ON LIBERATING THE COLONIALIST MIND

There are people who have lived or continue to live in oppressive situations and do not fall into the trap or the colonizing mind conditioning that those in power try to impose upon them, and, furthermore, do not lose perspective of the process itself or mechanisms being used by the controlling forces. "Están claros" was the expression used in the 1960s lefties circles in Puerto Rico. On the other hand, there are those who become victims of the “Stockholm Syndrome”, becoming colonized minds. In response to the last group, there are some individuals who feel the need to save the ones under oppressive situations, as they see their subjects as impotent or incapable to separate themselves from the powers being used to control them. Often, this last group is unable to distinguish between the first two, using larger categories to conceptualize and classify them: all African Americans or all Puerto Ricans or all Guaraníes. The first two groups have been extensively studied and discussed. Not so much, the third group, which includes quite a few educators, social workers, mental health professionals and politicians. I recently met an educator who lives in my neighborhood and is obsessed with educating poor Puerto Rican women in El Barrio Latino in East Harlem. She brags about her research and development projects in poor communities. Last night, after passing by her apartment, seeing her windows lights on and a group of people with what seemed to be glasses of wine in their hands, I continued my walk and went to my very trendy Morningside Heights’ café, and, while drinking sauvingnon blanc wine, eating some Spanish olives, prosciutto di Parma, and miniature empanadas, I thought of the professor and the fact that she most probably did not invite any of the poor ladies from El Barrio Latino to her cocktail party; much less, Puerto Ricans educators who question her motives and perceptions of poor Puerto Rican ladies in El Barrio Latino in East Harlem. Drinking sauvingnon blanc, eating prosciutto di Parma and olives can result in very liberating thoughts.