my people
I'm so angry by what I just read in the Washington Post, that I think I've lost the power of language. This is an op-ed piece by the evil George F. Will on voting rights with specific vitriol slung at "territories" and "commonwealths" of the U.S. He finds that giving House seats / voting rights to reps from places like Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico a violation of the constitution. Or as he puts it:
The 58,000 Samoans pay no federal income taxes, but their delegate will be able to participate in raising the taxes of, say, Montanans. Samoa's delegate will have virtually the same power as Rep. Denny Rehberg, who represents all 944,000 Montanans. Obviously the Democrats' reverence for the principle "one person, one vote" is, well, situational.
He didn't even bother to take up the section of the Constitution that states: No taxation without representation. (in puerto rico, for example, there is no sales tax) But of course, that would invalidate his argument as would the fact that none of the people living in these places can vote in ANY federal elections. It is time that I start taking up the issue of coloniality on this LJ.
I'm actually offended by the way George Will made his argument, and furthermore, I'm irate that such horseshit is actually taken seriously. Here's the part that offended me the most. Apparently, those living in what I call, "colonies" of the U.S. don't have the right or political cache to vote for their representatives because:
Or, for that matter: Do you think that Article I, Section 5 ("Each house shall be the judge of the . . . qualifications of its own members") allows your majority to give such voting powers to your hairdresser? If not, why not?
I believe that such statements made by Will lack historical reference. What I'm about to say is not "post-colonial" so there is no Edward Said or Gayatri Spivak here. There's nothing "post" about the fact that what the U.S. deems as "territories" are nothing but 21st century colonies. I can't say much about Guam or the U.S. Virgin islands b/c I simply don't have the hard facts...which is totally shameful and embarrassing on my part. What I'm about to say has to do with Puerto Rico.
Rewind to the late 19th C: After the Spanish American War, Spain gave the U.S. Puerto Rico as war booty.
Think about that for a minute.
I, personally, am a product of several generations of people who are considered war booty by the U.S.
However, contrary to popular belief, Puerto Ricans never took this lying down. If you're interested, Google "puerto rican revolts" and you'll get approximately 415,000+ results. In fact, revolt has been in our blood since the 15th century when the Taino indians urinated on bibles in response to Spanish missionaries imposing catholicism on them. The most famous revolt: before the Spanish-American War (september 23, 1868), puerto ricans led an uprising for independence from Spain called "El Grito de Lares" which is now a national holiday in PR. Hell, my people even kicked out the U.S. military and it's gigantic base on Vieques back in 2003.
Fun Fact: Puerto Rico eliminated slavery through the power of the people, mainly due to the massive slave revolts with help from islanders from Puerto Rico and other latin american nations. In fact, Spain was so freaked out by the revolts, they hired armed guys called "Gallegos" to put down such uprisings. Ironically, they joined the revolutionaries instead. The Puerto Rican slaves were inspired by the Haitian revolts in 1791 that led to Haiti's independence from France. Check out this journal for more info on slavery in Puerto Rico:
Fast Forward to the 21st century:
Question: Why isn't Puerto Rico an independent nation?
Answer: There's always been a heated debate between those who want a) statehood, b) independence, or c) remain as a commonwealth. That's been going on since 1898. Since I don't have the time to fully explain that, what I will say is that the U.S. has frowned upon anyone who tries to incite independendista movements as was the case with Filiberto Ojeda Rios who was assassinated by the FBI in 2005 in his own home in Puerto Rico.
Or you do what Lolita Lebron did and take the fight to the mainland. She and a few of independendistas decided to open fire in Congress in 1954 (no, they didn't kill anyone or intended to...but the bullet hole remains ingrained in one of the tables in congress).
There have been revolts, both peaceful and violent, that have happened since the Spanish arrived in Puerto Rico in 1493. And sometimes, revolts lasts 500+ years when Puerto Ricans still proudly call themselves "boricuas" and the island, "Borinquen." These are the original Taino names for the island and its people. Shoot, whether we were born on the island or on Mars, we are all boricuas in our eyes. And furthermore, we don't consider ourselves "Americanos" even if every single one of us on the island became U.S. citizens in 1917. Same applies for those of us who we were born here. That's loaded with massive significance when you think about it.
Yet, after such a history, there has been a fundamental lack of understanding or reference to the history and the actual political process in Puerto Rico. It's almost like a state with a governor (a woman!) and a legislature. However, my people on the island are denied certain voting rights. It's incredibly paradoxical. Here's the deal according to the U.S. Constitution, courtesy of Eurisles.com:
The territories and commonwealths of the United States challenge the democratic principles of the United States. Each of these jurisdictions-Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands-is governed under a different political arrangement (although the arrangements for Guam and the Virgin Islands are quite similar). But none enjoys full participation in the national political life of the United States. Although the United States is a representative democracy, the inhabitants of the territories and commonwealths do not have equal rights to participate in that democracy.
Full participation in the National Government of the United States depends not only on U.S. citizenship, but also on residence within one of the 50 States of the United States. None of the territories and commonwealths is within a State of the United States, so no U.S. citizen residing in a territory or commonwealth may fully participate in the National Government.
The fundamental document defining the powers of the National and State Governments is the Constitution of the United States, adopted in 1789. Under the Constitution, as amended over the years, three central premises help to define representative democracy in the United States. Only a U.S. citizen residing in a State is entitled to vote for:
The President of the United States, the head of the executive branch of the National Government;
Senators, who constitute the upper house of the national legislative branch, the U.S. Senate.
Representatives in the House of Representatives, the lower body in the legislative branch of the U.S. Government.
So, to vote for the President or for Senators and Representatives in the U.S. Congress, one must be a resident of one of the States. U.S. citizenship alone is not enough. (Emphasis mine).
That's 3.5 million Puerto Ricans and American citizens without a vote.
That's how a colonial power does it, folks.
Oh, and for
bareedy. Remember when we talked about this some time back and you asked, "well, did anyone burn a flag?" Here it is. This photo was taken right after Rios was assassinated in 2005.
On another note, here is the usual monday night tribute to La Wep's t.v. boyfriend:
The 58,000 Samoans pay no federal income taxes, but their delegate will be able to participate in raising the taxes of, say, Montanans. Samoa's delegate will have virtually the same power as Rep. Denny Rehberg, who represents all 944,000 Montanans. Obviously the Democrats' reverence for the principle "one person, one vote" is, well, situational.
He didn't even bother to take up the section of the Constitution that states: No taxation without representation. (in puerto rico, for example, there is no sales tax) But of course, that would invalidate his argument as would the fact that none of the people living in these places can vote in ANY federal elections. It is time that I start taking up the issue of coloniality on this LJ.
I'm actually offended by the way George Will made his argument, and furthermore, I'm irate that such horseshit is actually taken seriously. Here's the part that offended me the most. Apparently, those living in what I call, "colonies" of the U.S. don't have the right or political cache to vote for their representatives because:
Or, for that matter: Do you think that Article I, Section 5 ("Each house shall be the judge of the . . . qualifications of its own members") allows your majority to give such voting powers to your hairdresser? If not, why not?
I believe that such statements made by Will lack historical reference. What I'm about to say is not "post-colonial" so there is no Edward Said or Gayatri Spivak here. There's nothing "post" about the fact that what the U.S. deems as "territories" are nothing but 21st century colonies. I can't say much about Guam or the U.S. Virgin islands b/c I simply don't have the hard facts...which is totally shameful and embarrassing on my part. What I'm about to say has to do with Puerto Rico.
Rewind to the late 19th C: After the Spanish American War, Spain gave the U.S. Puerto Rico as war booty.
Think about that for a minute.
I, personally, am a product of several generations of people who are considered war booty by the U.S.
However, contrary to popular belief, Puerto Ricans never took this lying down. If you're interested, Google "puerto rican revolts" and you'll get approximately 415,000+ results. In fact, revolt has been in our blood since the 15th century when the Taino indians urinated on bibles in response to Spanish missionaries imposing catholicism on them. The most famous revolt: before the Spanish-American War (september 23, 1868), puerto ricans led an uprising for independence from Spain called "El Grito de Lares" which is now a national holiday in PR. Hell, my people even kicked out the U.S. military and it's gigantic base on Vieques back in 2003.
Fun Fact: Puerto Rico eliminated slavery through the power of the people, mainly due to the massive slave revolts with help from islanders from Puerto Rico and other latin american nations. In fact, Spain was so freaked out by the revolts, they hired armed guys called "Gallegos" to put down such uprisings. Ironically, they joined the revolutionaries instead. The Puerto Rican slaves were inspired by the Haitian revolts in 1791 that led to Haiti's independence from France. Check out this journal for more info on slavery in Puerto Rico:
Fast Forward to the 21st century:
Question: Why isn't Puerto Rico an independent nation?
Answer: There's always been a heated debate between those who want a) statehood, b) independence, or c) remain as a commonwealth. That's been going on since 1898. Since I don't have the time to fully explain that, what I will say is that the U.S. has frowned upon anyone who tries to incite independendista movements as was the case with Filiberto Ojeda Rios who was assassinated by the FBI in 2005 in his own home in Puerto Rico.
Or you do what Lolita Lebron did and take the fight to the mainland. She and a few of independendistas decided to open fire in Congress in 1954 (no, they didn't kill anyone or intended to...but the bullet hole remains ingrained in one of the tables in congress).
There have been revolts, both peaceful and violent, that have happened since the Spanish arrived in Puerto Rico in 1493. And sometimes, revolts lasts 500+ years when Puerto Ricans still proudly call themselves "boricuas" and the island, "Borinquen." These are the original Taino names for the island and its people. Shoot, whether we were born on the island or on Mars, we are all boricuas in our eyes. And furthermore, we don't consider ourselves "Americanos" even if every single one of us on the island became U.S. citizens in 1917. Same applies for those of us who we were born here. That's loaded with massive significance when you think about it.
Yet, after such a history, there has been a fundamental lack of understanding or reference to the history and the actual political process in Puerto Rico. It's almost like a state with a governor (a woman!) and a legislature. However, my people on the island are denied certain voting rights. It's incredibly paradoxical. Here's the deal according to the U.S. Constitution, courtesy of Eurisles.com:
The territories and commonwealths of the United States challenge the democratic principles of the United States. Each of these jurisdictions-Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands-is governed under a different political arrangement (although the arrangements for Guam and the Virgin Islands are quite similar). But none enjoys full participation in the national political life of the United States. Although the United States is a representative democracy, the inhabitants of the territories and commonwealths do not have equal rights to participate in that democracy.
Full participation in the National Government of the United States depends not only on U.S. citizenship, but also on residence within one of the 50 States of the United States. None of the territories and commonwealths is within a State of the United States, so no U.S. citizen residing in a territory or commonwealth may fully participate in the National Government.
The fundamental document defining the powers of the National and State Governments is the Constitution of the United States, adopted in 1789. Under the Constitution, as amended over the years, three central premises help to define representative democracy in the United States. Only a U.S. citizen residing in a State is entitled to vote for:
The President of the United States, the head of the executive branch of the National Government;
Senators, who constitute the upper house of the national legislative branch, the U.S. Senate.
Representatives in the House of Representatives, the lower body in the legislative branch of the U.S. Government.
So, to vote for the President or for Senators and Representatives in the U.S. Congress, one must be a resident of one of the States. U.S. citizenship alone is not enough. (Emphasis mine).
That's 3.5 million Puerto Ricans and American citizens without a vote.
That's how a colonial power does it, folks.
Oh, and for
bareedy. Remember when we talked about this some time back and you asked, "well, did anyone burn a flag?" Here it is. This photo was taken right after Rios was assassinated in 2005.
On another note, here is the usual monday night tribute to La Wep's t.v. boyfriend: