Last year, I remember seeing this ad and thought to myself, DID I just read that? Em ‘Boricua’ te? I wanted to do something, but I let it go. This year I see it again everywhere, and I am not letting it go.

This is not a rant, solely my opinion, just one person. I was driving down Paseo Boricua (Divsion St from Western to Mozart between the flags) and saw these ads, yet again. This time I said, I am going to at least write an article about it. Now I know that many people do not take offense to this, but I have, and let me explain why?

Last year when I saw this ad I was in the car and I said out loud, ‘I can’t believe that ad said Em ‘Boricua’ te’ (that is how it read last year). The kids in the car with me responded with ‘what’s wrong with that?’ This question/response alone was enough to get me upset. See, many people in the Puerto Rican community of Chicago, and in the entire Puerto Rican Diaspora have fought long and hard to keep aspects of our history and culture alive. This includes the use and affinity for the word,’Boricua’. Yet as these struggles to maintain an identity have ensued, similar efforts to diminish the meaning of these cultural and historical identifiers have taken their toll.

I mean ask most people, including some Puerto Ricans to spell the word Boricua and they give you a spelling like this, Bori’q’ua. Ask those same people what the word means, and they will tell you, Puerto Ricans! Lost is the nobility and history of that word. So let us look up the word and see it’s meaning.

Wikipedia lists it as this:

Boricua: Puerto Ricans often proudly identify themselves as Boricua (formerly also spelled Boriquén, Borinquén, or Borinqueño), derived from the Taíno word Boriken, to illustrate their recognition of the island’s original Taíno heritage. The word Boriken, translates to ‘the great land of the valiant and noble Lord.’ Borikén was used by the original Taíno population to refer to the island of Puerto Rico before the arrival of the Spanish.^[27] The use of the word Boricua has been popularized in the island and abroad by descendants of Puerto Rico heritage, commonly using the phrase, ‘Yo soy Boricua’ (‘I am Boricua’, or ‘I am Puerto Rican’) to identify themselves as Puerto Ricans. Other variations which are also widely used are Borinqueño and Borincano which translated means ‘from Borinquen.’ The first recorded use of the word Boricua comes from Christopher Columbus in his Letter to the Sovereigns from 4 March 1493 [28]. Boricua/Borinqueno, Boriken!

Boriken…Land of the brave lord, or the valiant and noble brave lord, and if you hailed from that beautiful island you would be a Boricua! A valiant and noble brave lord.  Not some stereotype, created by others of objectified, bronzed bodies, dancing to tropical rhythms, drinking all day. That is what was projected by these ads, Emboricuate!. The message to kids, get drunk an act like a STEROTYPE!

Why is this important? because if we, Puerto Ricans call ourselves ‘Boricua’, realize what you are calling yourself. For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he [Prvb 23:7]. So what are you?

As for me I struggle everyday to show my kids and this community, that I am a Boricua, and work hard daily to live up to being that, a valiant and noble brave lord. I make mistakes, but I own up to them and still work hard to live up to the meaning of the word. Despierta Boricua y defiende lo tuyo!