Cafecito con… Marisel Vera & Carmen Cruz-Venie

Join CENTRO and Hunter College AFPRL Department for an event discussing the themes of colonialism, relocation, and the forging of Puerto Rican communities in Hawaii as shown in Marisel Vera’s book, The Taste of Sugar and Carmen Cruz-Venie’s upcoming documentary Bajari: Honor and Respect.

The Taste of Sugar is a novel set in Puerto Rico on the eve of the Spanish-American War. Up in the mountainous region of Utuado, Vicente Vega and Valentina Sanchez labor to keep their coffee farm from the creditors. When the great San Ciriaco hurricane of 1899 brings devastating upheaval, the young couple is lured along with thousands of other puertorriqueños to the sugar plantations of Hawaii, where they are confronted by the hollowness of America’s promises of prosperity.

Bajari: Honor and Respect is the untold story of the Puerto Rican laborers who emigrated to Hawaii to find work and faced many challenges, including language, adjustment to a different culture and people in a faraway land. The immigrants worked hard to establish themselves in their communities to make a better life for themselves and their families. Bajari is “a title of distinction and high respect” in the Taino dialect.