U.S. must end imperialist aspirations and honor current obligations

Editorial Fellow | Chris Espersen

“I've never seen him so happy,” Christina Fernández-Morrow describes life for her dad back in his native Puerto Rico. The central Iowan and Editor in Chief of Hola America Media Group tries to get back often to see him. “Whenever I visit him, we're outside most of the day. We eat outside. We have our coffee out there. We watch it rain. He's in a mountainous area, very green and hilly and beautiful.”

For those who have never been there, it truly is a Caribbean paradise. Beaches, mountains, rain forest, and a warm, vibrant culture - Puerto Rico has it all. And you don’t even need a passport to get there.

Trump has recently said that “Denmark isn’t protecting Greenland” and the second lady and other government officials made a visit that the Greenland Prime Minister described as “highly aggressive.” It reminds one of how the US took over another island nation from a European country. Yet Trump has not only shown himself unwilling to protect this U.S. territory from natural disasters, but also from racist entertainers at his own rallies who call it a “floating island of garbage.”

For anyone who has been lucky enough to visit the precious island, it is clear that this is an incredibly uninformed assessment.

Iowans without Puerto Rican heritage have also been moved by the island. Evelyn Robertson and her husband, Devin, lived there for five years after Hurricane Maria and still visit frequently. Robertson misses the culture. “Everywhere people are playing upbeat music. There are family gatherings everywhere you go.” His wife adds, “things move slower there, so it's forces you to slow down and appreciate life.”

Robertson lived almost her entire life in Iowa. The couple decided to move to Puerto Rico to better accommodate her husband’s status as a disabled veteran. Robertson has been very involved in the disabled vet community since moving back to Iowa. He serves the DAV Chapter 20 here in Iowa, at the Wildwood Equestrian Veterans Group, honor guard, and Wildwood Hills Rach at Saint Charles. Which makes him passionate about recognizing Puerto Rico’s positive impact on the United States. “Look at what Puerto Rico has contributed to the U.S. for its military and veterans. Puerto Rico has been an important part of the U.S. And deserves to be treated as such.”

The U.S. joined Puerto Rico in its fight for independence from Spain, and then promptly took unwelcome control of the island. But it did not grant its residents citizenship immediately. Citizenship came in 1917, right in time for Puerto Ricans to “be able” to serve in World War I. Although 20,000 volunteered – or were drafted- they faced discrimination from other service members.

And the exploitation does not end there. The high cost of living on the island is striking. An antiquated law, the Jones Act of 1920, requires that anything coming or going from the island must be on American ships. This raises prices for consumers, and blocks Puerto Rico’s ability to improve the local economy by becoming a central cargo hub. “There's no reason for the Jones Act to still exist,” explains Fernández -Morrow. “Puerto Rico had its highest levels of poverty after U.S. laws and regulations were put in place. And those who are coming to the island, especially industries, take land that was able to grow so many different types of food and are using it only to grow sugar cane and tobacco.”

Robertson agrees this benefactor misconception is common among mainland Americans. “People do have this notion that the United States has Puerto Rico and that we're taking care of them,” she told me. “But in reality, Puerto Rico pays to be a part of the United States.”

Puerto Ricans pay Social Security and Medicare taxes, yet they do not qualify for SSI. They have no representation in Congress and cannot vote for the president if they live in Puerto Rico. Although if they move to a mainland state, they can vote from there.

Medicaid reimbursement rate is lower than on the mainland and Fernández -Morrow worries about access to care for her aging father. “The doctors there are bilingual. Would they rather stay in Puerto Rico where they make so little or come to the states where they can make twice what they're being offered in Puerto Rico. A lot of hospitals there have closed.”

The hurricanes made things worse and demonstrated the lack of commitment by the current administration. Rep. Velazquez (N.Y.) speaking of Hurricane Maria in 2017 said in an interview with NPR that “The kind of response that the federal government put together is not proportional to the type of crisis that they are facing as part of this natural disaster.” And Trump just a couple weeks later tweeted “We cannot keep FEMA, the Military & the First Responders, … in P.R. forever!”

For context, Hurricane Maria was the deadliest hurricane in US history in the past 100 years.

Even after the hurricanes put Puerto Rico on the proverbial map for US mainlanders, misconceptions abound. “When I show my ID, they tell me we can't take that kind of ID even just for a return at Wal-Mart,” Robertson told me. “It seems in Iowa there is a notion that everybody's Mexican if they're Hispanic.”

Fernández-Morrow has firsthand experience of this. “I can't tell you how many times when I lived there, I was asked questions about Puerto Rico and I could tell that they thought it was a part of Mexico.”

Unfortunately, the misconceptions extend beyond ignorance about the island and have resulted in ugly displays of hate here in Iowa. “In Muscatine they vandalized the Puerto Rican restaurant and wrote ‘we don’t want you here’ and painted swastikas. Clearly, Iowans don't understand that we're citizens,” said Fernández-Morrow.

Robertson observed disrespect in Puerto Rico as well. “Puerto Ricans always thought I was Puerto Rican, unless I opened my mouth. So, when tourists came in, I witnessed a sense of entitlement. Like, you're supposed to serve me first or treat me like I'm somebody special. And that never went over well. You're just another human being. Or they don't speak Spanish at all, and they're getting irritated at the cashier in a small community because they don't speak English.”

Despite all this, the Robertsons, miss the island and can’t wait to get back, “I like Iowa a lot. I just think living there and coming back here helps me understand the importance of balance.”

If you want to experience a slice of paradise in the United States, brush up on your Spanish and book a flight. But please leave your passport and sense of entitlement at home.

And remember the obligation we have to our current territories as the president looks to expand our reach in the world.

Chris Espersen is a Gazette editorial fellow. chris.espersen@thegazette.com