Early this past Saturday morning, Congressmember Adriano Espaillat held his first-ever Puerto Rican Day Heritage Community Breakfast at El Museo del Barrio in East Harlem to kick off a riotous weekend of food, parades, festivals, music, dancing, and cultural appreciation.
New York City continues to be home to the largest Puerto Rican population of any city in the world outside of the island itself, research has shown.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered the city in 2020, parades and festivals have been slowly returning to their former glory over the last three years. Thousands showed up to celebrate the 66th Annual National Puerto Rican Day in neighborhoods across the five boroughs—East Harlem, Sunset Park, Bushwick, the Lower East Side, East Tremont, Astoria—and plenty others.
Several elected officials, like District Attorney Eric Gonzalez, Congressmember Nydia Velázquez, City Council Deputy Speaker Diana Ayala, and New York Secretary of State Robert Rodriguez, were seen celebrating their heritage out among the people.
“This is a very important event where we get to celebrate the heritage and culture of the Puerto Rican community aquí en la cuna de las boricuas en el barrio,” said Rodriguez at the event. “But most importantly, it’s about making sure that we create a pathway, a generational legacy for Latinos in New York City.”
Other electeds were happy to lend their presence and support to the Latino and Hispanic communities.
“It’s an honor and a privilege to be with all of you,” said New York State Attorney General Letitia James at the event. “It’s important that we celebrate Puerto Rican culture. It’s important that we understand that this is the largest community, not only in New York but across this nation outside of Puerto Rico. And it’s important that we keep our eye on what’s happening [there] and here in New York City.”
Espaillat, who’s of Dominican descent, chose to also honor baseball legend Roberto Clemente at the breakfast. Clemente was one of the first Latin American baseball stars in the U.S. He played for the Pittsburgh Pirates for his entire career, although he was briefly contracted with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1954. Clemente was hailed for breaking culture and language barriers, fiercely representing for Latinos in sports, reaching 3,000 hits, and immense humanitarian efforts. He died in a plane crash in 1972 in aiding Puerto Rico and Nicaragua after a massive earthquake hit.
“It’s [the] 50th anniversary since he passed away on that tragic day, and I feel that when he started his baseball career, it was revolutionary for Black and brown players,” said Espaillat. “I think Major League Baseball (MLB) should do more to honor his legacy.”
Espaillat reintroduced resolution H.Res.242 this year, which calls for the recognition of Clemente as the first Puerto Rican in the National Baseball Hall of Fame and urges the MLB to retire his jersey, number 21. The MLB retired legendary baseball player Jackie Robinson’s iconic number 42 in 1997 on the 50th anniversary of his breaking the color barrier in baseball.
Clemente’s son, Roberto Clemente Jr., accepted the honor on behalf of his late father at the event.
“Make sure that whatever you touch, you touch in a positive way.” said Clemente Jr.
Ariama C. Long is a Report for America corps member and writes about politics for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://bit.ly/amnews1.