Puerto-Rican Justice

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Yeah, I often feel that Kemp has a difficult time connecting with his co-workers in a way that might be referred to as “friendship”. He does connect with them on a casual, day-to-day basis, and yet he has a certain contempt for them. “The Daily News was staffed mainly by ill-tempered wandering rabble,”(4), Kemp remarks. Even though Kemp is similar to those men in that he too can be considered to be “ill-tempered” (he beat up an old man, as I discussed earlier) and “wandering rabble” (he has spent his life going from country to country looking for work), Kemp is too disgusted by these men to become a close friend to any of them. Perhaps it is precisely the fact that these men each portray a different ugly facet of Kemp’s own personality which makes Kemp dislike them.

Yeamon, Sala, and Kemp walk into a bar. The bar’s manager refuses to serve the three men unless Yeamon repays the tab he has been accumulating, a sum of $11.50. Yeamon, who has recently been fired from the newspaper for fighting with his boss, has no money and instead of paying, tries to leave the bar. This triggers a fight between the three newspaper men and the Puerto Ricans in the bar. The cops come, arrest the three men, and take them to jail. This is a strange role reversal for the men. As whites in Puerto Rico, they are used to receiving special privileges, not being subjected to racism (note that none of the Puerto Ricans involved were imprisoned). As Kemp says, “ Puerto Rican jails were for Puerto Ricans—not Americans,”(97).

It seems as if the Puerto Rican policemen who arrested the three and the court which charged the men experienced a feeling of vindication from getting back at these Americans. After the Americans dominated their homeland, it is not surprising that the Puerto Ricans would want to get back at Americans in any way they can. However, this revenge is short lived: the Americans prove to be too powerful, even for a Puerto-Rican court. During the hearing, Sanderson, an American friend of the paper with ties to powerful officials, threatens to summon Adolfo Quinones, one of the most well-respected men in Puerto Rico, to act as an attorney for the three men. The judge is taken aback, then hastily sets the men’s bail and adjourns court. The bail money is easily paid. It remains to be seen what will happen at the trial, but what has happened at this hearing is a symbol of things to come. I predict that in the end, the three will get off without any punishment at all simply due to the power of the Americans in Puerto Rico. The court’s fear at the mention of Quinones’ name shows that the Americans continue to hold more power than the Puerto Ricans. It is amazing how differently Americans are treated outside San Juan, as opposed to inside the city. Inside the city, they are treated as the elite. Outside the city, they are seen as oppressors. However, at the end of the day, it is the Americans who hold all the power in Puerto Rico.