TEMPORAL

 Washington, DC, October 26, 2020 In the early hours of the morning of Sunday, October 25, Puerto Rican independence  organizations projected images on walls of emblematic places in Washington DC, the capital of the United States, with messages of NO to Statehood and claiming Freedom and Independence for Puerto Rico. One of the buildings onto which images were projected was the Trump International Hotel, located on Pennsylvania Avenue. The messages of "Free Puerto Rico", "No to Statehood", as well as "Independence for Puerto Rico", among others, could be clearly read. “The activity served a dual purpose. First, it is part of the Day of Celebration of the 70th anniversary of the Nationalist Revolution of October 30, 1950, a historical event where the Republic of Puerto Rico was declared for the second time. This event was the result of a one-sided struggle carried out by the Nationalist Party of Puerto Rico, led by Don Pedro Albizu Campos, against the Unite

Collage by Iris Zavala-Martinez irzamar@gmail.com

José E.Velázquez Luyanda - Jevche@aol.com   On July 17, 2020, we mourned one of America’s greatest heroes, “the conscience of the nation,” civil rights leader and Congressman, John Lewis. His well-deserved six-day memorial services included being the first African-American to lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda in Washington, D.C. The entire country relived that fateful Bloody Sunday, March 7, 1965 where civil rights marchers gathered to march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama to the state capital in Montgomery, in a campaign for the right to vote.  It has been 55 years since the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, and some may have forgotten how under the mantle of “states rights,” local governments repressed the right to vote of African-American men granted by the 15th Amendment to the Constitution (1870), and to African American women by the 19th amendment (1920). After the “Compromise of 1877,” southern Confederates who lost the Civil War ended “Bl

José E.Velázquez Luyanda (Jevche@aol.com)  With only several weeks left to November 3, 2020, the battle to win the hearts and minds of the American (U.S.) people has intensified. The American people face an existential threat with the possible re-election of Donald Trump. Candidate Trump now seeks to replay the successful Nixon Republican strategy of 1968, essentially focusing on “law and order,” withdrawal from foreign conflicts (“peace with honor”), and the encouragement of a white backlash based on fear. Added on is the now customary appeal to American nationalism, jingoism, xenophobia, racism, and economic populism. Taking advantage of the Covid pandemic, the Republican Party seeks to discourage voting and to raise questions about the legitimacy of a possible electoral defeat. On the other hand, the Democratic Party faces the challenge of insuring a massive turnout during a pandemic. The Democratic Party must win back the voters that they lost to Trump in 2016, pa