Fun fact: Puerto Rico's nonvoting representative in the House of Representatives is the only Member of Congress that serves a 4 year term. House members serve 2 years, Senators serve 6 years, but the resident commissioner of PR is unique.
@@robertrichard6107 The nonvoting representatives for DC, the Virgin Islands, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa all serve 2 year terms. Another fun fact: the rep from American Samoa is the only Member of Congress that can be a non-US citizen. People born in American Samoa are US nationals, not citizens.
Another big reason why people preferred association over statehood is that, while it is illegal for states to leave the union, it is perfectly legal for territories to do so (see Micronesia) so keeping Puerto Rico a territory allows the issue of potential independence to be kicked down the road while not angering the pro-independence or pro-statehood sides too much
=WHAT INDEPENDENCE WHEN MILITARY BASES OF THE US WILL NOT GO ANYWHERE??? =BECAUSE OF ANY INDEPENDENCE WILL BE ONLY ON PAPER,WITH NO *REAL* ONE,PR MUST'VE GET THE OPPORTUNITY AND BECOME A STATE,SO PEOPLE LIVING IN PR WILL GET REAL RIGHTS TOWARDS MILITARY......AND THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT
They are an unincorporated territory. Whether they overwhelmingly vote for independence or statehood doesn’t matter. Only the US Congress can grant that.
I think Congress can allow a state to leave the union, desu. I'm fairly sure the Supreme Court has said that a state just can't do it unilaterally. But if Congress passed an amendment allowing Texas an independence vote that would be legal.
It's interesting to see the different trajectories of the two tropical islands of the US (OK there's Guam and America Samoa, but for the sake of argument): Hawai'i is growing steadily and Puerto Rico is losing quite a substantial portion of its population to the mainland. There may be more Hawaiians today less keen on statehood than there are in PR, but I'd guess that DC may beat PR to the statehood podium.
The few Puerto Ricans I have talked to were impartial/fine with the status-quo, but from what I understand, the ones who _do_ want statehood or independence feel strongly about it.
Yup. And they *TEND* to blame non-PR's about it, even though it's up to the citizens of PR to vote and apply (note: You have to have a legal vote, 2012's vote was... absurd).
@@yondie491facts. I looked up the most recent referendum held on PR statehood and it was just less than 53% in favor of statehood (and the first pro statehood referendum I could find with more than a 50% registered turnout). And yet on a Spanish video about this very topic, the comments section was filled with Boricuas complaining about American colonialism 🤦🏻♂️ I love the place and the people, but some people really are unbelievable.
If Soccer was played with a can instead of a ball, the US would be overwhelming favorites to win the world cup. No one kicks cans down the road like we do.
As a Puerto Rican living on the Island as I write this, I'm surprised it finally got it's own episode. The topic of status in PR is still very complicated. Yes, the independence support has decreased, but that factor was also cause by decades and decades of propaganda that linked it with it getting conquered by Cuba or the USSR (Cold War Red Scare at it's finest). And in the last plebiscites on what status the citizens would favor, statehood seemed to receive overwhelming support, but the ammount of people that participated was very little. This topic is far more complicated than a 3+ minute video, but still good video. I hope more PR related videos come out in the future.
Many Puerto Ricans tie independence to communism and it doesn't make scene like how come Mexico, Chile and other Latino nations aren't communist and they are independent states. If Puerto Rico were to become independent we can do it without becoming a communist dictatorship.
It honestly baffles me how you people would want to become a state honestly. If you guys were some hodge podge of people cubbled together like the Americans or the Canadians I could get that but from what I understand Puerto Rico`s people are it`s own ethnic thing with it`s own culture, language etc. If it was me I would not want to be simply drowned out in my country by a bunch of foreigners that would erase my national identity.
Puerto Rico is barely handling its own affairs as a territory how long do you think it would last as an independent nation? Honestly it's a kind of damned if you do damned if you don't situation if it ever got statehood it would probably be one of the poorest states in the Union
As a Puerto Rican and a USAF veteran. My take in a nutshell, PR doesn't have the resources to sustain or grow its economy at a meaningful rate, more economic diversity is needed, the island dependents heavily in the tourism and US funds, and the few expats that spend money at the local shops when we visit...
Puerto Rico has “people power” and if it could lean into the USA to get native born college educated elite in place to help steer that island a lot could be done for itself. Example: Taiwan is a small island, but it focused on silicon chip production it has gotten world attention from the entire world.
@@thetradersam6157 Fact: the population of Puerto Rica is over 3+ million citizens and that is slightly higher than the current population of the state of Iowa.
In 8th grade, I asked my social studies teacher why Puerto Rico wasn’t a state, and he said just because that would make it 51 states, and “the 50 states” just sounded better. I wholeheartedly believed him and have never questioned it until today lmao
I’m a Puerto Rican born and raised on the island. From what I’ve experienced, it is the older generations that prefer statehood, while the idea of independence is more popular among the younger folk. Obviously, this is a generalization. Many Puerto Ricans, including myself, serve in the military, and are employed by American organizations on the island, so to sever ties with the United States would definitely affect a large percentage of the population. Anyways, thanks for the video man! It’s not often that Puerto Rico receives much attention from channels like yours.
Giving up USA citizenship for independence and your own passport is very unwise. You already enjoy not needing to pay federal income taxes Edit: I am not from USA. So I didn’t know you do pay other forms of federal taxes and might be receiving a short end of the stick. What I am trying to convey is, going out on your own as an independent country in the Caribbean isn’t easy. You will still be wanting to have close ties with USA anyway for future economic , diplomatic and trading purposes anyway. Might be better to get more Autonomy or the status quo since you need close ties with USA for the future anyway
I think independence is one of those "be careful what you wish for" things for Puerto Rico. Statehood has too many downsides and not enough upsides whereas I don' t think Puerto Rico has the capability to govern itself and would most likely be annexed by another nation. As silly as it sounds the "Red Scare" of nearby Cuba may not turn out to be such a fever dream
I'd be shocked if they ever withdraw. I still remember a while back when History Matters posted a video but forgot to add the patreon section. Despite this, the video ended with, "With a special thanks to: James Bissonette--" as if HM assumed they'd just always be there, and wouldn't need to check before recording the next section.
I never see his name listed so I wondered on the spelling. Is it like the Bissonnet here in Houston or your way of spelling it? 😂. Thanks for clearing that up.
I served in the US Army with a whole bunch of Puerto Ricans and one them told me once that if you want to start a fight, find three or more Puerto Ricans and say "PR should be a state". Because there are three opinions (status quo, statehood, and independence) and they feel strongly about whichever one they hold.
No one thinks Puerto Rico should be a state, It shouldn’t. And we won’t allow it either way. No American is begging Puerto Rico to join, The country has nothing to show for itself and should be independent from the US as there are zero cultural ties.
@@DivinesLegacy I can see you are ignorant of the subject. Many Puerto Ricans on the island and on the mainland believe in PR statehood. The US has never begged a, territory t become a state, and yet they have opened the doors to them when they deemed fit. If what you said were true why did 8 territories, now states use the Tennessee Plan to become a state, the last one being Alaska. You lack the knowledge of US history and it shows
Most of them moved to Kissimmee, FL or NY/NJ. :) They said something like 400k people moved to the greater Orlando area after Hurricane Maria a few years back. The ones who want to be a state just move here freely so I guess it works for the island to stay as it is.
Ideas for more videos: 1. Why does France own French Guiana? 2. Why does Liechtenstein exist? 3. Why did Russia give Crimea to Ukraine? 4. Why did Poland and Lithuania break up? 5. Why is Latin a dead language? 6. Why did Yugoslavia collapse? 7. Why did Brittany take so long to join France? 8. Why do so many countries end in -stan? 9. Why did Europe colonize the Americas before Africa? 10. Why isn’t Sri Lanka a part of India? 11. Why did the Byzantine Empire survive for so long? 12. Why didn’t Poland or Czechoslovakia regain all of their lost territory after WWII? 13. How did the Mongol Empire get so big? 14. Why isn’t Brunei a part of Malaysia? 15. Why was Italy punished so lightly after WWII?
@@untendohd1377 yes, and also the “ia” found in many names. So “-stan” and “ia” both essentially mean “land of” Columbia - land of Columbus Kazakhstan- land of Kazakh
It was a lot harder to colonize Africa because the Africans had the same immunity to diseases as the Europeans plus they had extra diseases that the Europeans had no immunity to.
Wikipedia has quite a lengthy disambiguation page for "Treaty of Paris", including 34 different treaties named the "Treaty of Paris", four "Paris Convention"s, the Paris Peace Accords for the Vietnam War, the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change. (Plus a painting, a rock band, and a racehorse named "Treaty of Paris".) I think that Paris should take a break and let some other city handle international diplomacy for a while.
I have always thought that Puerto Rico (along with Guam) should be official states. I've visited PR three times, and have friends there who have served in the US Navy. Hopefully statehood will be granted in the near future.
@Craig Dendy Thank you! But we just need to kick out LA, San Francisco, and New York City! I just watched a video about how San Bernadino co wants to secede from the state of California and many Californians are very unhappy with the direction (down the toilet) that its going and they blame the most populous areas for its troubles. California sounds like a Red State outside the metro areas
Not really if Puerto Rico had a "a strong independence movement" they would have been granted independence in 1947 like the Philippines...or Cuba in 1902. Puerto Ricans were offered US citizenship less than 1K refused and most of those were Spanish citizens
@@Okanekaseku Considering I'm Puerto Rican, I think I know my skin color..and the skin color of Spaniards...SMH.Facts don't care about your feelings....even now the independence party is about 5% of the population. As far as the rest please write clearer as I don't know what your talking about, but its obvious you racially profiling people, as you're projecting that on to me.
@@Okanekaseku Wow talk about projection. So you learned to despise your roots, and think others did the same. Then you accuse the author of the thread of despising Latinos, while at the same time despising him a Latino. SMH
IMHO the reason why the status quo remains is not because of fear. I call it a lack of vision. The independence movement has none. They have no plans for the future except to reestablish control over the masses and get them to work in the fields picking coffee or sugar cane, or in the service industry catering to tourists. IE the only future for Puerto Rico espoused by the Indpenedentistas is for the revitalization of menial labor As far as the rest you have allowed racism to dominate your thinking. Their is little to no racism on the island, Puerto Ricans on the island know the stories, and may have experienced it, but they don't have a point of reference. Your cries of being taught to hate themselves falls on deaf ears, because unlike you they were educated in Puerto Rico where they are actually taught to take pride in their heritage. As such they would rather reform the system than abandon it. Then people like you come in yelling at them, assuming skin color, motivations, and a lack of intelligence, it just causes them to tune out your agenda. Just my 2 cents....
As always, I enjoyed this video. I was surprised, however, that one detail was missing. It was virtually impossible to consider making Puerto Rico a state before World War 2 because of the Philippines. The US could not possibly entertain the idea of making the Philippines a state due to its comparatively gargantuan population. Making Puerto Rico a state while keeping the Philippines as a territory would have caused even more tension between the states and the Philippines. However, once the Philippines became independent, statehood for Puerto Rico became more feasible. I know a few people from Puerto Rico. Based on that small sample size, they seem to lament the most about not being able to vote in the US presidential elections. Otherwise, they seem ambivalent regarding statehood. Again, my sample size is small. Many people from Puerto Rico may have a different perspective.
But Philippines was on the path to independence anyhow, having its own commonwealth presidents and own military etc. It was slated for 1946, even with WWII underway they still got it that year. Idk how could that change things for Puerto Rico statehood
This is false. The Philippines was always slated for independence since the 1899 Schurman Commission and the subsequent 1900 Taft Commission. Philippine statehood was always a very very VERY small minority opinion in US Congress and within the Territory/Commonwealth. From 1899-1946 the US enacted laws and decisions exclusively for Philippine independence. The idea of Philippine statehood is a wildly popular misconception and teeters on historical revisionism.
There's a saying among Puerto Ricans that goes... "my heart has place for one star, not 50". And another is.... "every Puerto Rican believes in independence after two beers".
Used to live in Puerto Rico. There are 3 main political parties in PR the PNP (Partido Nuevo Progresista) prefer statehood, the PPD (Partido Popular Democrático) prefer to keep the status quo and the PIP (Partido Independentista Puertorriqueño) prefer independence. I've since moved back to the US mainland but back when I lived in PR it seemed that independence was almost impossible and overall not preferred by the populace. So, many of the PIP preferred to vote for PPD gubernatorial candidates in order to at least keep the status quo and not become a full-on state. TBH barring some unforeseen situation I don't ever imagine Puerto Ricans as a whole voting for independence. I feel that the benefits of being at least associated with the US as a territory outweigh the benefits of being their own nation.
Independence is inevitable. Their has been a mass exodus from the political establishment in the last 2 elections. 3rd parties in 2020 got a greater share of the vote then either of the 2 establishment parties
Because of the amount of people who prefer the status quo, neither the pro-statehood nor pro-independence sides seem to have a majority, yet each side acts like they speak for the entire island
As a Puerto Rican, another factor I keep seeing is that people here are just very comfortable with the "unincorporated territory" title. The pro-independence crowd can have their "we're our own country" line, while we're all still US citizens with the benefits of travelling to and from the US without any issue.
That's what I've heard whenever I've talked with anyone about the issue. The status quo is known. Becoming independent, while intriguing, is unknown. And they already get most of the benefits. Puerto Ricans are citizens, and can go where they like. Probably the ones who want to be a state just move to a state.
.......SADLY,GETTING OUT OF THE US IS A MYTH,IT'LL NEVER BE ALLOWED TO HAPPEN...GOT IT?? .....SO EVERYONE IN PR MUST'VE STOP DREAMING AND GET STATEHOOD ASAP....BECAUSE OF *_THAT_*
Alaska voted 80% and Hawaii voted 90%. In the last plebiscite (2020) Puerto Rico voted ..53%. That's the equivalent of saying "I guess" to a marriage proposal. You can't expect anyone to seriously pursue statehood on behalf of PR when there doesn't appear to be any great enthusiasm from Puerto Ricans themselves.
Finally someone in this comments section is actually speaking some truth. The situation is pretty complicated with Puerto Rico right now, which is not what this RU-vidr is trying to sell to his audience.
And it's the first of a half-dozen votes that had *that much* of a pro-state or pro-independence result. Puerto Rico is the reason Puerto Rico isn't a state yet.
@@purplespeckledappleeater8738 To be clear, this youtuber didn't go into the current political drama at all and only explained the background for why it is the way it is now, not why people want to change that. Those are two distinct video topics.
This. Statehood or not Puerto Rican is still American and almost everyone sees themselves that way there's really no serious issue of Puerto Rico seceding. I even go out on a limb to say that we Puerto Rican sees ourselves as American more than other Hispanic people who sometimes only see America as a place to make money and not their true "homeland"
A former governor who was pro-statehood once went to Washington DC to ask for "statehood" for Puerto Rico. A congressman asked him "How many votes in a referendum in favor of statehood do you think are good enough for Puerto Rico to become a state?". His answer was "Uh...About 60%." The congressman replied back: "So, you're ok with your wife being faithful to you just 60% of the time?".
As always a useful and entertaining video. Pardon me while I nitpick. 0:03 The US flag is wrongly displayed. When displayed either horizontally or vertically against a wall, the union should be uppermost and to the flag's own right, that is, to the observer's left.
I'm born and raised in PR. I have been living in the continental USA for 10 yrs. I wish for P.R to become a state. However, I don't see it happening any time soon.
So only like 1/3rd of the island votes. Most people outside of San Juan don’t have a strong opinion one way or the other. The current governor of Puerto Rico wants statehood, he got 39 percent of the vote. The 2nd place candidate wants Puerto Rico to stay unincorporated, he got 34 percent. Finally, the Independence Party got 6 percent of the popular. Which is interesting because if Texas had an Independence Party, it’d get like 20 percent. People who don’t want statehood believe making Puerto Rico a state would be complicated. Their political parties are a little different from ours. Thinking they’ll embrace our two party system is a stretch. Some the federal laws are different, for example the drinking age is 18. If they had to follow our laws and pay taxes like Americans then it’d create frustration. People who do want statehood are irritated with the local government corruption. They believe the US would be more concerned with the issues of PR if it were a state. They also want a say in American Elections because the president can make crucial decisions involving Puerto Rico. More American politicians would make promises for Puerto Rico if Puerto Ricans had voting power. The independence movement barley has traction. Folks in Puerto Rico enjoy being able to travel to the US freely without a passport. In fact, there’s actually more Puerto Ricans on the mainland than the island. Taking that away would create some issues. It wouldn’t help the island very much. PR would stop receiving disaster relief from The US, less benefits in general. Independence is like a symbolic thing mostly. A fringe group of people who believe their country was taken from them and don’t like being considered a colony. It’s more of an ego thing rather than a “how are we gonna make our country better?” thing.
The real reason is they just got tired of updating the flag each time and want to keep 50 stars. Something you didn't mention is the US also got Cuba in the Treaty of Paris, but because not everyone in government wanted Cuba, they let Cuba become independent under the condition that they would have the right to intervene in Cuban affairs. Years of the US controlling Cuban affairs on top of Batista's cruelty is why the Cuban people finally had enough and rose up during the Cuban Revolution of the 1950s Also, if they had independence with Free Association like Palau, Marshall Islands, and Micronesia, they'd still get benefits like defended militarily by the US and traveling to the US without a visa.
@@PheOfTheFae , DC actually does have representation. By the POTUS. In 1961, they were given an electoral vote. Which means they can vote for President (a representative of the people, according to the Constitution). Puerto Rico can't vote for President.
@@Kahless_the_Unforgettable Yes DC can vote for the President. However, the President doesn't make the laws that govern DC or more importantly Puerto Rico so that doesn't really count for much. The Senate gives a massive amount of power to everyone who has a Senator. At the end of the day having the same filibuster, Yay, or Nay vote as everyone else regardless of population or tax revenue produced.
It's actually not that simple. The people (most of them) don't pay federal income tax but they pay every other type of tax. The Puerto Rican National Guard still gets called up to deploy into war zones and most importantly any federal law that's passed by Congress applies to Puerto Rico the same way would apply to a state. That is the most important part Puerto Rico has a bigger population than Hawaii, Alaska, Wyoming, and I think a few other states. That said it has zero control over what the other 50 states decide should happen to it at the Federal level. Once upon a time companies did not have to pay federal tax either and that caused a lot of well-paying companies to be based in or operate out of Puerto Rico. When Congress (again no representation) decided to end that it was a mass exodus of companies which also led to a mass exodus of employees aka local tax payers.
@@ohcrap3263 the USA purchased alaska from the russian empire, two governments participating in a land exchange, where russia granted the united states full sovereignty over alaska, therefore annexing it, utter strawman argument
@@minelayer26 Annexation: A nation occupying a territory and taking direct control of it. Acquisition: Getting possession of something. (in this context, a nation taking, or being granted, a piece of land or territory) Annexation is a more direct form of acquisition. For example, when Britain first conquered India, they acquired it and placed it under the jurisdiction of the East India Company. Later, Company rule was dissolved and replaced with direct administration of the British Raj. This would have been the annexation of India. Parts of India remained semi-sovereign and not-annexed -- the Princely States and these were pseudo-independent 'kingdoms' that were under British control but not part of the Raj. When the United States purchased Louisiana from France in 1803, it was made into the Louisiana Territory. This was an acquisition of territory, and could be argued, even before statehood, to be annexation because it was an organized incorporated territory. Parts of the Louisiana Territory were partitioned and admitted as states, like Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, etc., into the Union. In the late 19th century, European powers colonized the South Pacific islands. They were acquired, but remained overseas territories that weren't directly annexed. To this day there are a number of British and French overseas territories. Britain has not annexed their overseas territories, which are not part of the United Kingdom. France has annexed their overseas territories, which are regarded as Overseas France and governed partially or fully by the French national government.
My favorite is when, in the World Baseball Classic, the United States plays against Puerto Rico. I didn't realize a country could play itself rofl The idea of them being seperate is like how the Marines and Spaceforce don't accept they are part of the Navy and Air Force departments, respectively. Great video as usual! Thanks to all the Puerto Ricans commeting!
Don’t know why the idea of a Marine is to approach from the sea. Hence Navy. Space could technically be considered in the sky that’s why it’s part of the Air Force
One detail that he left out is that there was (and still is) no concession to make to conservatives if it were made a state. The mostly conservative Alaska and the mostly liberal Hawaii were able to get statehood around the same time because neither party saw the move as "handing the other side two more senators." However, as the US is now out of territories that would lean conservative if given statehood, there's no concession to give to Republicans that would make them vote "Yes" on giving Democrats 2 more Senate seats.
I would argue that Puerto Rico isn't particularly as left leaning as other state seeking territories like DC. In fact many ideas in the island can go either way.
@@largebubbahubba always has. Why they didn’t let in a free state without letting in a slave state at the same time. In this regards though, let eastern Washington & Oregon split off and form their own state. Problem solved.
@@Warlock_Lelouch In recent years yes, most recent poling shows great support for it, but nowadays I can't say for sure, you see, there's a growing movement in opposition to rich American folk who come and place property on our coasts which by law are supposed to be public, meaning the law hasn't kept up with this making us the locals mad at this. Related to this issue is also the increase of Americans taking advantage of tax reductions by establishing their businesses here. Finally the response to the last few hurricanes (Irma, Maria and Fiona) have left a lot to be desired, the money wasn't well used and there were entire containers of water and supplies that were never put to use. Thousands of death are the result of these malpractices and I'm pretty sure that reduces support. I hope my answer responds your question well
Puerto Rican filmmaker/anthropologist here! Would like to offer some corrections if I may. The issue of statehood vs independence is a bit more complicated than you put it (though for a three minute video on history I suppose it suffices). Throughout the twentieth century, independence movement leaders were viciously targeted by federal agencies like the FBI and many were jailed in McCarthy-like trials (some even without). The movement itself was also severely repressed, with laws like the Gag Law (1948-1958) making it illegal to espouse any emancipatory rhetoric and even prohibiting the display of the Puerto Rican flag. As such, many people who desired independence were forced to hide their sentiments or were jailed for expressing them. Today, while the referenda have increasingly shown pro-statehood desires, many people end up boycotting them because they are written by the leading (and corrupt) pro-statehood party, and are thus often skewed in the favor of statehood. The 2017 referendum, for example, had a 97% majority vote for statehood, but something like a 23% voter turnout. Word of mouth sentiments on the island, especially with younger generations, are increasingly anti-statehood and pro-independence, as the last decade has especially shown how apathetic the US government can be towards the island. In general, a well made video, just offering some perspectives. Thank you for highlighting the subject!
what does it matter who wrote the referendum? Don't get me wrong I couldn't care either way if its a state or a independent country (i'm against keeping the status quo)
@@briancartwright7 Liability!? Puerto Ricans dont even have that dumb politically charged word. Listen to this expert, CIA were actively crushing any independance movement. Also, be real. Cuba is next door, Cuba had missles pointed at the USA, naturally the USA needs a good territory for invasion in case diplomacy goes south
@@reeyees50 I could be totally wrong but they have the best of both worlds now, if they become a state they have to pay federal taxes and if they go off on their own they have to pay for defense, infrastructure etc.
As a Puerto Rican, I believe the independence movement is not dead but it does have significantly less support. A big consensus of people agree on keeping the status quo for A) not wanting to become a state B) independence can be scary for some. I have to agree with Texxon who commented earlier that most of the support for statehood is mostly because of years propaganda and the belief that the pro-statehood political party instills on its supporters that becoming a state will magically solve all of the island's problems.
=WHAT INDEPENDENCE???THE US WONT BE LEAVING EVER,THOUGH.......SO IT'LL BE LIKE INDEPENDENCE OF JAPAN,FOR EXAMPLE......ESPECIALLY ON OKINAWA,WHERE PEOPLE ARE RIGHTLESS TOWARDS US MILITARY THAT LIVE THERE =AND IF PR WILL BE THE STATE,PR'S LOCALS WONT BE SUFFERING ANY POSSIBLE INEQUALITY WITH MILITARY
Probably? Even if Puerto Rico was brought to the standard of living of Mississippi it would be a material transformation of the island. Still there are cultural considerations.
=NOT GONNA HAPPEN EVER AS US'S MILITARY BASES WONT GO ANYWHERE,AND ONLY STATEHOOD REALLY PROTECTS PEOPLE ......I'LL JUST MENTION ABOUT CUBA WAS GIVEN INDEPENDENCE ONLY TO FORCIBLY ABUSING IT'S PEOPLE BY ANY WAY OF EXPLOITATION WHICH TURNED REBELLIOUS THOUGHTS RISE THERE WHICH TURNED CUBA TO COMMUNIST REGIME
As a Puerto Rican I know that this whole situation is a lot more complex than a three-minute video. especially when the United States came into Puerto Rico in the first place and then murdered a whole bunch of Puerto Ricans who were protesting the island being annexed in the first place. And the group of protesters who were killed after they were just peacefully protesting the arrest of a political leader. And treating Puerto Ricans like guinea pigs with a birth control experiments and I have endless amounts of horrible stories about what that American government allowed to happen or was part of the horrors on the island. But I guess that doesn't equal 3 minute video.
As a Puerto Rican born and raised I have to say is that the video is well resumed the only thing is that right now pro state movement and the pro independence are pretty equal in supporters plus there these 2 are not the only major political movements, there pro state/ pro independence/ pro being just an US territory. And I’m finishing with this the majority of pro state supporters are older generations while younger generations tend to lean more pro independence.
One of my family's friends was from Puerto Rico. He started dirt poor and worked his way into a comfortable life with a good family in the U.S. Being big into economics, he one day explained to my mother and I many reasons about potential statehood of Puerto Rico and why it likely wouldn't work without prior political reforms. Wish I had wrote some of them down, because at the time I was way lost in the economic explanations to really understand his points at the time.
@@robotnikkkk001 The only way to protet our interests is independence, statehood would mean, our law (federal) would be dictated by what the majority of American representatives want, not the majority of puerto ricans.
@@calebrivera8913 Would cutting the citizenship benefits to Puerto Ricans help them maintain their autonomy too? Lets limit Puerto Ricans access to FULL citizenship benefits while living in the US until they sign a formal document of allegiance to the US. Are Puerto Rican men subject to the draft, the way American men are? I never bothered to ask them before.
I think another important factor in the Puerto Rico statehood /independence question is the Puerto Rican diaspora in the Continental United States. It's massive, and there are now more Puerto Ricans living in the continental United States then on Puerto Rico itself. This is a relatively recent phenomenon (this immigration mostly occurred after ww2). This means that almost every Puerto Rican has siblings or cousins living in the 50 states. Such family ties makes closer relations (like statehood) more appealing. It also makes independence more difficult, as it would essentially tear families apart (a post independence PR probably having as difficult immigration/visa rules to the USA as anywhere else in Latin America).
Here's some of my ideas for future videos: 1) Was the Library of Alexandria THAT important? 2) How did England/Britain/UK acquire the Channel Islands (Jersey, Guernsey and Alderney)? 3) Why did China not colonise Australia? 4) Why did China not have an Industrial Revolution? 5) Why did the Philippines have 5 republics? 6) How did the rest of the world react to the Chernobyl meltdown? 7) How did the rest of the world react to the bombing of Hiroshima? 8) What was the Munster Rebellion? 9) Who was the most popular/well-liked monarch in history? 10) Why was there a Anglo-Zanzibar War of 1896 that lasted 38 minutes? 11) Who was Larry Thorne, the man who fought for 3 sides during 3 wars? 12) Who was Yang Kyoungjong, the man who fought for 3 sides in WWII? 13) Who was Jack Churchill, the man who carried a sword and bow to WWII? 14) Who was Digby Tatham-Warter, the man who carried an umbrella to WWII? 15) Why did the Jacobite Rebellions of the 18th Century fail?
For one apparently it wasn't. There was copies of everything in other libraries. People like to think it set us back 1 thousand years but it didn't set us back at all. Was still a nice library though
@@TheCaptainSplatter I agree that it's overrated and other copies of works found in that library can be found in others. For some reason, I think that racism might also have something to do with it - after all people romanticise how the loss of the Alexandrine library set us back a lot but the same can't be said of the Baghdad House of Wisdom when it was sacked by Mongolians
There is a minor misconception about federal taxes. While most residents of 🇵🇷 do not pay federal taxes, the same can not be said for federal employees (to include federal retirees). All federal income is taxed for federal workers based on Puerto.
Also, Spanish is an official language in Puerto Rico (along with English) and is spoken by a majority of the population. That is also a stick issue with many Mainland American Linguistic Nationalists.
A fun special this channel could do is the history of Star Wars. Like I’m phases. The fall of the old republic. The clone wars. Idk. I bet it would be fun listening to this person just explain Star Wars with his jokes and fun animation
Ah yes, the fine tradition of "kick that can down the road, we'll deal with it later." An American political tradition as old as American politics itself
@@romanboi3115 except Thomas Jefferson one of the most prominent people in the south almost supported abolition in the Declaration of Independence. Had he done that we would live in a different country
Finally an easier way to answer this to foreigners. It’s more complicated than shown but a good rundown so instead of a giving a mini university lecture to foreign friends I can just send them this
@@zackg6216 you have a big problem if you pretend to call everyone you don't know a Fo-reig-ner. a little bit of grandiosity on the statement, BTW you have a Foreign name
@@DonesdeMotivacion You are right! Foreigner brings negative connotations, especially when directed at fellow Americans! There seems to be a fair amount of hostility between Puerto Ricans and non-Puerto Ricans in our urban areas, ESPECIALLY during political seasons! We need to tread lightly here!
No it's not. State hood is dead in Puerto Rico. In the last major election in Puerto Rico 67% of puerto ricans who voted voted against the prostatehood new progressive party the only reason they even won the governor's house was because the vote was split between the popular Democratic Party the puerto rican independence party the citizens victory movement party and the far right-wing project dignity party. In fact going into this current election the 2 left-wing parties the point of region independence party and citizens victory movement party have joined forces and are behind pro-independence candidate juan dalmau For governor and he's currently in second place in the polls by under 2%
As a young zoomer puerto rican I feel the issue of statehood to be less relevant as domestic migration become more prevalent in the last 20 years. A more pressing issue is the need to address an essentially bankrupted puerto rico government as these migration caused declining revenues which spiralling into more people leaving PR to the mainland.
After hurricanes Irma and Maria, it became pretty obvious that the US Gov needed to really take a look at the status of Puerto Rico...only thing is, as you stated...the resulting action is not just kicking the can but more or less punting it
If Puerto Rico wants statehood they're going to have to be louder about it. The US Gov is unwilling to force statehood or independence onto Puerto Rico because the modern Western belief is it's the choice of a territories residents.
@@kassiogomes8498If Puerto Rico becomes a state, every election would be harder for republicans to win. So congress will not be admitting Puerto Rico to the Union any time soon. Independence is completely absurd, statehood won’t be accepted, so commonwealth status will continue to stay.
Not sure what's stopping them now but as I remember my time there when I was younger I remember Puerto Ricans absolutely hating Americans but loving our money
The other main issue is it would open up the debate of setting official languages. A debate which has been fairly non-existent since German was purged when WW1 was imminent. Given the Spanish bilingual functioning of many states e.g. California, NM, Texas, Florida, Arizona, adding a fully Spanish speaking state could revive such a push for Spanish and English to be formally codified, as English and French are in Canada. This could get messy and expensive. I think it has merit, but yeah, messy and expensive.
I don't know the actual history, but I think that unfortunately an unsuccesful attempt at independence in a country that never achieved independence wouldn't make a great story in a general history channel. Maybe in an episode dedicated to the several uprisings towards the end of the Spanish Empire?
It's interesting that Hawaiian statehood was so popular in Hawaii considering it was literally overthrown by a US corporation's coup and then annexed for the profits it would enable. I guess time heals most wounds. My understanding of PR is that independence sentiment isn't really dead, but it's more work than most people are willing to deal with, and the status quo ain't that bad. Now, post-Maria, post-toallas-papeles tossing, maybe that's drifted a bit.
Honestly if you're a random relatively not-well-off island, being part of the US is a very enticing proposition. Lots of benefits in the forms of investments etc, and the best military protection you can get on this planet
Hawaii was predominantly Asian at the time, and a lot of the people that immigrated to Hawaii benefitted from those plantations, so actually makes quite a bit of sense. If it were predominantly Native Hawaiian that would be a different story, but demographics win in democracy over actual cultural ties, unfortunately Edit: To everyone misunderstanding, it isn't about one group having control over another or one being subject to another, but that to ignore one segment of a population for the sole benefit of another is the issue. That there should be a system of compromise and communication. Everyone trying to imply that I am saying "Native Hawaiian should have 100% political control over the majority Asian that live there" are missing the point by miles, when it was never implied in the first place. I only expressed concern with numbers being the sole decider in the lives of people.
The actual Hawaiian population is a minority on the islands and the US government takeover of the corporations was better than being a corporate puppet state. Also WW2 and pearl harbor kinda makes some past misdeeds forgivable. Also statehood has allowed Hawaii to stay financially stable after fruit and coffee markets went foreign in the 70's and no customs for Americans to deal with made tourism Hawaii's life blood. (And as a former Florida resident, I understand the PAIN of dumbass tourists making NPCs look intelligent).
I mean, considering that without protection from US, Hawaii would have been seized as a Japanese territory, so realities of their own ability to defend themselves, state of other nations on US' "backyard" and the geopolitical prospect of a statehood sounds pretty good in contrast to the alternatives.
@@strongback6550 It would have probably been either a British protectorate or Japanese puppet by WW2 if the US hadn't helped overthrow their queen. If it was Japanese the US would've pushed them off of it and probably admitted it as a state at some point, maybe post civil rights movement
But it's not even, because what the fuck are we even doing there? No resettlement, no resource exploitation. Seems pointless to me to have Puerto Rico as a "territory" since we can just station troops there anyway if more independence is granted. Statehood or independence. I hate cankicking.
As a Puertorrican, I support Statehood. Our Island needs the robust and straight forward model that only American Democracy and Statehood could provide, and yes, the transition wouldn't be easy. Otherwise with Independence we wouldn't be able to close the GINI gap since European Descendant elites with French, Irish and Italian Last Name will rise to power quickly. Independent we will experience a significant drop on PPP as institutions leave, people leave and the exodus of industries Independent our GPD will receive a blow and easily reduced to Haiti's or El Salvador's level
@@PipoBones The party platform of the Republican Party supports statehood, and the pro statehood party on the island mostly associates with Republicans
The rebellions in the 50s weren't just on the island. It's not often remembered today, but Puerto Rican separatists tried to assassinate Truman, and also shot five Congressman in an attack on the House. (None fatally, though, which is probably part of why it's slipped out of memory.) But yeah, I'm expecting it'll be a state before too long. They seem to finally want it, and the US does tend to eventually do the right thing, after exhausting all other options.
They don't want it statehood actually decreased in support from 2012 to 2020. In 2012 the referendum was 61% in favor in 2020 the referendum came out to 52% in favor and then when you actually calculate those referendums compared to the actual population and turn out in 2012 it was 46% in favor in 2020 it was only 28% in favor. In fact the pro-independence candidate for governor is right now second in polling behind the incumbent governor by just a hair.
=AND WHAT WAS RIGHT AFTER????EXPLOITING LOCAL PEOPLE THAT WAS SO TOO MUCH SO CASTRO EMERGED ......IF CUBA WOULD'VE BE GIVEN A STATEHOOD,NO CASTRO WOULD'V2E EVER HAPPEN....UNDERSTAND????
@@admiralkaede How they repaid you after Batista and the mob or after the Bay of Pigs? And why do you think the US went into Cuba? Because of 'The Main' lol?
@@admiralkaede Look at how WE repaid CUBA. If you read the Constitution of Cuba, the US forcibly placed in writing that the US had FULL Authority to come in with its military in interest of ITS OWN Business sectors...imagine China having the Ability's to take away from the US New York city or even worst, Texas, free willing? You sew what you reap...why do you think Leftists were rising in Latin America in the 1940-1960's? It's not random
Latin American here, but not a single bone to pick in this question of statehood x independence for PR. However, there is a funny side to it: if PR decides for statehood, it will join the US by being, by far, the poorest state of all; if it chooses independence instead, it will become immediately the richest Latin-American country!
As a person living in Puerto Rico I must say I doubt we will ever become a state soon or independent. Even though we had multiple elections about becoming a state and the pro statehood won the, U.S government just keep ignoring it over and over and although independence movement is starting to grow I doubt they will be doing anything soon. Another issue that we Puerto Ricans have is that everybody is leaving the island to go to the mainland because of constant hurricanes, corruption, drug dealers running everywhere and doing whatever they want ( hell there's rumors that the police sell drugs in the part where I live) so that means there are more Puerto Ricans in main land US than in the island and I see mostly older people living here than I do young people. It's a big mess here Great video BTW 👍
The government keeps ignoring your decision to want to become a state frankly because apparently Puerto Rico politically would be more consistently Republican-leaning. They and the Democrats in overall power in Puerto Rico don't want that.
1) Thank you for spelling "Harbor" correctly at 0:55. 😉😂 2) 2:54 , "In the American political tradition, it was time for can kicking!" So true on many, many things. Great video, mate!
@wannabedal-adx458 No he doesn’t. Have another look at 0:55 - it says “Pearl Habor” on the welcome sign, which as far as I know is wrong in anybody’s language.
Thank you for making this short sweet to the point because Lord knows they don't teach it over here in the US they don't teach all the Nitty Gritty details that you just went over in a simplified matter that grabbed my ADHD attention and held it the entire time. Once again thank you I appreciate it. Have a good day got to go now.
once you become a state, you can't get out anymore, there is no legal framework for a secession. Remaining a territory is good for PR, because it leaves the door open for fully independence. The people living there are already US citizens and can freely move to the mainland if they desire, for many of them there is no urgency to decide on statehood.
My take as a foreigner looking in, is that the status quo isn't really ideal for anyone. Independence would make Puerto Rico a poorer place but would preserve its culture (In theory). Statehood would make it richer and respected but possibly more Anglo American. But perhaps statehood with build in caveats such as retaining Spanish and English (like Texas). I feel they could also use Statehood to build their economy and in theory have independence in the future if they still want it then. Although I suspect they'll embrace themselves as another Texas (a unique state in the Union). Politically as some people have suggested I think it would actually be more purple than you'd initially assume. Catholics tend to be socially conservative so I do feel both parties would be able to win and both would tend to elect more moderate candidates. Personally I feel that it will be a state in my lifetime for these reasons. I think it will always be known as a unique state like Texas or Hawaii rather than somewhere pretty basic like Ohio. But I think it will be able to retain its culture and yet acquire the benefits of statehood and create a more prosperous population. I think it will always have an independence movement like Texas and Hawaii but my gut feeling is they will ultimately choose prosperity. But I'd obviously love to hear from real Puerto Ricans (in a respectful manner).
It's never going to be a state because statehood is dead in Puerto Rico. It dropped in support by 18% points from 2012 to 2020. Also it's the other way around statehood would make Puerto Rico poor not richer and independence would make Puerto Rico richer not poor. Puerto Rico's entire industry is based off the pharmaceutical companies the pharmaceutical companies only operate in puerto rico because it's not a state and they don't have to pay certain taxes that they would inquire by operating in a state the moment you make puerto rico a state those companies leave and what an island that has a 20% unemployment rate that's going to bloom to over half the island. There's actually an entire podcast on how the economics of independence and vastly outweigh the economics of statehood. Look up the Paseo podcast They did a interview with the author of the book Puerto Rico the economic case for sovereignty And he actually goes into detail on why this idea that Puerto Rico would be poor if it gained independence is comically absurd
The Joe Zack's cost Puerto Rico 1.5 billion dollars a year annually and prevents it from developing a highly robust maritime economy I mean Puerto Rico is so highly sought after because of its Central location and it's numerous trade port Puerto Rico as an independent nation would be able to develop this type of economy based on trading with other countries.
@@alkdjfhgks1919 Western Europe owes their "developed world" standard of living to the USA paying for their defense via NATO....so much of their budgets can be used for domestic programs. The same with Japan and South Korea.
@@joaquinrodriguez227 True and fair. Racism is an issue in of itself, the US doing other good stuff is not an excuse to dismiss it. That being said, race issues is hardly a US thing alone.
@@stephenjenkins7971 of course it isnt, but in this context its true that EEUU has one of the most anti-hispanic sentiment in general (obviusly it isnt that bad in comparison with, for example, how China treat muslim minorities or how EEUU discriminated black people in the 1800). Its very ironic historically speaking now that i think about
I’ve actually heard a few people say the reason is because the US doesn’t want to redesign the flag again to add another star. These people apparently haven’t recovered from having to buy new flags when Alaska and Hawaii became states. Because, you know, that’s asking a little too much.
There was at one point (pre American-Mexican war and just before the American Civil war) where the US just kept adding states with the shortest lived flag only being around for 8 MONTHS before another state was added. Also if we want even stars for adding Puerto Rico, just chop off south Oregon and Northern California (i.e. Chico and up, Sacramento is central Cali) and make the state of Jefferson.
