Journalist in the making looks to explore Puerto Rican culture and history in New Bedford

NEW BEDFORD — Daishaly Rodriguez briskly strode about downtown one Tuesday morning in search of images that achieved one sole objective.

"I'm looking for anything that screams New Bedford," she said.

Rodriguez is a budding journalist under the guidance of Rafael Pizarro, communication consultant for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's New Bedford Branch.

But it was her love for journalism, her hometown, and her ancestral homeland that got Rodriguez involved in the project.

"It seemed interesting," the rising eighth-grader at Our Sisters' School said. "I thought it was really cool how people work with the news and are able to create stories and share with other people. So I wanted to look deeper and Rafael talked to me and I thought it was a very cool opportunity,"

'A very cool opportunity'

The paid internship was the result of a grant from the South Coast Community Foundation.

"The idea is two-fold," said Pizarro, himself a journalist with the New Bedford Scallop. "One is to introduce people who really don't know a lot [about] media and don't generally have access to media to them.

"And also there's a hope and this is not to put pressure that, you know, someone really takes to it and wants to do this work."

Though not his first intern, previous ones were college students.

Teaming up: As suicide, mental health calls climb, co-response program touted as vital on SouthCoast

Boricuas in New Bedford

Rodriguez — who is of Puerto Rican descent — chose to focus her story on the Whaling City's Puerto Rican community.

"[Rafael] and I are very passionate about Puerto Ricans and New Bedford, and we really want to shine a light on us because, oftentimes, we're put behind closed doors," she said. "We want to try to light on Puerto Ricans living here so much."

Puerto Rico, a Caribbean island colonized by the Spanish for over 400 years, became a U.S. territory in 1898 following the Spanish-American War. It went through a period of increased economic growth starting in the 1940s with a program in partnership with the federal government called Operation Bootstrap.

As part of the island's growth initiatives then-Gov. Luis Muñoz Marín started to subsidize plane tickets to New York City as a "pressure valve" for locals who may not be able to find jobs on the island.

By at least 1957, the presence of Puerto Ricans in New Bedford was noticeable according to a Standard-Times article published in February that year entitled "City Gradually Acquires Colony of Puerto Ricans."

"It is anybody's guess how many Puerto Ricans live in New Bedford, but the number cannot be large," the articles read. "Since almost no Spanish is spoken among other elements in New Bedford, and the adult Puerto Rican newcomers speak limited if any English, little is known as to how they happened to decide to live in New Bedford."

By 1980, another Standard-Times story took a paternalistic tone towards the New Bedford community in a large spread entitled "Hispanics try to dispel stereotypes, frustrations."

"Its residents say the Hispanic community of New Bedford is small and young, no more than 30 years old," the article said. "It is a quiet community, prone to public demonstration only occasionally.

"It is a community in flux as the younger Hispanic challenges the way of the older immigrant."

A University of Massachusetts Boston study, found that Boricuas formed the largest Latino grouping in New Bedford by 2021, with about 11,891 living in the city.

What Rodriguez's project involves

Rodriguez's project will start with her family and will be presented on social media channels on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok.

"We've started with my family first since they were in town," she said. "We did an interview with them all about Puerto Rico and what they think about the United States and whether they think it's a good place to live.

"From there, we're still working on talking to more business owners, people we know to continue the project."

For her first interviews, the student interviewed relatives who moved to the U.S. in the aftermath of an almost 20-year old economic crisis, a falling population, and the devastation wrought by Hurricane Maria in September 2017.

Supporting young entrepreneurs: Dream Makers Market is serious business for these SouthCoast youth

"Life in Puerto Rico is a great life," Albert Rosario, Rodriguez's relative from Barceloneta, Puerto Rico, and her first interview subject. "It's summer all year. The only problem we had to go through was Hurricane Maria.

"It went through my town," he continued, adding that there was no electricity or water for day's on end. "Puerto Rico was a like a bomb had hit it."

Rodriguez said she has had to learned a lot about the island and the journalist's craft as a result of the project.

"I learned more about how to talk to people and how to make connections," she said.

And she said she will continue to learn.

"It just makes me want to be there and it makes me more interested in what Puerto Rico is actually like."

The project's social media channels should be up by mid-August, said Pizarro. Look for them on YouTube at NAACP_DR, Instagram @naacp_dr, and TikTok @naacp_dr1.

Contact Kevin G. Andrade at kandrade@s-t.com and follow him on Twitter: @KevinGAndrade. Support local journalism and subscribe to the Standard-Times today!

This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: Budding Journalist looks to learn about Puerto Ricans in New Bedford