Chair thanks and calls next panel; Nduja Nitri testifies
Chair Williams thanks the panel and calls the next panel. Nduja Nitri, of Victory in Puerto Rico, testifies about the impact of La Junta and the importance of supporting the resolutions to preserve Puerto Rican culture and land.
Okay, thank you guys so much for testifying.
You don't have anything?
No, because we don't have anything.
Okay, yes, so the next panel, Calaris, Erica, Ramon Cruz, Jose Laluc, Power Malou, and Nduja Nitri.
Did I say that right?
Nitri?
Anduja.
No, that's fine, but what is it?
I might have to step out for a second for a call, but I'm sure Councilmember slash my co-chair for today, you are the co-chair of today, Alexa Aviles will facilitate.
Induja, do your thing.
Oh, I'm starting.
Yes, I think the council member said you.
Oh, I was last.
Do your thing.
Okay.
Hola a todos.
My name is Nduja Netri, third in command of Victory in Puerto Rico, a grassroots organization committed to defending our land, our communities, and reclaiming our culture, both in the diaspora and on the island.
As a second-generation Nuyorican, I spent most of my life in an identity crisis.
Not Puerto Rican enough and definitely not American.
Only to learn and recognize that it's systematically designed this way.
Oppression, division, and assimilation in the states, on the island, and everywhere between the two.
Stateside, it comes in the form of gentrification in thriving Puerto Rican neighborhoods and communities.
On the island, our motherland, a slow genocide.
Because of the illegal debt under La Junta, hundreds of thousands are...
affected by constant water and electrical outages.
Even worse, the closing of hospitals and schools across the island.
Just three decades ago, we had the Young Lords Party here in New York City taking over Lenox Hill Hospital, and as a result, we now have Medicaid.
Learning from and with the help of the Black Panthers Party created a free breakfast program in El Barrio.
We must take pause and realize that we, Boricuas across the diaspora, are still fighting for our human basic rights.
This imperialist nation wants us dumb or dead.
Thus, they are illegally trying to speed up the process for final stages of this cultural and national genocide.
Unless we choose to do something now, from every and any angle, Resolutions 27, 28, and 494, proposed by Councilwoman Alexa Aviles, and support for these resolutions is an important step in preserving our birthright,
our history, our culture, and our legacy.
This is just one way of defending what is rightfully ours.
What happens there happens here and vice versa.
My great-grandparents'land was taken to build the Ramay Air Force Base in Aguadilla, and while I cannot return to their birthplace, I can still...
still return to their graves and the sacred lands they walked, a privilege and honor they want to strip away, a birthright being threatened as I speak.
We have a responsibility to look back and as an homage to those before us, use this privilege to protect Borinquen and Boricuas worldwide, to build and bridge gaps in knowledge, community, and service.
Grateful to everyone in this fight.
Porque el pueblo sabe el pueblo.
Esencia no va.
Y que viva Puerto Rico libre.