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Puerto Ricans are America Citizens, but they are not treated as American Citizens

The 4 million Puerto Rican American citizens in Puerto Rico don't have the same rights as all other 300,000,000+ American citizens
They are not allowed to vote for president
Time for a barrage of federal lawsuits

Blackout In Puerto Rico
Worst blackout in US History
Frontline
[pbs.org]

Universal Declaration of Human Rights
[un.org]

JohnINFP 7 July 17
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1

Good book about US Imperialism in PR: [amazon.com]

Thanks!

4

Citizenship was granted to Puerto Ricans in 1917 only to be able to draft them for World war one!

Plus I think I heard Puerto Rican US military veterans aren't allowed to vote for President! WTF??!!

2

My understanding is be ause when we granted them citizenship in 1917 I believe. We left them as their own country virtually making them dual citizens. Which makes no sense. Part of the problems have come from Puerto Rico itself. The government has blocked measures over the years to make them complete us citizens

First I will call you Gringa Ignorant... only institution were Puerto Rico is recognized as a Nation is the International Olympic Commitee. And that did not happened until several years later. Still Puertorricans are faced with the choice of trying out for USA olympic team or PR olympic team. But honest not interested in discussing with Gringos the Puerto Rico Dilema and its Pains... always been a believer of the Independence of Puerto Rico even if via Communism... That Bad some of us wanted it. Goodbye!

2

Voting for president is not a right of American citizens. Only Electors actually vote for president, and according to the Constitution only states (plus the District of Columbia, per the 23rd Amendment) get Electors.

It has always been the case that US citizens living in territories do not get to vote for Electors (because territories aren't represented in Congress). This was true of citizens in the Northwest Territory, the Oregon Territory, the Louisiana Territory, etc.

And before you suggest that territories should be represented in Congress and get Electors accordingly, I'd urge you to take a look at the list of US territories and their populations, and consider the possibility of each of them having two Senators and a Representative and therefore 3 Electors.

Old ways doing things are not going to work. It's America's obligation to find a way to get all these folks their human rights. No bullshit excuses.

@JohnINFP How about giving all US citizens their human rights?

4

It doesn't matter whether or not we can vote while on the island. The humanitarian crisis, the deaths, the homes devestated. The lack of caring and action is the issue. All of the people that had to Exile because they had no homes and no work to go to, came here. The majority are in Orlando, and guess what? When we are on us soil, we vote just fine.

Sirena Level 7 July 17, 2018

The Frontline pbsorg link I posted is all about what you typed. I'm on your team. I lived in Orlando and Kissimmee for 10 years. Many of my friends there were born in Puerto Rico. I hate how America has treated Puerto Rico. It's so wrong. I even ecouraged one friend from there to come to Orlando and drive for FedEx Ground. So he did. We drove cross country as a team for quite a while until he brought his girlfriend up. He helped her get her CDL, then they drove as a team. That was 11 years ago.

2

Puerto Rico is not a state. They were annexed as a territory in 1898.

They were given the option to become a state a couple of times and voted it down. Another status referendum went up for a vote last summer, but it still requires the approval of Congress and I don't see this administration being in support of more people entering this country as a territory full of people who classify as neither wealthy nor white. In a Democrat-held Congress, sure.

Citizens of US protectorates and territories do not enjoy the same rights as citizens of States within the Union. If Puerto Rico wants political agency as part of the USA, it needs, as a collective, to become a state.

In the name of doing my due diligence I'm doing some reading, and as of the status referendum in 2012, 61% of the population voted for statehood.

But governmental douchery added in/attempted by officials in the paperwork, which is not something covered in the territory regulations in the Constitution or something the federal government wouldn't agree to seems to largely be the culprit.

(And honestly I'm not sure they want to be lumped in with us in the current political climate lol)

[pr51st.com]

They shouldn't have to ask or beg. America should respect the human rights of all the people it controls.

@JohnINFP

  1. Our government, in its current form, abjectly refuses to acknowledge the rights of native-born US citizens because they have vaginas, or are homosexual, or not-white, or poor...or any other reason they can contrive. It is a logical continuation of that behavior that it doesn't care about the rights of its territorial population. And it's not new. Look at the laughably ineffective federal response to Hurricane Katrina (which people in NC got to experience the year before, after Francis and Ivan smashed our entire state, both were Category 4 when they hit the mountains two weeks apart. Major highways had gaps hundreds of feet long all over the area. Rockslides, massive flooding [standing water post-Ivan in low-lying areas sat around 4-5 feet for a week or so.])

  2. Given the reading I just did, the problem has been as much with people in their government as ours that despite voting for statehood 6 years ago they didn't get it and are still having status referenda about it.

@geist171 "current political climate" is all the more reason to have the right to vote. To vote out President POS. The way he and our government have treated our fellow American Citizens.

@JohnINFP on a philosophical and social and anthropological level, I agree with what you're saying.

Unfortunately, this issue boils down to an issue between two governments and their ability (or lack thereof) to reach a mutually acceptable arrangement within the guidelines of the documents which determine the protocol for that kind of political action.

Which, I would like to add, is bullshit. The fact that the people of Puerto Rico have spoken and said, with recorded evidence, on multiple occasions, that they wish to be a state of the Union, and are being denied and blocked by a bureaucratic miscarriage of the democratic process, is infuriating and further proof that our system of governance is in dire need of massive system-level repairs and overhauls. But the blame does not lie solely with the American government. And it is unrealistic and unreasonable to expect the government to intentionally fail in its duty to uphold the protocols of the Constitution simply because it benefits a certain group (no matter how great the need for that benefit.) Yes, the irony of this statement is obvious the way our officials are behaving, but two wrongs don't make a right. We are already being heavily scrutinized for all of these transgressions we're committing, committing another one would not improve that simply because the transgressions are in the interest of human rights. What we need is a government which can be regarded as more of a trustworthy, reliable political presence, and that cannot be accomplished if we continue to just violate the rules of international politics.

@geist171 Democrats owed this to our fellow citizens and loyal voters. Puerto Ricans in America helped Democrats own the Presidency, the Senate and the House. It should have been one of Democrats very first priorities. It should have been done 1st thing. My fellow Democrats FUCKED up BIG time. They don't take care of the loyal voters who put them in office. That has to change.

@JohnINFP Okay I didn't want to name-drop or go this far to make the point I'm making, but here.

[pr51st.com]

The governor of Puerto Rico and majorities in both houses of its Legislative Assembly oppose statehood. The governor and most of the majorities want an unprecedented “commonwealth status” that Federal officials of both national political parties have said is impossible for constitutional and other reasons. The position of the governor and his allies in the legislature is that territory status should continue until the Federal government changes its mind on their proposal for a “commonwealth status.”

[pr51st.com]

Puerto Rico has met the qualifications for statehood: there is an organized government, a constitution approved by Congress, and enough people to make a populated state of the Union. Puerto Rico has already voted in favor of statehood, both in 2012 and in 2017, so what’s the deal?

First, there have been strong opponents of statehood in the leadership on the Island. Whether they believe the myth of commonwealth or have just been benefiting personally from Puerto Rico’s territorial status, they were strong enough to stir up controversy over the vote. A new vote took place on June 11, 2017, and 97% of voters chose statehood among the three options on the ballot.

The “commonwealth” and independence parties both called for a boycott of the vote, rather than trying to win outright, and are now trying to discredit the 2017 vote as they did the 2012 vote.

[theperspective.com]

Although the 97 percent pro-statehood vote in a July 2017 referendum has been hailed as near-unanimous support, less than 25% of Puerto Ricans showed up at the polls at all. Many citizens are concerned about their rights and independence as a U.S. state, and they do not want to lose their unique culture, heritage and Spanish language, more similar to that of Latin America than to the U.S. Puerto Ricans are also concerned that they will lose their international standings, including their recognition as an individual Olympic team or participant in world pageants and competitions if they become a state.

[pr51st.com]

This explains it as clearly as possible. I don't like the electoral college system, but I don't get to dictate the terms of my government.

[pr51st.com]

The first question asked, “Do you agree that Puerto Rico should continue to have its present form of territorial status?” That is, do you want to continue to be a territory?

Here is what the voters said:

Yes: 46%
No: 54%
Like so many recent votes in the United States, slightly more than half of the people wanted one thing and slightly less than half wanted the other, but it is certainly clear that a majority of the voters did not want to continue to be a territory.

As a territory of the United States, Puerto Rico does not have the same rights and powers as a State, and the people of Puerto Rico, though citizens of the U.S., do not have the full rights of citizenship.

The answer to this ballot question is clear, but it’s not enough. If Puerto Rico does not remain a territory, it can be either a state or a nation. So there had to be a second question.

The second question asked voters to make a further decision. “Irrespective of your answer to the first question, indicate which of the following non-territorial options you prefer. ” The non-territorial options were statehood, independence, and “sovereign free associate state,” which would be a nation in a relationship with the United States which either nation could end at any time.

These three options are the only options which are possible for Puerto Rico, under the Consistution of the United States. Voters overwhelmingly chose one of the options:

Statehood: 61%
Independence: 5%
Sovereign Free Associated State: 33%
61% of the voters chose statehood. Only 5% chose independence and only 33% chose the option of being a separate country with some kind of association with the U.S. There is no question that statehood got the majority of votes.

So why is there any question about whether Puerto Rico wants statehood?

The former government of Puerto Rico wanted another option, which is sometimes called “Enhanced Commonwealth” or “Developed Commonwealth.” This option would give Puerto Rico many of the rights of a state, including U.S. military protection, entitlements to financial support, and U.S. citizenship for people born in Puerto Rico, but would not make U.S. Federal laws apply in Puerto Rico.

The U.S. government has said many, many times that this is not a possibility. It is not possible under the U.S. Constitution and the U.S.will not agree to it. As recently as last year, the committee of the U.S. Senate which has oversight of Puerto Rico, the U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Department of Justice said that this option is “not viable” and urged Puerto Rico to stop trying to attain it.

The enhanced commonwealth was therefore not on the ballot.

Supporters of this idea believe that since voters did not have this option as one of their choices, the vote was incomplete or manipulated to favor statehood.

If this idea had been on the ballot and had won, as it has in some cases in the past, the U.S. government would have refused it, as they have in the past. Recently, some people in Puerto Rico have proposed that Puerto Rico should return to being a Spanish colony. That idea was also not on the ballot. There is no reason to put impossible things on the ballot.

In 2017, there was another referendum on statehood. Once again the voters of Puerto Rico voted for statehood. In fact, 97% of the votes cast were for statehood. Will Congress honor the vote this time?

Again. Do not place the sole blame on the United States. The government of Puerto Rico is going out of its way to demand a status that is not available to it, and the United States government refuses to directly violate the Constitution in order to appease the "enhanced commonwealth" crowd who are trying to obtain special considerations for themselves in exchange for granting their own people political agency and the chance at an improvement in the quality of life. This is NOT a problem that is 100% the fault of the United States, please stop insisting it to be so.

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