Another year, another hurricane disaster. Do we really care? The United States has refused to make Puerto Rico a state for the past 125 years. For the past ten years, we have denied Puerto Ricans statehood despite the option winning a majority three times in plebiscites.
Suggestion:
Americans should be honest and say that Puerto Rico will never rank high enough on our list of priorities to spur meaningful political action. We have a responsibility to decolonize that goes beyond merely asking what Puerto Ricans want and pretending that our government will listen. As long as statehood remains a nonstarter, we should support the other legitimate option: independence.