Well I attended the PRDP for the first time. I came all the way from Los Angeles, CA to visit family and to attend the parade. Im Puerto Rican. Anyways, I can see why some of you people hate the parade but some things mentioned on this board are harsh. I wanted to check out the parade for myself. I must say that it was really good. It wasnt this crazy ghetto parade most of you guys seem to make it out to be. Im not saying this because Im Puerto Rican but because I actually experienced the parde for myself. Considering the numbers of people that show up to the parade and the amount of arrests for whatever reason, isnt as bad as i thought. It couldve been worst. Besides that, I saw alot of black people (non-Puerto Ricans) getting out of hand than any Puerto Rican there. People must assume that those black people are black Puerto Ricans which in fact theyre not. Your going to have the stupid ignorant people that make Puerto Ricans look bad by bringing their ghetto lifestyles to the streets of Manhattan on the day we show our pride to our little island country/territory and you have decent people who showed up to have a good time and not bother anyone like myself. You guys seem to pick on the group that least represents Puerto Ricans rather than the larger group of decent people that make up the majority of Puerto Ricans. I did notice though that there was a large presence of African Americans not to be confused with black Puerto Ricans. They were the ones who made the parade look ghetto by standing on the walls, smoking, blaring out obscenities to the females that passed by and talking non sense...there were some girls behind me at the parade who told someone that they were black not Puerto Rican but were there to pick up on the guys (while holding the Puerto Rican flag). I think that the majority of the people who start problems there are not even Puerto Rican. The parade attracts people of all backgrounds but the most apparent group to me were African Americans. Im not saying that Puerto Ricans didnt start a rucus themselves but you guys also have to consider other nationalities that were there like black people and Dominicans. The main ringleader of the "wildings" in 2000 was a Dominican followed by some African Americans! Thats what upset me the most. Those two groups came to the parade for all the wrong reasons because theyre not Puerto Rican. They saw the parade as a place where they can "pick up" on girls and have an excuse to be loud and ghetto and unfortunately everyone assumes that they are also Puerto Rican and start making comments on how ghetto we are.

And for the record, I AM PROUD to be Puerto Rican and I CAME TO CELEBRATE our accomplishments that we have have made in the city of New York...I came to the parade because I wanted to celebrate our politicians, police officers, fire fighters, labor workers, musicians, actors, choreographers, cooks, artisans, marines/armed forces, business owners, our culture, music, food etc...Many of you think we're just self loathing-welfare recipients when in fact we are not! Come to California, Illinois, Texas and especially Florida and you will see the difference. New York Puerto Ricans DO NOT represent all Puerto Ricans. Sorry.

Ugh, 47 females (including one as young as 14) were molested right after the Puerto Rican Parade. I thought security was supposed to be tight.

http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/news/2000/06/17/2000-06-17_suspect_just__having_fun_.html

this is from year 2000

I wish there was a Belgian Pride Parade so I'd really have something to mock.

You never hear of any criminal elements in any of the other pride parades, it seems like the exception is always the Puerto Rican and the St. Patrick's Parade.

I think there's more criminal activity because those two parades attract the biggest crowds and a lot of people get drunk. Not because of the ethnicity of the attendees.

I think the Caribbean Day Parade in Brooklyn attracts the most people.

And has the most munchies, and tasty jerked chicken.

The West Indian American Day Carnival Parade is the biggest parade.

That's also the most violent parade.

It's the only one with a casualty list every year.

I remember back in the day there was a midtown party called El Feston. Closed off most of Times Sqauae for performances. Always seemed to be harmless fun.

Wasn't this all just a marketing ploy for the upcoming revival of West Side Story?

Wasn't this all just a marketing ploy for the upcoming revival of West Side Story?

I've never heard or read of any criminal activity at the Dominican Day Parade? Why is that? Do Dominicans have more class than Puerto Ricans?

Also, why is there no Mexican Day Parade? Oh, I know. Guess that's because most of them are too busy earning a living.

Well I came from Los Angeles to NYC this past week and I attended the parade. It wasnt bad at all. Im pretty sure Mexicans will get their parade in 7-10 years when they make up the majority of Latinos in NYC so dont worry. And as far as the Dominican parade, consider the numbers of attendees of the PR Parade to the Dominican parade...im pretty sure when the Dominican parade becomes the largest, it will get bad ratings like the PR Parade or worst. Its all numbers and airtime. If you wanna talk about class, did you see what happened after the Lakers game in Los Angeles, the majority of the rioters were Mexican/Mexican American, now because of those idiots, are all Mexicans ghetto, rowdy and class-less?

There are crimes reported but not as much as the puerto rican parade. I visited the PR parade and it was a savage fest, nothing but puerto rican flags and extreme ethnocentrism along with a heavy latin king presence. Puerto ricans should be mad at themselves for noticing the presence of SWAT members at their parade.

Beating each other up and some eggs are different than say, holding a tourist down while your buddies gang rape his wife.

If all these clowns did was beat each other up the world would be a better place.

You're right about major felonies, but I hated St Patrick's because it was during a work day and then NYPD didn't do anything about kids opening drinking in the streets. And the kids didn't always limit themselves to just beating each other up. Especially the suburban white kids.

St Pat's can be annoying, and does have a little bit of edge to it.

But for whatever reason PR parade seems to take that to a whole different level.

And from my experience and knowledge its generally not the Puerto Ricans doing it- they're too busy partying.

There's assholes in every crowd, this just seems to be a magnet.

Remember what St Patrick's was like back in the day?

Catholic high school kids got the day out of school and drank in the streets. Since 16 year olds don't know how to drink, they puked and beat each other up. And don't get me started about the flying eggs and shaving cream.

This parade is by far the most obnoxious and prone to violence of all.

If recognizing that is racism then sign me up for avoiding unnecessary BS.

Nice to see this thread brings out the racism in a few. As if there is no such thing as bad apples in every ethnic group?