COMMUNITY DIALOGUE: ARE WE AMERICANS, PUERTO RICANS, PUERTO RICAN AMERICANS - WHO ARE WE?

Just What Does the National Review & Krikorian Mean - Puerto Ricans Are U.S. Citizens

By Rafael Rodriguez

New York City, NY March 8, 2011 – As an American and a conservative, I take great offense at the venomous darts fired by Mark Krikorian in his recent National Review Online post titled “What Do You Mean We?” in which he questions the right of Puerto Ricans – beginning with that of our sole representative in the United States Congress – to consider ourselves a part of the United States. 

Whether Mark Krikorian likes it or not, Puerto Rico is a United States territory and Puerto Ricans are natural born U.S. citizens, just like citizens born anywhere else under the glorious banner of the Stars and Stripes. I know you would like to, Mr. Krikorian, but sorry – you cannot – turn back the clock.  Sending African Americans back to Africa was not a practicable solution to the evil of slavery in the 19th century, and forcing independence on the disenfranchised American citizens of Puerto Rico is not a practicable solution in the 21st.

I will agree with one important, salient point made by Mr. Krikorian.  In practice, the island’s current territorial status is essentially colonial in nature, and the perpetuation of that status is indeed unnatural and unworthy of the most basic principles of the American Republic.

What Mr. Krikorian fails to take into account, however, is that for almost 60 years now our fellow citizens in Puerto Rico have lived under a territorial constitution, which expressly declares American citizenship and their loyalty to the Constitution of the United States to be “determining factors” in their lives, both collectively and individually.  Sooner or later, the only natural destiny for citizens such as those, Mr. Krikorian, is the citizenship equality that only statehood can provide. 

Once statehood wins the support of a decisive majority of the island’s electorate – and the time will come when it will – what our Nation should do is face its past and its principles, and facilitate an orderly, long overdue transition to statehood for Puerto Rico.

Furthermore, in view of Mark Krikorian’s well-known anti-immigration postures, it is worth underscoring that because of the way Puerto Rico was acquired in the expansion of the United States, Puerto Ricans have never been immigrants.  But we are indeed part of a nation of immigrants. 

The vast majority of Americans are, in fact, descended from immigrants who came to this country for a better life, made ours a better country, and now, along with Puerto Ricans, define what it is to be an American. Krikorian himself is descended from some of those very immigrants.  Interestingly, as a matter of fact, as the grandson of Armenian immigrants, Mark Krikorian is descended from people who have been Americans for a shorter period of time than Puerto Ricans. 

Mr. Rafael Rodriguez is President and Founder of the Center for Puerto Rico Equality and Advancement in New York.

What's at the root of Mr. Krikorian's comments, with all due respect, is not conservative prejudice nor is it status politics in Puerto Rico, it's basically how we Puerto Rican's play the "identity hustle" to our convenience in good ol' 'jaiba' fashion... 

All other ethnic minorities and immigrant groups in the history of US at one point or another converge on an "-American" identity, e.g. Mexican-American, Irish-American, African-American, Italian-American, Dominican-American, Jewish-American, etc. get the point? Puerto Ricans of all persuasions, including many of us in the diaspora, still refuse to say we are also American! Note that in our entire historiography there is NO mention of being PuertoRican-American.... :( Not even Barbosa said it (correct me if I am wrong but he said he was 'republicano', no?).

Munoz Marin at the 1952 Constitutional Convention did make a statement which is close to saying he was American but not quite. "Y que lo somos especificamente y ampliamente, en el sentido de la Union Americana y en el sentido de la cultura y de la historia del Hemisferio Americano entero, del continente entero americano."

As an American in the US of Caribbean, Puerto Rican, and Welsh heritage I have a SERIOUS problem with ANY immigrant group or ethnic minority group in my country USA that takes willingly all the benefits and rights of citizenship yet will not acknowledge the full responsibilities and identity of being American too... and to-date the only group in that category are Puerto Ricans, and the rest of Americans are wising up and calling our bluff????

What makes it even more acute now in 21st century is that all other Latino groups in US are coming to the forefront as "-Americans" and it makes us Puerto Ricans be the 'odd-group out', me entiendes? So the rest of the American polity sees this and wonders, as Krikorian does...

My sense as an American is that Krikorian reflects a basic American identity sentiment that most Puerto Ricans do not want to embrace, and/or we challenge it as prejudice, which it is not... Krikorian, like myself, just wants to know if Puerto Ricans identify themselves as Americans as we both believe the identification as American is at the centerpiece of the American polity and democracy and is something unnegotiable... Our 'brand' is not the passport or citizenship, although that is an element; our brand is a 'melting pot' blend where by choice or by force we all end up identifying as American and working and changing that identity as American... and by God how it has changed in 50 years since the days of Ozzie and Harriet, the Cleavers, etc.! :)

I see no need to react to Krikorian or to any other Americans querying or challenging us on our "identity hustle"... we need to react to ourselves and challenge ourselves... why the 'complejo' to admit we too are Americans???? And if we are not then let's get our act together and do our own "Puerto Rican" thing just like others have done in past 50 years, e.g. Belize, Jamaica, Mauritius, Nigeria, etc... 

BTW, I've been doing unscientific polling on this issue with many (300 aprox. now) of my Puerto Rican colleagues, friends, relatives, etc. in mainland and on island on this issue and to-date only have about another 10 who agree and openly accept, like I do, that they are Americans asi no mas... 50% of those are veterans/members of armed services... so go figure! 

Are we Americans? Or even PuertoRican-American? Or just Puerto Rican? 

There's an electorate of approx. 200m Americans with 535 reps in Congress all waiting for Puerto Ricans to start accepting and saying that we are Americans... and if not I believe so much in the American democracy that I believe they will help us on some other political-identity destiny if we say we are not Americans, we are Puerto Ricans or even PuertoRican-Americans... but until we organize and decide and say it they will (and I will too!) distrust all and every Puerto Rican in the US that cannot sat s/he is an American, just like all others do... Dominicans, Mexicans, Jamaicans, Greeks, Iranians, and the list goes on and on... 

Saludos compatriotas americanos! :) 

David  E. Lewis

When you say something unkind, when you do something in retaliation, your anger increases.
You make the other person suffer, and they try hardto say or do something back to make you suffer,and get relief from their suffering. That is
how conflict escalates.”

What's in a name ,a label or definition? What are we?Imagine that if Martin Waldseemüller had used the last name instead we would be discussing whether we were Vespucci-ans or not.  The fact is that we are humans, everything else is like the musicians say "variations on theme"
I am not fond of labels because while you are what you think you are you are also what others think you are.Perception is reality.
One thing we are not is immigrants.We were invaded in 98 to liberate us from an abusive mother and kept as a war trophy until 1952 and our status changed from Traditional colony to neo-colony  as defined in the dictionary:A policy whereby a major power uses economic and political means to perpetuate or extend its influence over underdeveloped nations or areas.
The status of Puerto Rico has not changed because we are a pretty good economic deal for the US.Imagine what the trade imbalance would be without us sin nce the Department of commerce considers PR as an export country subject to the Internal Navigation Law (Cabotaje).