"The role of women, initially, in a cultural context, was, on one hand, to be passive. That’s what we were programmed into believing. But when we started studying history—and Juan, as minister of education, made sure that we learned about radical women leaders in Puerto Rico. And so, for most of us, including those of us who had been to college, we had never heard of people like Mariana Bracetti. We had never heard of even Doña Fela, who was the mayor of San Juan for so many years. And we began to examine—remember, the women’s movement was also—the second wave—was also coming along. We laid out our newspaper at The Rat, which was taken over by women. So, we began to push back against the ideas of—in the program, it said revolutionary machismo. And we said, “That’s really ridiculous. Machismo is not revolutionary; it’s oppressive.” And the young men in the organization joined with us women, and we made that change."
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Editors from the United StatesFeminists from the United StatesWomen activists from the United StatesActivists from New York City
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Denise Oliver-Velez
Denise Oliver-Velez (born August 1, 1947) is an American professor, contributing editor, activist and community organizer. She was was a member of both the Young Lords Party and The Black Panther Party.
27 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Denise Oliver-Velez →
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