That morning I woke up to the sound of music. It was six and the sun was barely out, when speakers announced it was time to leave for the "paro nacional" of May 18, 2010. The national strike was a highly anticipated event. There were fourteen buses lined up, all of them full of people of all colors and sizes. Everyone danced "al son de la plena puertorriqueña," which marked the start of a long day.
I was at home wide awake, my mind full of worries. So many things were changing. It was my last year of college, and nobody knew if the semester was going to be lost, costing us graduating students a year of education. We all had fought too hard to lose everything we had worked for.
Lying in bed, I wondered why I wasn't in San Juan, where the protests were taking place. Of course, I wanted to be there, but I still lived with my parents and that meant following their rules. My father was always against me being "en medio del problema," as he used to say every time I went somewhere crowded.
As the day passed, all I could do was watch the news. Every local channel showed different parts of the capital. It was impossible to watch without feeling emotional, seeing so many people united defending the same cause. There were said to be more than a hundred thousand people.
What really amazed me was they were not just people together, they were Puerto Ricans, brothers and sisters, family. There, political preferences did not matter. Nobody cared if you were a woman or a man, black or white, gay or straight; all that mattered was their purpose. They were fighting for what they believed, they were defending their rights. It was a day where Puerto Rico came together as one "a son de plena."
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About Plena:
Plena is a 20th century musical style that is a mix of African and Puerto Rican music. It originated in southern Puerto Rico and developed from Bomba music. Plena is often called "the newspaper of the people" or "el periódico cantado" (the sung newspaper) because its lyrics are narrative and often address current events, such as protests, elections, and scandals. Plena can also be satirical and empowering, as it originated in the working class and was a way for them to unite against oppression and injustices.
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