The Ponce Massacre

March 21, 1937. This is a day that many Puerto Ricans will never forget. It was the day of the "Ponce Massacre".

It happened in Ponce, Puerto Rico. It started with several members of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party deciding to march. They wanted to march in protest of the imprisonment of Pedro Albizu Campos, who was the leader of the Nationalist movement. The group also wanted to protest in order to demand independence from the United States. The group did what they were supposed to do. Several days before the planned protest, March 21, 1937, the group was granted a permit for a peaceful protest. That was all it was meant to be, a peaceful way for people to voice their concerns.

March 21, 1937, the day of the protest, the governor of Puerto Rico, General Blanton Winship, decided to revoke the permit received by the Puerto Rican Nationalists at the last minute. Naturally, the group was very upset and disappointed. They decided to march anyway. So, they peacefully gathered together and began to play La Borinquena, which was like their national anthem. As the song played the group began to march.

What they did not know was that the local police had gotten together in order to stop the marchers. The police, who totaled over one hundred, came armed with an assortment of weapons, which included Thompson Machine Guns and tear gas. The Nationalists had gathered together peacefully. Supposedly, the only weapons present were the ones carried by the police, who surrounded the Puerto Rican Nationalists. As they began to march, the police came from four different angles to stop the group. Instead of peacefully stopping the group or arresting them, the police opened fire.

This is where some controversy comes in. Some say the police started everything when they opened up and began shooting. Others say the group of Nationalists provoked everything and started it. Regardless of how it began, what followed was a blood bath. It lasted about fifteen minutes. People began to run away and others tried to hide. As Nationalists ran away, some were shot in the back. Others were dragged from their places of hiding and shot or beaten to death.

When it was all over, nineteen people were killed. No police officers were killed. Some of the nineteen were protesters. Others were citizens that happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. One of the killed was a little girl that was only seven years old.

Today a museum sits right by where all of this happened. It is called La Casa de la Masacre de Ponce. Admission is free and it details the events of that day and even has artifacts from the massacre. There is also a section dedicated to Pedro Albizu Campos.

March 21, 1937 is a day many Puerto Ricans to this day will know about and will never forget about. The story of that fateful day is one that is passed down from generation to generation.