An interview by Nancy Hernandez, Manuel Mejía, Michelle Gómez, and Jamani Crockett, Ethnic Studies 399 students, U of Oregon. December 2017.
INTERVIEWEE: CECILIA ENJUTO RANGEL
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF SPANISH AND DIRECTOR OF UNDERGRADUATE
STUDIES’ AT UNIVERSITY OF OREGON DIRECTOR OF UNDERGRADUATE
STUDIES’
EDUCATION B.A. 1998 UNIVERSIDAD DE PUERTO RICO, RIO PIEDRAS M.A. 2002
PH.D. 2005 YALE UNIVERSITY
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QUESTIONS:
DESCRIBE YOUR CONNECTION TO PUERTO RICO?
_”Im Puerto Rican, I was born and grew up in Puerto Rico and lived
there til I was 23″._
_”My father was from Spain, he was a Spanish exile from the Spanish civil war
in Puerto Rico and mom is from Cuba”. “Both parents are from two
political exiled countries._
_”All my cousins, aunts, brother, family are in Puerto Rico, except my nephew, and
my niece who is here at the UO”._
WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR EXPERIENCE?
_”Came to US when started grad school, I was 23 years old back then
so, it’s been like 18 years ago”._
_”Experience in the U.S. has gone through stages, first a cultural
shock, hard to find a space to feel at home”_
_”In Puerto Rico we are used to male chauvinism and racism, it is not
that there isn’t any but, it is different. When I got here I was
treated differently, I experienced it in ways, that I didn’t have the right
words or strategies to deal with them”._
_”When I got to Eugene it was 12 years ago, I had just finished my
PHD, and I was beginning my career as an assistant professor here at the UO.
I did feel also displaced. It was different too because in the east
coast we have a big Puerto Rican community. So every time I went to
the supermarket or was on the street I would meet Puerto Ricans. It
wasn’t that I completely felt at home but I had a sense of community. Here there are not as many Puerto Ricans.”
_”It’s difficult in times like these, in times of crisis, but you find ways to connect with people all over the U.S., it is wonderful to see how our community has united in time of need. So, I love Eugene; at first I felt displaced and it took me sometime to make it my home but, it is my home, my three kids are from here.
_”I really really love the sense of solidarity”._
_”People that knew me and those that didn’t know me very well would contact me and ask how was my family, what can we do to help, can you give us recommendations and support groups or websites where we can donate money”._
_”During our kids playdate with my friend Michael Dreiling, I mentioned I really wanted to do a fundraising event for Puerto Rico. And just from that he made it happened through United Academics.”_
_”It was just really cool that from just a playdate with our kids, something like this, really productive and wonderful happened. And that is an example of how this community works.”_
WHAT HAS FAILED IN TERMS OF THE INFRASTRUCTURE/THE GOVERNMENT
RESPONSE/THE MEDIA?
_”Of course theres been failures of the how US responded through FEMA, but these responses are very much attached to our political/colonial situation._
_”For example the Jones Act. The Jones Act was suspended for 10 days, but that is really not effective enough. The problem is the Jones Act itself. It determined that Puerto Ricans are really US citizens and says that all goods must go through American boats and ports. It was enacted in 1917 and it was connected to WWI and the role of US and the threat of U-Boats. That is not a threat anymore nor our reality anymore. It just makes it more difficult now for health, medicine, food, and goods to arrive to Puerto Rico. What we need to realize that the failures we see in this environmental, political, economic crisis,
are very much connected to a history of political injustice of our colonial situation. “_
_”And it’s an injustice that can change through eradicating the Jones Act, at least just that part about all goods going thru American boats and ports, which increases the taxes on products and basic supplies for all Puerto Ricans living in the island._
WHAT EMOTIONS/FEELINGS COME UP WHEN YOU THINK OF LACK OF HELP FROM THE
U.S GOVERNMENT?
_”Yeah! I’m very angry! I’m angry like hell! And I should be angry and we should all be angry! You don’t need to be Puerto Rican to be angry because the U.S. is all of us”._
_”It made it me very angry when Trump threw the paper towels to Puerto Ricans”._
_”It was very symbolic when Trump started throwing paper towels so we can clean up OUR mess”._
_”He is also throwing paper towels in a very condescending way and it also speaks to the whole polemic that happened with the response of Carmen Yulin, San Juan’s Mayor, and Trumps male-chauvinistic response of feeling threatened just because someone is criticizing the U.S. response and lack of efficiency in a situation where people are really dying.”_
_”It made me feel angry but, also feel proud of being Puerto Rican, of our resilience and our creativity and strength inside the island and outside the island”._
_”It shows something good can come out of a crisis. But anger is something we need to make productive. We need to change things, we need to mobilize, call senators and congress. Para que no se hunda Puerto Rico”._
