Week Three: Statehood for Puerto Rico
Nicholson, F. S. & Federal Art Project, S. Discover Puerto Rico U.S.A. Where the Americas meet / / Frank S. Nicholson. Puerto Rico, None. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/98518608/.
Our new series continues with a look at statehood for Puerto Rico. For the first time since the admission of Alaska and Hawaii in 1959, the possibility of adding more stars to the American flag is getting significant public attention. For some Americans, statehood for Washington DC and Puerto Rico is just the logical next step in forming a more perfect union and especially important given that the permanent residents of those places currently denied voting representation in the US Congress are predominantly people of color.
In the specific case of Puerto Rico, many people also argue that Puerto Rico would never have been treated so shabbily by our federal government after Hurricane Maria had it been a state with voting representation in Congress. The local politics of statehood, however, have traditionally been more complex in Puerto Rico than in DC because the island was long thought to have three options: 1) Continue in its current status of commonwealth, 2) Become a state, or 3) Become an independent nation.
Perhaps not surprisingly, presenting voters with three options led to multiple inconclusive referendums over the years. In November 2020, however, voters faced a simpler question, “Should Puerto Rico be admitted immediately into the Union as a State?” When put that way, 655,505 (52.52%) American citizens resident in Puerto Rico voted for statehood while 592,671 (47.48%) voted against changing the status quo.
Shortly after the November 2020 election, PBS Newshour looked at issues surrounding statehood for Puerto Rico in light of the recent, but nonbinding, referendum favoring statehood.
The PBS story runs 4:36 and is available at the link below.