Latest / D-constructing Topics / Citizenship by Act and War: The Jones Act(Puerto Rico)

Transcript

Citizenship by Act and War: The Jones Act(Puerto Rico) · D-constructing Topics

0:00
.
0:13
let's go welcome to the
0:16
legendary podcast my name is
0:19
david and i'm your legendary host of deconstructing topic podcast
0:22
and yes we had a nice little intro to get
0:26
that little uh appetize that little thing going on
0:29
to wet people's uh kind of ears a little
0:32
bit and uh get them get that blood flowing i don't
0:36
mind if you be play replay that uh beginning again i
0:38
don't mind if you do that because we're gonna make it happen on this.
0:41
Episode once again welcome to the deconstructing topic
0:45
podcast and i'm honored to
0:48
be that legendary host and today we got a
0:50
good one today you know people out there
0:53
who are listening to my podcast wherever you listening to
0:56
the my podcast if this is the first time
0:59
it is the second third if this you've
1:02
been listening to the over my beautiful library
1:05
of my podcast once again welcome and i
1:08
just want to say to people we make it happen as always
1:11
but the fact is that i want to kind of
1:14
introduce to people that i am and i am and
1:17
let's say i'm not even going to say that i am but
1:20
i was born i am puerto rican that's what i meant to
1:23
say sorry about that but i was born in the beautiful island
1:27
country of puerto rico and over
1:31
here growing up in new york city and i always like to
1:34
introduce my peoples and those people around
1:37
in regards to our history our culture
1:40
and so on and so forth you already know we are one month
1:43
away or one month and a half away from the
1:47
puerto rican festival and we danny and we're gonna do some amazing things and
1:52
you know a lot of places already started the little thing leading to the puerto
1:55
rican parade this year so we got a good one because in my podcast here we grab
2:01
a topic And we just be deconstructed.
2:05
And hey, listen, you know what? When you're listening to this episode.
2:12
Let's go i'm a
2:16
little bit hyped but anyways i'm just want to bring this here and once again
2:19
wherever you are listen to hit the like button comment and feel free to share
2:23
we have a history in a sense we are we're going to be talking a little bit of
2:27
history of puerto rico because i do want to open the doors for those people
2:31
to understand me understand our cultures and you You know,
2:34
we just kind of take it to the path and go to the next country,
2:38
the next place, whatever it is.
2:39
So give you an idea of the Puerto Rico and Iowa, say.
2:43
And people ask me, oh, where are you from? I'm from Puerto Rico,
2:46
but I came here to the United States illegally.
2:48
People kind of look at me and say, what do you mean you came here illegally?
2:52
I thought you Puerto Ricans got a citizen.
2:54
I thought you guys are American citizens. And I'm like, oh, well,
2:57
I'm a Puerto Rican citizen, you know. So, but a lot of people kind of like look
3:02
at me like, hey, but that's when I like to jump in and get my little history
3:07
on how Puerto Rico became Puerto Rico.
3:10
Citizens of the United States and became an unincorporated aspect of the United States.
3:15
And we're going to go to the little time machine, if you will.
3:18
And again, I'm trying to condense this.
3:20
If you out there and a scholar or a historian that has more information to bring
3:24
in regards to this topic, by all means, by all means, but I want to be able to educate many people.
3:31
And there's many young Puerto Ricans out there who are born in here in the United
3:34
States, but still describe themselves as Puerto Ricans.
3:37
They could be second, third, fourth generation where their parents also was
3:41
born here, but consider themselves Puerto Rican. I always say,
3:45
wherever you go, you Puerto Ricans.
3:46
If you're a fourth, fifth, 300 generation born in Antarctica,
3:50
because your Puerto Rican parents happen to be some scientists or some explorers
3:56
and they were staying in Antarctica, because there are some people that live
3:59
in Antarctica for the purpose of scientific research, If I'm not mistaken,
4:04
there's some type of research.
4:05
Hey, I don't know what's going on over there. But we go from the cold to the hot in Puerto Rico.
4:10
I'm just saying, you got that hot blood, that Puerto Rican blood. Let's make it happen.
4:13
So how did we, Puerto Ricans, become citizens of the United States?
4:18
And many, it's a little, how do I say, a touchy subject. And it's touchy in a sense.
4:24
In Puerto Rico, there are those who believe for those who are advocates of the
4:29
independence of Puerto Rico.
4:30
Give Puerto Rico its independence So we could do whatever it is Talk to all
4:35
the countries Hey listen what you got over there come over here So on and so
4:39
forth But the fact that Puerto Rico Being an unincorporated.
4:45
Part of the United States. It kind of functions as a state, but it is not a state.
4:50
Quick fact, if Donald Trump or any president, whether it would have been Biden.
4:54
It would have been, how can I say, Barack Obama or any president that would
4:59
have set foot in Puerto Rico, they would not.
5:03
And again, I'm just going to emphasize this so we could be all on the same page.
5:08
They would not be considered the president of Puerto Rico because in Puerto
5:12
Rico, the United state, let's say in this case, Trump, he is the top commander in chief.
5:19
So he is coming there in kind of that role of a commander in chief.
5:23
He might be coming as a president of the United States, but because in Puerto
5:28
Rico, we don't get to vote for the elections and the presidential elections.
5:32
In Puerto Rico, they do vote for the primaries, but not the elections,
5:37
the United States elections, because there's no vote.
5:40
There's no representation there when it comes to that. But just to give you
5:43
an idea that when presidents do go to Puerto Rico to get, you know,
5:47
hey, listen, whatever they do over there, you know, I highly question sometimes,
5:51
many times, but whatever the case might be, they will go under the banner as
5:56
the commander and she, but, you know, you don't want to put that in the,
5:59
in the, how can I say, the title there,
6:02
you know, in the Spanish news or, you know, Puerto Rican newspapers or in the
6:07
American tabloids or in the mainstream media.
6:09
You don't want to put, oh, Donald Trump, commander in chief,
6:13
you know, under, you know, that's going to get people riled up.
6:16
But anyways, so far you listening.
6:18
So far you here with me because I want people to understand that Puerto Rico is not a state.
6:24
It's not part of the United States per se, but it does belong to the United States.
6:29
And again, those are little subjects, a little true, true, true, true, true.
6:34
The other thing, too. So how did we get there? And let's just go back to March
6:39
2nd of 1917, which is the Jones Act,
6:43
or the Jones Shafra Act signed by President Woodrow Wilson in March 2nd,
6:49
1917, which granted U.S.
6:51
Citizens to Puerto Ricans and to reorganize the island's government into three
6:55
branches as established, locally elected, and so on.
6:59
So basically, it's, hey, now you are citizens of United States.
7:03
You know, you guys are going to function kind of like a state type of thing.
7:07
But here's the kind of, how can I say to you, the controversy,
7:11
and I don't like to use the word controversy, but again, it is a touchy subject.
7:16
1917, March 2nd, 1917. Does anybody No, what was happening in 1917?
7:22
You right there with the hand. What was happening in 1917?
7:26
Well, there's a lot of stuff that was happening in 1917, you know?
7:32
And I'm like, yes, like what? Well, is that the first World War? You got it.
7:39
Boom, boom, boom, boom. So here's the thing. For those who are in the pro-independence
7:45
movement, Then they often cite, and rightfully so,
7:49
that the 1917 Jones Act was more or less to, well,
7:55
the United States officially entered World War I on April 6, 1917.
8:01
Are you following? So you grant these folks the citizenship one month prior
8:09
to entering the World War I, which was happening in Europe. The United States
8:14
has nothing to do with that.
8:15
World War, but you know how to stay, you know, the powers that be,
8:19
you know, they got some investments in Europe, you know what I mean? So what do you do?
8:24
You give citizens to the United States, and then the draft happens.
8:28
And then you draft it about, my understanding, you could go to 20,000, 15,000, 30,000.
8:34
There was a lot of Puerto Ricans that were drafted to be part of this war.
8:38
Now, I want also people to visualize this and to kind of put this in your mind.
8:46
Military-wise, the United States military power, as you may know that,
8:51
But, you know, United States military power at this point is arguably top notch.
8:57
But back in World War I was not. There was not a lot of people that was in the
9:02
military or anything like that. So you do the draft.
9:05
And United States military powers were not the same way as what it is now.
9:12
Europe was where is that? You know what I mean? That's where the superpowers
9:15
when it comes to the military.
9:17
You could say, you know, Russia. so having to
9:21
draft people in and i want people to understand that this joan
9:24
act and i'm trying to specifically talk about puerto
9:26
rico we could talk about other things there about
9:29
you know draft that's a whole different story but the fact that after world
9:34
war one you got world war two korean war vietnam war so on there's a little
9:38
island where you draft young men and women especially young men to fight the
9:43
fight for the powers that be in united states so one of the arguments of those
9:47
in the pro-independence is that,
9:49
hey, listen, don't think that United States give us citizenship because they care for us.
9:53
You know, don't think that they wanted to help us and get us from whatever debt
10:00
that we do, whatever it is.
10:02
No, we were given citizenship to fight that war.
10:07
And I want to say this, sometimes, you know, I tend to joke around in regards
10:12
to, I cannot say being here illegal.
10:16
Hey, I'm not, I'm a United States citizen, but there have been some,
10:21
and Juan Maribras would be one, who have renounced its U.S.
10:28
Citizenship. So sometimes I do tend to tell people, well, you know, I renounce my U.S.
10:34
Citizenship and so on. So, you know, but just to give you an idea where kind
10:38
of like the little backstory of that joke comes in, because now you are citizens
10:43
and sadly it's like, ah, OK,
10:45
I guess we have no other choice but to be drafted and fight the fight.
10:50
And it's one of those situations where, hey, listen, it happened.
10:54
And this Jones Act, I mean, it's going forward to how Puerto Rico and Puerto
10:59
Rico became here. Now, keep in mind this.
11:02
How did we have become a U.S.
11:05
Unincorporated territory? 1898, the Spanish War of 1898.
11:10
So the back story is that something happened in Cuba. Spain blows up a U.S.,
11:15
I believe it was a USS Maine, if I'm not mistaken.
11:18
You know, the news said, oh, they blew it up.
11:23
Fun fact is that they could find out that just the ship just blew up.
11:26
Nobody blew it up, but it gave the United States that kind of,
11:29
you know, what they call a false flag to enter the war. At this time,
11:32
Spain was kind of depleted.
11:34
Their Navy or their Spanish Almada, if you will, where the Spanish Almada would
11:39
have been, you know, hundreds of years before that, but still Spain was not
11:43
the same Spain. It has not been the same Spain ever since.
11:46
Spain was one of those European countries with the Spanish empire that just
11:51
went all over the world and was doing some crazy stuff.
11:54
1898, boom, they lose the war real quick.
11:57
Spanish treaty, Cuba and certain other Dominican Republic, I believe it was
12:03
Philippines, Puerto Rico became part of United States in a sense, part of that treaty.
12:08
So that's where we are here at this moment. And that's how in 1917,
12:13
that act became that act.
12:15
Cuba have some people fighting, so they did their thing, their Cuban independence,
12:20
whatever it is that they got to do there.
12:22
But again, United States doing that United States things when it comes to war.
12:27
So 1898 is the one. Another thing that I do want to mention,
12:30
and this is where there's a little conflict for those who are in the pro-independence
12:36
and for those who are in the pro-statehood.
12:38
Now, the people in the pro-statehood who wants Puerto Rico to become the 51st
12:43
state, again, that's an act of Congress that they got to vote.
12:46
It's not actually up to the people. And that's one thing that I tend to talk
12:50
to people in Puerto Rico who want to become a state. It's not up to you, pal.
12:55
If you really want to become part of America, just save some money and move.
13:00
I mean, it sounds a little harsh and I'm saying that, but I'm just saying it's
13:03
not up to the citizens of Puerto Rico to make that decision.
13:07
It's up to Congress to make that decision To
13:10
actually vote a territory into the states So that's
13:14
that situation So one of the talking points
13:17
In regards to the pro-statehood Is that they want to fully reap the benefits
13:22
Even if we are not Or it's not a 51st state We want to be able to reap The benefits
13:28
of a full American citizen And one thing would be to vote And if they do vote.
13:36
Again, I don't know how that works, but just to reap the benefits of a full
13:40
American citizen, whatever it is.
13:43
But I know that if it was to become a 51st state, then there are those electrical.
13:49
Oh, my goodness. That word, you know what I mean? I don't know if they're going
13:53
to get two or three, but just the fact that there is that thing going on there in regards to that.
13:58
So we're going to go back to 1917 once again. So everything started in 1898.
14:02
Hey, there's also a little, I just want to add this little caveat here,
14:06
because we are listening.
14:08
Please, if you are someone, feel free to reach out to me. My information is in the description.
14:14
Go back and listen to this and take notes if you need.
14:18
Because again, I tend to do a lot of my podcasts on the fly with that mindset
14:24
of I got the information in my head, but I'm also looking at my laptop and I
14:29
put some notes here together.
14:31
There is this thing that it's always often mentioned in the circles of those
14:37
in the pro-independence.
14:39
And that's La Carta de Autonomia, the letter of autonomy in 1898. What does that mean?
14:46
So my understanding is that Spain, once again, Spain in the late 1800s,
14:51
1890s, they were depleting.
14:54
They were doing this thing. They were doing that.
14:56
And they needed money. So there are things that they couldn't afford anymore.
15:00
And the fact that Puerto Rico is a small island, we don't need it.
15:04
Whatever it is, let them be because we're spending too much money.
15:08
Whatever it is that they were going through basically spain
15:12
at that time was just like hey listen we'll
15:16
give you this letter when this is our intentions because we were part of spain
15:19
so spain is basically give us autonomy and sovereign to for us to make our decisions
15:25
but sadly the 1898 spanish war is what changed that so basically united state
15:31
did not honor that united states say, oh, so you know what?
15:35
I love this little one. La Isla del Encanto.
15:38
Oh, as they were called Puerto Rico, they were called Puerto,
15:42
P-O-R-T-O, Rico, port being port, you know, and Rico being rich.
15:49
Now, again, I could go crazy in details, but people know that this is not the name.
15:55
That's actually the given name that Spain gave to Puerto Rico.
15:58
And if I'm not mistaken, prior to Puerto Rico, it was actually called San Juan
16:03
de Bautista based on the John the Baptist and San Juan being the capital of
16:09
Puerto Rico was a St. John.
16:10
And if you look at, you know, the influence in the Caribbean,
16:13
and this is many places, and I'll
16:16
say in the Caribbean, but even the small islands like St. Croix and so on.
16:20
So you're going to get this, but just in Puerto Rico, even in the Dominican Republic.
16:25
That a lot of towns or a lot of cities are actually named after,
16:30
again, some of the Roman Catholic, and not even sometimes the Roman Catholic,
16:35
but the Catholic in itself, especially with the Spain, with San Juan.
16:39
So just to give you a little idea of that situation, San Juan being the capital, St. John.
16:45
So once again, add that to like, oh, I didn't know, you know what I mean?
16:49
So that's where that history comes from, that aspect of things.
16:55
The 1898, again, it changed so many things. I mean, the fact that...
17:00
The United States inherit. And there was this point where even in the maps.
17:05
You know, the Alice and so on, they actually will call Puerto Rico because they couldn't say Puerto.
17:10
So they will say Porto, Puerto Rican. If you hear a lot of people that are not
17:15
in the Spanish realm of things, when they say Puerto Rico, they say Porto,
17:19
Porto, Porto, you know, P-O-R-T-O.
17:21
So again, mark that as something interesting in a sense.
17:26
So again, I just want to bring people here, Especially if
17:29
you are in the Puerto Rican diaspora Or anywhere that you are at In regards
17:34
to wanting to have knowledge Because there are a lot of Puerto Rican brothers
17:38
out there Doing that thing on the socials Educating our people and so on and
17:43
so forth Because it is history And we need to,
17:47
how can I say Overly pass the information over Even though physically we do have evidence Of,
17:54
you know, some of the things there and
17:58
you know because of that a lot of people didn't know that how
18:01
did puerto rico become u.s citizen and it
18:04
was that thing with the bad bunny situation there's a lot of americans in
18:08
general that just don't know that aspect of things and puerto rico it's not
18:13
just puerto rico we got the uh samoyan island the american samoyan the u.s virgin
18:17
islands so you know puerto rico being the most prominent because puerto rico
18:22
has played a big role in terms of uh were in many aspect of life,
18:28
whether it's sports, music, entertainment.
18:31
Science, you know, philosophy, poetry.
18:34
Puerto Rico has been a wealth of many great Puerto Ricans.
18:38
That's why I did a podcast a couple of months ago, Arturo Alfonso Schomburg.
18:44
The grandfather or the co-grandfather of Black History Month,
18:47
shout out to Schaumburg.
18:49
And shout out to many of these Puerto Ricans. Again, when this thing happened
18:53
in 1898 and then 1917, then it's definitely that interesting story.
19:00
Because many of those, even if you might not say, you know what,
19:04
it is Puerto Rico colony.
19:05
Even if you don't, might say, hey, listen, I support full independence and so
19:10
on. There was a lot of people that kind of felt like, hey, giving us that citizenship,
19:15
you know, United States did take advantage of many things, many things.
19:20
You know, I'm going to, how can I say, talk about a lot of topics because there's
19:24
so much to cover, even though Puerto Rico is a small island,
19:26
but it has a rich history, a beautiful history of many of the people.
19:31
Again, we are in Puerto Rico.
19:34
That's another thing too. I'm going to say that Puerto Rico,
19:37
the island Borinquen, it's the place that you want to kind of say that that
19:42
is the Taino name for the Puerto Rico.
19:45
So I just want to say shout out to everybody out there that is learning now
19:50
that now you understand how Puerto Ricans became citizens of the United States.
19:55
In 1917, the Jones Act that provided Puerto Ricans to become U.S.
20:01
Citizens. And I, listen.
20:02
We already know what the hell happened afterwards hey hey yo papi come over here papi.
20:10
We have war can you come over here
20:13
you i'm gonna give you here and go fight for the yankee go
20:15
go go go that's basically what happened
20:19
there in the aspect of some of the people that were
20:21
living in puerto rico over here united states was like uh oh
20:25
well uh you guys are from where again uh and you
20:28
guys are citizens of where in a little island where you
20:31
can locate it where okay go fight for america and
20:35
the freedom that america has had since
20:38
1776 go and go
20:41
do it for us the yankees let's go anyways
20:44
that's what's going on how that's your boy once again
20:48
hit the like comment all that good stuff sit down and share again this is a
20:53
little puerto rican history it's gonna answer that question and I hope that
20:56
I did answer that in the best way possible and you already know because it is
21:01
that little episode we gotta get a little goodbye,
21:07
after this you gotta get that cafecito let's go uh-huh woof let's go,
21:16
woof let's go holla at the kid I'm out peace.