Big jeeps with big wheels and flags conjure a revolutionary feeling, right?
Is it on purpose? Or are they just having fun and I’m reading into it?
It’s the beginning of Hispanic Heritage month. And September 23 is the anniversary of Grito de Lares, or the Lares Uprising, the first major revolt against Spanish rule in Puerto Rico in 1868.
What if it was an intentional display of political force?
Would they be like Mexicans in Cali explaining to the white folks they never crossed the border?
Would they be arrested?
Perhaps there is a reason Puerto Ricans never had their revolution.
I texted my cousin Jarvis because I thought I saw him riding a motorcycle with his wife Yvette on Broadway in Lake Eola Heights. Were they headed to the parade? Maybe he’ll be able to get me some intel on who this group of jeep riders is. Too bad I didn’t just ask at the time! Was on a mission to get to the library to edit some videos for my client. And yet, there was a part of me that was saying, “Hey, sis, slow down! You’re running into this for a reason! It’s the weekend. You’re not in DC, you are in Orlando.”
Oh yeah, I’m in Orlando. I forget sometimes because I “commute” virtually everyday to DC. When I first got back almost three years ago, I wrote an article about the 2019 Orlando Puerto Rican Day Parade for Kwest On Media. I focused my perspective on the changes in demographics since my family first moved here in the 1980s. It’s all good research for this next novel I am writing about two Puerto Rican girls who become best friends at Glenridge Middle School and bring out each other’s respective superpowers.
Update: As of 2023, this YA story is unfolding as a fictional series called MODEL RICANS on Wattpad! Check it out, ja!