Racist Photo Ignites Puerto Rico Controversy

By ABS Contributor | Published on May 6, 2012 | Updated on May 6, 2012 8:38 PM EDT

A photo released on Twitter by the former speaker of Puerto Rico’s lower house has sparked controversy in the U.S. territory. The photo showed the image of Rafael Cox Alomar, a black man running for the Puerto Rican resident commissioner, with the name of a local chimpanzee, Yuyo, who died last week, printed on top of Alomar’s face.

According to the Latin American Herald Tribune, former house speaker Ziada Hernandez released the image via Twitter, an act she vehemently denies.

“I started on twitter a week ago. I don’t know what the photo is about, and I haven’t seen it. I’m not capable of such a despicable act. I discuss my business right up front and strongly.”

Alomar credited the photo to “low politics,” and said the underhanded racism has no place in 21^st century.

Subscribe To The ABS Newsletter — Get our stories in your inbox.

Independent journalism still matters.

We hope this story was worth your time. For over 14 years, Atlanta Black Star has stayed Black-owned and independently run. We didn't get here by waiting on ad budgets that were never built to prioritize us. Our readers did that.

Corporate support for Black media has always been thin. Outlets like ours get roughly 1% of the $170 billion spent on U.S. advertising each year, and that margin is shrinking further as advertisers walk back the DEI-linked commitments they made in 2020. That's the backdrop. It's not why we're asking.

The wider picture isn't any steadier. Newspaper ad revenue has fallen more than 80% since 2005, and local newsrooms are closing at a rate of roughly two a week nationwide. When outlets go under, it's rarely the ones built to center a Black perspective from the ground up that get to stick around.

We know a request for support isn't why you came here. But without readers choosing to fund this work directly, the depth of reporting we can do at home and abroad shrinks along with everyone else's. If you're not in a position to give, that doesn't change how much we value you as a reader.

If you are able to, a recurring contribution does more for us than a single one-time gift, because it lets us plan the next investigation instead of just the next invoice. It takes about 30 seconds, no long form, no account. Thank you for continuing to support independent journalism and freedom of the press.

Give once Give monthly Support another way