Our people are beautiful, Puerto Rican people have a revolutionary history, Puerto Rico is beautiful.

being Puerto Rican is more than speaking and writing a language, and more than a language. It is a culture and a way of thinking; an environment; customs; food; a very complex context.

it stands to reason-it stands to common sense-that we must be a free nation in order to survive as a people. The future of those not yet bom depends on respecting the independence of Puerto Rico. That respect alone-the respecting of Puerto Rico's independence-is what Puerto Rican nationalism is all about.

The nationalistic sentiments underlying the messages displayed in the Puerto Rican flag, the pinned buttons, T-shirts, and berets of Puerto Rican youth validated the roots and identities of those who had left the island but carried the island in their hearts. The slogans "Tengo Puerto Rico en mi corazón, "I'm Proud to be Puerto Rican," "Puerto Rican Power," "Qué Viva Puerto Rico Libre," "Free Puerto Rico Now," "Despierta Boricua, Defiende lo Tuyo" (Wake up, Boricua, and defend what is yours) and "¡Jíbaros Sí, Yanquis, No!" were proudly and defiantly flaunted throughout the Puerto Rican barrios of New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, and other cities where the Young Lords were making their presence felt.

Not only are Puerto Ricans citizens by birth, but one would be hard-pressed to find a Puerto Rican without a sister in New York or a son in Chicago, a cousin in Orlando or a daughter in Honolulu or Oklahoma City.

The island of Puerto Rico is a small but complicated place. It's the only place in the world, I think, where you have a Latin American culture and you're an American citizen. I wrote a paper published by the University of Oklahoma's Department of Psychology about Puerto Ricans being like adopted citizens. I describe myself as an adopted citizen, much like a child who has been adopted by a family. He or she doesn't look like that family and longs to know who his or her parents really are. I was taught in the schools that Americans adopted Puerto Rico, it is not a real country. So, am I supposed to be forever grateful because someone adopted us and took us in? The Spaniards first, and then the United States? How does a child, then, form an identity?

The people are living with a kind of privilege and recognition of their faith. The Costa Rican people, they are a very pious people.

Puerto Rico is Spanish American in its past, Anglo-Saxon in its present, and, I trust, in the deepest sense Pan-American in its future

The issue in Puerto Rico is not between colonialism and independence. We are not a colony of the United States. We are citizens of the United States and our Island is associated on a basis of freedom with the United States. We are members of the independence of the United States.

Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it.

Puerto Rico is a beautiful island, with a culture enriched by old, old stories gained from many people. Traces of this culture are everywhere. And there are still many more story seeds waiting to be planted.

that's our goal, national liberation of Puerto Rico and self-determination for Puerto Ricans inside the United States.

We are loyal to the Empire first and foremost because we are of the British race.

A patriot is someone who cares what happens in their country.