MAMI & PAPI


For many of us Puerto Ricans our parents childhood was very poor.

Boriken to them was hunger.

Access to a proper education was difficult.

They didn't come to America for a vacation, they came for a better way of life.

When they came here alot of cheap jobs were waiting for them.

They worked the kitchens, swept the floors, served the food

sound familiar???

They worked 40 hrs for 20 hrs pay if they were lucky

Mucho trabajo Poco dinero they said

They lived in rat & roach infested buildings but at least they had a roof over their head

food in their bellies

They played the numbers looking for that pie in the sky

When they came hear nobody ever heard of Puerto Rico

They called them Spics, Wetbacks

They whistled at our mothers they new they were fine

They tried to beat up our fathers until they learned they could fight

They never complained

They never went anywhere

They told us to go to school and become somebody

They took us to the Villas and the Puerto Rican Day Parade

They kicked the St. Patricks Parade to the curb

They fed us Rice & beans, pasteles & lechon on Holidays

All that good stuff

And to La Iglesia on sundays

They taught us their culture

They came home tired

We inherited the slums, many paid the price

But we are still here

I'm just trying to tell their story with this soliquity

God bless them

This is not a Puerto Rican Obiturary