WARNING A CONTROVERSIAL TOPIC! People have criticized me for being involved in many causes but have asked me why I do not opine about Puerto Rico. The answer is that with a Congressional Commission my loyalties lie to the nation first, though my love is for the island. As an officer it was not my business to opine but to carry out the orders of those appointed above me and I followed direction well! Having said that, if you called me “too worried to opine” in the past, I concede. You are correct. I am free now and what I surrendered to serve my nation is once part of me again. I belong to certain political groups that stem from reformation of religion, recognition of Anousim, to corporate responsibility, the abolishment of child slavery and human trafficking, boycotting chocolate, and the 911 conspiracy etc. But, I was challenged recently to comment on a topic that in reality by definition I never talk about, because I was born on the continent of North America in New Jersey and am not Puerto Rican by birth. You wanted my views, here they are, again, I do not care about responses nor your opinions, but if I am asked about my ability to rationalize and advocate for fair and equitable treatment for minorities, poor whites etcetera, then by not advocating for the citizenry of Puerto Rico makes me a hypocrite. When colonialism and war rendered lands new territory due to victory, then with that victory comes a social responsibility to the new members of the citizenry. To reform an island nation to a first world Latin America “country,” who does not have the right to self-determination, was simply a service done for the ancillary benefit of military power platforms and advanced naval bases. So for me Puerto Rico is occupied! Yes, and for a country to commit murder in Ponce through massive killings, torture of political activists with radiation, test the birth control pill on the women of an island nation among other crimes against its people, does not render it free of guilt because it empowered it economically and offered its people citizenship. Remember this citizenry started out as a benefit for conscripts for the colonialist Army of the United States and these people have served proudly since the Spanish American War. They have received Medals of Honor, even while serving in segregated units. Citizenry came at a cost. We embraced that cost when it came to defense of the nation and stopping a monster like Hitler. However, when the nation took the islanders citizenship away when they were given employment in Hawaii, since it was not a state at the time, shows the prejudicial and racist views to a loyal citizenry who were willing to embrace their new occupiers and rulers. It is no different than the uneducated Europeans who came to the U.S. looking for opportunity. The difference is that they were not stripped of their citizenry when they went off to work on projects in Puerto Rico, but the Puerto Ricans were, when they went abroad. How can a people be citizens of a nation where they cannot vote? How can they be called to take up arms when they cannot chose their representatives and participate in the democratic republic process? Since when did apartheid dictate for these men and women their social status in gaining “equal access” to self-determination or at least to elect those that have freely elected them to involuntarily serve in wars like Vietnam? We are not an indentured class, forcibly volunteered mercenaries, nor a separate people with rights, but not to self-determination, whether we become a county of Florida or a state in the union. Separate but equal is unconstitutional! Wait you say it is not a state, but if the people declare their residency in another state are they not then domiciled on the island? They can vote by absenteeism while serving in foreign lands but not when they return to the “no-man’s land of no representation?” This to me is an oxymoron and a clear cut case of the prejudice, racism and colonial domination of the island. It is a point on the Bermuda triangle, a vigilant eye for NASA, a staging point to launch against Cuba or other communist power and no different than when the Spanish occupied it as a naval stronghold. What is it about this island out in the Caribbean and at the corner of the infamous Bermuda triangle that every occupier wishes to possess but not give it the right to self-determination? This discrimination is a sad part of the Puerto Rican. It is unjust. To show clemency the U.S. has allowed it to decide if it wants to remain a “Free Established State” (the words “free-state” is an insult and the U.N. voting us a commonwealth a disgrace), a state or independent through plebiscites. When a people vote to finally break the bonds of “separate but equal” through a democratic process to become a state, (note they are citizens and the tax paying issue is only a benefit for U.S. corporations), why is that the Senators of the U.S. control the fate of a people who just declared that they want to join the union? If that right is controlled by some elite educated prejudicial men of 100, and they refuse to let it join the union, then it should secede! That is why I made the joke in jest that Puerto Ricans should petition Putin to become a member of Russia, since apparently we are enslaved to only be citizens without a vote, to be drafted into wars and not to self-determination. The U.S. plays a smoke and mirrors game, where as a super power it laughs at its all-encompassing authority not only of this island but, American Samoa, The U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, Saipan and any other territories gained through wars. It is time that apartheid ended and the vote respected and allowed to pass in order for the people to become a state. If not keep the citizenship, wipe your ass with it and give it to another island so that corporations can go there and benefit from a tax free status and become pawns. Let Puerto Rico rule itself and seek trade with Russia if it wishes. If not, then respect the plebiscite and their wishes to finally be represented in Congress as a legitimate sovereign state of the union. How many more wars must we fight in to show allegiance to a nation that gives Puerto Rico no credit, respect or rewards for its loyal service to the union? Puerto Rico should just declare secession along with the south and the Conch Republic and start a new nation where there is representation, because apparently it is a whore to the Democratic Party to perform primaries and inferior to self-determination for Republicans. It is time it is either set free or allowed to join, for the false Commonwealth Status is nothing more than a title, and what it really represents is a tax free zone for corporations and a land where the people are supposedly too ignorant or too backwards, as portrayed in political cartoons, to govern themselves. We keep Walmart and other U.S. corporations in business. What else must we do to be part of the great country of the U.S.? So my view is simple for a person raised there for a part of his life, not born there, and not considered part of the island nation to opine about its future: let me at least make it as a person from Jersey with voting power in Federal Elections, and say that the island is not to be enslaved to the benefit of the main land for wars and other ancillary free market enterprise benefits etc., and honor its vote to become a state! I can die for my country, have the freedom to live in Germany and vote through an absentee ballot, then at least honor my absentee ballot from the island if I chose to make it a home with other expats. That is what we are, expats in a free trade zone that gets exploited. However, what sets us apart is a commonality of language and culture. It is time for the Liberals and Conservatives to stop the crap and give the people what they have chosen or let them be free!
Posted on: Fri, 04 Apr 2014 22:41:59 +0000
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