundreds of members of the Latin American Motorcycle Association, among others came together as one while thousands of spectators made the 34th parade a community extravaganza.
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Oscar López Rivera Present at Puerto Rican People's Parade
Oscar López Rivera was present at the 34th Annual Peoples Parade, as a NBHRN member, Peter Vale, donned the giant Oscar puppet head constructed last year and was in the makeshift cell mounted on it's float. Network, Batey Urbano and Latino Coalition members passed out several thousand educational postcards on Oscar. As well, as over 50 Network members, family members and sympathizers wore new Oscar t-shirts and marched as a contingent, receiving cheers when Libertad, libertad para Oscar y los demas was chanted up and down Division St.
 | | Oscar López Rivera Present at 34th Puerto Rican Peoples Parade 2012-Interview with Michael Rodríguez Muñiz |
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UN Decolonization Committee Gives Carlos Alberto Torres Standing Ovation
Oscar present through the multiple presentations
On Monday, June 18, former political prisoner Carlos Alberto Torres testified before the United Nations Decolonization Committee hearings on Puerto Rico. He was introduced as a former political prisoner who had spent 30 years in prison for struggling for the independence of Puerto Rico. At the end of his presentation which was specifically on why the US government must free Oscar López Rivera, Carlos was accorded a standing ovation by the members of the Committee, as well as those present in the chamber.
Both his presentation,as well as Educardo Villanuevas, the spokesperson for the Committee on Human Rights in Puerto Rico, Jan Susler, Oscar's attorney, and Antonio Martorell's, renown Puerto Rican artist, will be available on the Network website early next week.
Antonio Martorell also spoke before the Committee of 24 as it is also known, to demand freedom for Puerto Rican political prisoners. 
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IN COLLABORATION WITH
INSTITUTE OF PUERTO RICAN ARTS AND CULTURE, CHICAGO CULTURAL ALLIANCE, & NORTHEASTERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY'S LATINO CULTURAL CENTER
PRESENTS
THE GRAMMY AWARD-WINNING
MARIACHI DIVAS, FRIDAY, JUNE 22, AT 7PM
HUMBOLDT PARK BOAT HOUSE
1400 N. Sacramento Ave.
Directed and founded by trumpet player Cindy Shea in 1999, Mariachi Divas has made big waves on the national and international music scene. A unique, multicultural, all-female ensemble imbued with the true flavor of Los Angeles, Mariachi Divas has represented women of Mexican, Cuban, Samoan, Argentinean, Colombian, Panamanian, Puerto Rican, Swiss, Japanese, Honduran, Salvadorian, Peruvian, Tongan and Anglo descents. In 2009 the band won the Grammy Award for Best Regional Mexican Album for their 2008 release, Canciones De Amor, being the first time in the history of that renowned prize that an all-female mariachi group had been a nominee or, of course, a winner.
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IPRAC Opens New Exhibit - Jaime Carrero's "From 'Insilio' to Chicago: Expressions of a Neo-Rican"
On Thursday June 14, IPRAC and the Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center joined forces to bring Jaime Carrero to Chicago. Paint, draftsman, novelist, playwright, and poet, Jaime is known as one of the most influential visual artist from Puerto Rico. In addition to his recognition as a painter, he has received awards from the Ateneo Puertorriqueño for his literary work in novels, short stories and plays. His paintings an writings express social and political themes in a sarcastic manner and also explore complex themes related to Puerto Rican political and cultural identity.
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Founding Editor of QOS Congratulates New Generation
Dear Members of Que Ondée Sola,
Congratulations on the 40th Anniversary of this essential publication and for your diligent, dedicated, and brave efforts in keeping it alive, well, and relevant throughout all of these challenging years. It is a labor that needs to be respected and recognized by all who care about the development and advancement of our Puerto Rican / Latino(a) communities throughout the world as well as all peoples who struggle for self determination and dignity everywhere.
As the founding Editor-in-Chief of Que Ondée Sola, I am humbled by your determination and accomplishments, ... as well as by the kind words of Oscar López Rivera in his Reflection (QOS April 2012 Special Edition, Vol. 40 No. 4). There is no shortage in the world of good people doing good things. The real shortage is of those good people knowing about each other's efforts and of collaborating toward common goals. Like many of you, I am the first in my family to attend college. QOS was for me a way of expressing our hopes, fears, and aspirations and getting students and community to know about each other's strengths and needs, so that we could pool resources and work in partnership.
You have continued that tradition far beyond what any of us could have imagine. ¡Gracias mil veces!
Un abrazo fuerte,
Dr. Carlos A. Torre
President, New Haven, Connecticut Board of Education
Professor of Education, SCSU
Fellow and former Asst. Dean, Yale University
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Available at IPRAC
"Don Oscar" Coffee, Paseo Boricua Edition
 Café Don Oscar can be purchased for $5.99 at: IPRAC: 3015 W. Division St., 773-486-8345 |
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