This week, we asked readers if they believe the original West Side Story movie accurately portrayed the racism experienced by Puerto Ricans in New York City at the time the movie was made.

 

“I don’t know about the racism; that was, like, 50 years ago, but I saw the coming attractions to the new film, and it doesn’t look anything like the original.”

Phyllis Butler,

Norwood

“I guess that was before most people’s time. I’m 73, I grew up in the South Bronx in the 50s and 60s… I was traumatized, man. My brother had to fight and run from school every day. Because there weren’t enough Puerto Ricans, we were forced to form our own gangs. We didn’t come here to fight. When we got enough guys… I was too young. I was four or five years old, but the guys got their own gangs together and started fighting back. The B.S. about dancing and singing [expletive] me off when people were being abused, cursed. It’s a lot of crap. It’s not a romantic story. That’s just sugar-coating the whole thing. They’re not addressing the discrimination and the hatred.”

Julio Rivera,

Van Cortlandt Village

 

“It was a nice movie; the only thought I have about it is that they should’ve had more African American people in the movie. When we came here in 1974, we lived in Brooklyn, and that’s where I realized racism existed when, on our way to night school, a group of young girls attacked us, telling us to go back on the banana boat to Jamaica. One girl picked up a stick and threatened us. I retrieved the stick from her and smacked her so we could get away. The next day, we found out that she’s in the same junior high school as my sibling. So that’s where I first saw racism in America. I moved to the Bronx in 1979, with my daughter, then 2 years old, and I never returned to Brooklyn to live.”

Paulette Gordon,

University Heights

 

“The original West Side Story  film was the start.. to bring to light racist themes during the Civil Rights era. However, movies tend to soften and romanticize racism to make it tolerable for White viewers. “Tony” would have been hated and probably ostracized by The Jets, and Maria might have been beaten by her brother. The remake of this story promises inclusion. It’s refreshing to know that larger-than-life producers have acknowledged the need for a truly representative Latin cast, unlike the original White cast made up in “brown face” to appear Puerto Rican. We have a long way to go, but just maybe, we are making progress.”

Karree-Lyn Gordon,

Williamsbridge

 

“I am Puerto Rican and I’ve always been reminded of… back in the day, there was racism with the Italian and the Irish, and if they stepped out of their race with others, there was an issue, like you see in West Side Story. I would say the film was fairly accurate, because racism has never gone away in America, but to some extent, I can say that there were interracial relationships, but they had to be discreet due to the fact that it was not accepted. Until the laws of the land, in regards to the Constitution, are amended, racism will always be embedded in America.”

Raqibah Basir,

Belmont