NEW DATE! Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos High School 40th Anniversary to be celebrated Saturday, Jan 26, 2013! 
Open House Chicago this Weekend!

 

October 13-14, 2012

 

The Chicago Architecture Foundation's Open House Chicago is a free public event that offers behind-the-scenes access to over 150 buildings across Chicago.

No reservations are required and everyone is welcome. Explore the hidden gems and architectural treasures of Chicago's diverse neighborhoods-all for free.

 

150 cool places | 48 hours | Go.

 

HOMOCOMING

 

Beauty Bar, 1444 W. Chicago Ave, Bus: 66 El: Blue Line to Chicago
Saturday October 13
10p-3a
DJs Black Gold, Swaguerrilla, Alinka (of Shuteye)
$5 benefits Vida/SIDA
w/ Glitter Guts photobooth

Solidarity with Oscar on the Grito de Lares!

 

Sammy Crea, a member of the Association Pro Inmates Rights-Ñetas, spent 31 hours in a makeshift prison cell in solidarity with Oscar Lopez Rivera, Puerto Rican political prisoner of war who has spent 31 years in jail. 
Sammy Crea in solidarity with Oscar Lopez Rivera speaks
Solidarity with Oscar Lopez Rivera
Sammy says a few words here for the camera on September 23, 2012 as part of a Grito de Lares commemoration at La Casita Comunal in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. Click on the video to view.
 
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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. 

Puerto Rican Cultural Center
2739-41 W. Division St
Chicago, Illinois 60622
P 773-342-8023
F 773-342-6609
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 
Vieques Cleanup: Island at Odds With U.S. Government Declaration That 400-Acre Bomb Site Cleanup Is Complete
 

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- The U.S. government has a new fight in Vieques, the Puerto Rican island that was used as a Navy bombing range for decades.

 

An extensive cleanup of the eastern portion of Vieques is years from being finished, but the government says it is ready to declare work completed on a nearly 400-acre site on the western side that was used to store and detonate expired munitions.

The former storage site was turned over to the U.S. Interior Department and declared a nature reserve. Under a proposal favored by the Navy, the cleanup of the area would be deemed complete even though about 200 acres has not been cleared of munitions debris, some potentially still live.

 

That has sparked outrage among activists and officials in Vieques and the main island of Puerto Rico who favor a complete removal of all debris. And it has brought back some of the angry rhetoric that helped force an end to Vieques' use as a bombing range in 2003. Read the rest of the article here.

PRCC Program Updates

NEW DATE! Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos High School 40th Anniversary to be celebrated Saturday, Jan 26, 2013! 

 

 

The gala will be held at Northeastern Illinois University and the symposium at Roberto Clemente High School. Please check www.pedroablizucamposhs.org for ticket information.
 

Symposium - January 26, 2013

Educator/Other - $75

University Student - $50 (must show ID)

 

Gala - January 26, 2013

$75/individual

$125/couple 

$140 - combo pack (gala and symposium) for 1 individual

  

Gala organization tables are available for $1,500

Batey Urbano and Latino Alliance Partner with Senator Dick Durbin and Congressman Gutiérrez

 

 

On October 6th, Dick Durbin and Congressman Luis Gutiérrez helped kick off one of many Dream Act workshops for undocumented immigrants. This past Saturday the workshop took place at Roberto Clemente Community Academy with more than 500 undocumented immigrants applied for the Deferred Action Program. Deferred Action is a program that grants immigrants, who came into the U.S. before the age of 16, without documents 2 years of legal status once they fill out an intensive application. The workshop consisted of members from the congressman's office and Centro Sin Fronteras, as well as student volunteers from Columbia College Chicago sitting down with the applicants filling out the application. The workshop at Roberto Clemente was one of many to come in Chicago.


Humboldt Park's Division Street retains Puerto Rican culture amid changing demographics

  

By Theresa Gutierrez
WLS TV Chicago (October 04, 2012)
 
To view the video of this report, click here

 

(CHICAGO) (WLS) -- Residents on Chicago's Division Street, known for its strong Puerto Rican influence, are holding onto their culture while experiencing an evolution.

 

The area is home to new businesses and filled with a number of upscale stores for the changing community, including new shops, galleries and restaurants.

 

But as it grows, it has managed to retain its heritage.

 

"Division has been taken over by people wanting to change the neighborhood. It is so close to the loop, an ideal location. There are people here for 40, 50 years who want to keep the identity as the heart of the Puerto Rican Chicago," said Bill Zayas, historian and Humboldt Park resident.

 

Take Humboldt Park for example. Visitors immediately look at the looming, 59-feet Puerto Rican flags cast in steel. Popular restaurants, like La Bruquena, boast Puerto Rican cuisine. And Lilly's Record Shop has been present for years, along with the barber shop Jauaua.

 

"People like to come over and get a haircut, and they feel like they are in Puerto Rico here," said Kerly Figueroa, barber shop employee.

 

"We decided to open up a Harvest Fresh Market to accommodate the demographics," said John Loues, Harvest Fresh Market owner.

 

Zenaida Lopes has been on Division Street for more than 50 years as a business owner and health activist.

 

"We may lose gentrification to the North and to the South, but Divison Street is the heart and soul of the Puerto Rican community and we will fight to keep this a Puerto Rican community," said Lopes.

 

Zayas says the community will only get bigger. He describes Division Street as a point of unity in Humboldt Park.


"The people who are the old pioneers in the neighborhood are entrenching. They are not moving out and that creates a wonderful energy."

Linguists Tell New York Times That 'Illegal' Is Neither 'Neutral' nor 'Accurate'

 

José Manuel Godínez-Samperio, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico says that he wants to be called "undocumented" because "illegal" is "dehumanizing," and "justifies the oppression against immigrants." For some, his mere preference for the term "undocumented" over "illegal" is irrelevant. But, the technical accuracy of terms may hold more weight in this ongoing debate over these words.

In response to the Associated Press and The New York Times' continued use of the term "illegal immigrant", a group of linguists have taken a stand, arguing that the phrase "illegal immigrant" isn't as neutral or accurate as the two media companies claim it to be. Read the rest of the article here.

Muralists Martorell and Duarte featured 
on CAN-TV
 
Art & Community: 
Wherever We Are

 

Pilsen muralist Hector Duarte and Puerto Rican artist Antonio Martorell discuss the impact of arts, culture, and migration on their works. View the video interview here.

Opening the Black Box: The Charge is Torture

Sullivan Galleries, 33 S. State St., 7th floor
October 4 - December 21
Reception: Friday, October 5, 4:30-8:00PM

 

This exhibition of the Chicago Torture Justice Memorials Project (CTJM) presents a selection from more than 70 submitted proposals for how to memorialize reported cases of torture by Chicago Police. Over the last year CTJM has held a series of workshops, discussions, lectures, and exhibitions to share knowledge about this history and to consider how to memorialize more than 100 reported cases of torture. Responses to CTJM's open call for proposals include a multitude of forms created by artists, architects, writers, educators, and justice seekers all over the world. By exhibiting and distributing these speculative monuments and art works, Opening the Black Box: The Charge is Torture seeks to honor the survivors of torture, their family members, and the affected African American communities, while amplifying the voices calling for justice.