Like other times in history, artists and athletes seem to be ahead of the curve, certainly well ahead of their political leaders.

Take Monica Puig, for example. 

She’s the 23 year old Puertorriqueña who, last week, dazzled the world with the strength of her personality and athletic might by winning the gold in the Olympics in Brazil, the first time ever a woman or man from Puerto Rico has achieved the highest honor.

Who would expect? She’s just a tennis player who devoted that last 20 years of her life to master the honor of beating down rivals on the tennis court. But how big a lesson is this for politicians, pastors, city leaders, and entrepreneurs from the community and all Latinos in the country. It is up to us to grasp the lessons entailed in the young Puerto Rican player who cried before the tv cameras when the Puerto Rican flag went up, serenaded by “La Boriqueña,” which for Puerto Ricans has become their own national anthem. 

Who wouldn’t? When we see in her performance and her personality the kind of attitude that is so much in short supply in circles around this town, especially those that claim themselves to be Puerto Ricans, or Latinos or Latino-friendly, or economical. 

Monica’s got fire. 

In the 100 year anniversary of Puerto Ricans becoming U.S. citizens, which AL DIA is celebrating through a one-year long coverage of the Puerto Rican beat through our crowdsourcing and fundraising effort managed by a young reporter, Jamila Johnson, we‘ve got some fight ourselves. 

But we also need the fight of the other Puerto Rican leaders in this town and other Latino leaders in the city for who have achieved economic success. It is for them to complete that small gesture of courage to say, to this young reporter, “We believe in you. We want you to tell this story. We want you to take us out of anonymity . We want you to show who we are… Proud U.S. citizens who happen to be of Boricua origin just like Monica.”