VICTORIA NOJfEZ


understanding that most probably led her to the formation of her first
volunteer group in which she urged the members to resist the racialization
of Puerto Ricans.
 One example of her resistance, and that of other Puerto Ricans at the
time, can be found in her description of the founding of the first group of
Latinos in which she was involved, the Hispanic Young Adults Association
in the early 1950s, also referred to as HYAA (most members were probably
Puerto Rican, but perhaps not all). About the emergence of HYAA, she writes:

 During this period, the daily newspapers were carrying many articles about
 the problems that Puerto Ricans were bringing to the city. All the reports
 were negative. We used the group discussions to share our feelings of isolation
 and dislike about the representation of our people... Our discussions covered
 many issues: Why did our parents emigrate? Why do Americans hate us?
 Why do Americans accuse our women of being prostitutes and our men of
 being lazy? Why are we accused of coming to New York to get on welfare?
 Why? Why? Why? (73-74)


Pantoja with associates from the original Hispanic Young Adults Association (HYAA) circa 1970.
Pantoja seated on the first row far right, behind the HYAA sign.10