By James Baratta, Dan Capodilupo, Steffani Farquharson and Gigi Grady
Edited by Dr. Rocio Núñez-Shea
When Ismael Rodriguez migrated from Puerto Rico in 1954, he was almost too young to comprehend the reasons for his exodus. Along with his siblings and their mother, Ismael—who was nearly seven—boarded the dual-propeller light aircraft that transported them to the mainland.
Rodriguez’s father, Ismael Sr., had arrived in the United States two years earlier. Ismael Sr., worked in agriculture in Upstate, New York until he had just enough money to purchase a “cold flat” in South Brooklyn. It was hardly a living space, but it marked the beginning of their multi-generational pursuit of a better life—a life of eventual mobility and hopeful prosperity.
Ismael Rodriguez worked as an airplane mechanic during the Vietnam War; he held the rank of staff sergeant.
Although mass entertainment media like All in the Family (1971-1979)—which came out a decade and a half after the Rodriguez’s arrival—later presented Puerto Ricans in a largely negative light, news organizations like The New York Times emphasized how Puerto Rican immigrants provided essential labor for industries located in New York City.
“As a matter of fact, and contrary to a widely-held opinion, Puerto Ricans have come here not merely to escape worse conditions at home but because they are needed in the city’s economic life,” the Times wrote in 1959.
Five years earlier, then-New York City Mayor Robert Wagner stated that the city had an abundance of job opportunities, especially for Puerto Ricans who were willing to work for abhorrent wages (Latino Education Network Service).
Sources: Data for 1900-1970 are from José L. Vázquez Calzada, La población de Puerto Rico y su trayectoria histórica ( Río Piedras, P.R. : Escuela Graduada de Salud Pública, Recinto de Ciencias Médicas, Universidad de Puerto Rico, 1988), p. 286; data for 1970-1990 are from Francisco L. Rivera Batiz and Carlos Santiago, Island Paradox: Puerto Rico in the 1990s (New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1996)
The population “jumped from fewer than 70,000 in 1940 to more than 300,000 in 1950 and continued to climb to 887,000 by 1960” (U.S. National Park Service). By 1964, 9.3 percent of the city’s population was represented by the Puerto Rican community (Latino Education Network Service).
Beginning in the mid-1940s, then Governor Luis Muñoz Marín developed a strategy that he coined “Operation Bootstrap” attempting to ostensibly modernize Puerto Rican’s economy, which consisted of several economic initiatives (Ruiz Toro, “Puerto Rico’s Operation Bootstrap”). However, these financial measures would ultimately prove to be destructive—as they would plunge Puerto Rico into a $72 billion debt crisis.
The strategy incentivized factory jobs on the island and transformed its agro-economy into an industrialized, export-based economy. It also provided tax exemptions to American corporations who set up shop in Puerto Rico.
“These corporations were then able to capitalize on the lower costs of labor on the island, which further improved their bottom line and made doing business in Puerto Rico even more attractive,” Toro wrote.
This method was successful, in part, due to the increase in industrial production on the island after 1947. Operation Bootstrap “successfully shifted the Puerto Rican economy’s dependence from agriculture to industry in less than twenty years,” Toro continued.
Although Operation Bootstrap was widely applauded in the dominant narrative at the time, this policy left room for employers to exploit Puerto Rican laborers who “were exempt from federal minimum wage requirements,” (James W. Russell, “Operation Bootstrap”). A Times article by Peter Kihss, entitled “Flows of Puerto Ricans Here Fills Jobs, Poses Problems” discusses this shift by describing the Puerto Rican population in New York as eager and in search of job opportunities.
“The Puerto Ricans, like most newcomers, live clustered together in such places as the so-called Spanish Harlem barrio or the middle-class Southeast Bronx when they first arrive. They have spread, like any other economically advancing residents, into virtually every section,” Kihss wrote.
It seems as though Khiss refused to acknowledge how the US was setting the table for Puerto Rico's continued economic subjugation—essentially transforming it into a colony.
“One time we got chased because [the Italians] said ‘hey spicks,’ and we said ‘hey guineas’ and—fuggedaboutit—all we heard was stomping. You would hear car antennas snap because that’s what they used to hit you with.”
While there was plenty of corporate media support for Puerto Rican migration that stressed the importance of Puerto Rican migration to the economy—arguably behind an antisocial, free-market façade—the racism that Rodriguez experienced was reflected by popular entertainment media.
All in the Family, a seminal American sitcom television series, addressed racism, sexism, homosexuality, the Vietnam War, and more during its eight year run. The first episode of the fourth season: “We’re Having a Heat Wave,” portrays how Puerto Ricans were not welcomed when arriving to mainland United States. In this episode, the house next to Archie Bunker, the main character, is purchased by a Puerto Rican family. Bunker signs a neighborhood petition attempting to ensure that no new residents of color will move into the neighborhood, which is later signed by Bunker’s black neighbor, Jefferson, once he learns the new neighbors are Puerto Ricans.
The Puerto Rican neighbors were stereotyped as overly friendly and unwanted neighbors. Bunker explained that, “Puerto Ricans ought to stay in Puerto Rico,” and them moving in would lower the value of the houses in the neighborhood. Through the commentary, laugh track, and general plot of this episode, it depicts overt racism and portrays how Puerto Ricans were not welcomed in the United States.
While the show was meant to be a satirical series, showing the dangers of small-town racism, the overtly racist comments made are not met with enough dispute to show the audience how inappropriate they are. If the audience does not have the media literacy to know this show is a satire, the essence of the show falls flat. With a laugh track that only plays during racist jokes, and white lead characters making jokes about their POC counterparts, the show ultimately elevated and encouraged racist behavior.
While news organizations like The New York Times asserted the importance of Puerto Rican migration to the economy of New York City, they failed to sufficiently address the discrimination Puerto Ricans had been subjected to in their daily lives. Entertainment media like All in the Family satirized the racial prejudices that Puerto Ricans faced, but diminished the severity of this with jokes and laughter.
Puerto Ricans are United States citizens. Yet, they have been consistently disparaged by their fellow citizens and treated as foreigners. News and entertainment media forwarded this narrative, and avoided engaging with racist discourse.
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