Thread by @Netroots_Nation

Notes from Standing Rock to Vieques, Puerto Rico:
The Cost of U.S. Colonialism
10/9 1PM ET
with
@juangon68 and Amy Goodman
@CarmenYulinCruz
@jennimonet and Myrna Pagán
@democracynow @Pwr4PuertoRico
"...providing a voice for people to speak for themselves."

@juangon68 @CarmenYulinCruz @jennimonet @democracynow @Pwr4PuertoRico s/o to @MMViverito for tweeting this amazing image of voices speaking truth to power

@juangon68 @CarmenYulinCruz @jennimonet @democracynow @Pwr4PuertoRico @MMViverito Speaking now @CarmenYulinCruz
PR is one of "the LAST standing colonies" in the world.

There is no power in PR. Not speaking of grid...but voting power.

Now 7 people are making decisions for an entire island.

@juangon68 @CarmenYulinCruz @jennimonet @democracynow @Pwr4PuertoRico @MMViverito "I am a Puerto Rican national with US citizenship...."

We should start with that understanding...that PR is a country whose citizens have the right of self determination.

@juangon68 @CarmenYulinCruz @jennimonet @democracynow @Pwr4PuertoRico @MMViverito If you start with a progressive POV...we should not just impose US statehood/citizenship.

Rather, we should let the people of PR decide *for themselves* what they want: statehood or self-determination.

@juangon68 @CarmenYulinCruz @jennimonet @democracynow @Pwr4PuertoRico @MMViverito Puerto Rico *endures* colonialism.

::Pauses to consider the impact of that verb and its meaning::

@juangon68 @CarmenYulinCruz @jennimonet @democracynow @Pwr4PuertoRico @MMViverito 3,000 people. This sign is one that @CarmenYulinCruz has on her desk to remember those who died after Hurricane Maria.

...many because they had no access to clean water, power, medication.

...because PR was prevented from purchasing support for itself.

@juangon68 @CarmenYulinCruz @jennimonet @democracynow @Pwr4PuertoRico @MMViverito "Let us decide what we ought to decide...which is our future." @CarmenYulinCruz

@juangon68 @CarmenYulinCruz @jennimonet @democracynow @Pwr4PuertoRico @MMViverito "Listen to our voices. Isn't that the American thing to do?" @CarmenYulinCruz

@juangon68 @CarmenYulinCruz @jennimonet @democracynow @Pwr4PuertoRico @MMViverito From @jennimonet
We are not living in a post colonial world. Colonialism is still all around us.

Standing Rock was one of the largest indigenous resistance movements of our generation.

Yet, the coverage and awareness were hard to amplify.

And when you consider the question of sovereignty...who has it drives the narrative of awareness and coverage

Returning @CarmenYulinCruz
Commentary on the Insular Cases--when PR was ruled to be OF the US, but not THE United States

With the Insular Cases, all stem from "THEM" vs "US"

When you are the "master" you get to decide what to do with the "subjects"

@CarmenYulinCruz For example, PR has been exploited for gain...

Including PR women used for birth control testing
PR citizens exposed to cancer for research

@CarmenYulinCruz "When the US gets the flu, we [PRicans] get pneumonia."
--PR saying quoted by @CarmenYulinCruz

Puerto Rico has been rented out. Its resources can be sold without compensation to PR.

"I wish every Netroots attendee [would] watch this panel. It is so incredibly important to the kind of country we are and the kind [of] country we could be if we actively engage in decolonization." Shayna Adelman, panel attendee.

On the Q of the well-meaning who want to understand the issue with "not just becoming a state"

Perhaps it is bc many consider this a civil rights issue: about empowering Americans.

But Puerto Ricans see this as a human right issue--enfranchising a people of a sovereign nation.

"We are asking to be treated equally. And that means allowing us to decide what that relationship is going to look like."
#NN21

Regrettably, unable to add voice of Myrna Pagán...a legend of the fight to recognize the damage of colonial exploitation to Vieques.

Her activism is a fundamental reason that the bombing of Vieques finally stopped...after a 30 year fight.

She's here! We solved the problem!
#NN21

From Myrna Pagán:

We got the bombing stopped. But what is happening now, is the continuation of pollution in Vieques.

The US Navy is using an order of open burning/open detonation to destroy the basura (trash) of the cleanup--into the open air and water of our planet.
#NN21

AOC was able to secure $10M for a closed chamber.

Vieques is STILL waiting for money.
#NN21

Vieques needs a hospital. It needs reliable transportation to the big island for those in need of treatment.

To continue the pollution of an island in this situation is criminal behavior.
#NN21

Vieques endures being erased. Not named as an island or a properly named place in discussions and legislative work...but but "an area of the Carribean".
#NN21

"The struggle is just. The treatment is unjust."--Myrna Pagán on work to recognize the injustice of Vieques
#NN21

From @jennimonet
"Standing Rock was the test kitchen" for the times we see today.

"The invisibility factor is something that permeates the indigenous narrative."

@jennimonet "Indigenous people don't need to have it explained" about the erasure of narrative and presence.

@jennimonet From @jennimonet on what Dem in Congress and admin need to understand about the long-standing work of indigenous people ...

There is disappointment to see silence around issues, such as Line 3--especially after Indian Nation rallied to Biden's support in 2020.

@jennimonet @jennimonet
There is an incredible need for compassion in awareness and coverage...and "it is one of the hardest things to achieve".

@jennimonet Myrna Pagán "We've got to stay awake.... Who else is going to make the change? We are called upon..."
#NN21

@jennimonet Thank you to @juangon68 and Amy Goodman
@CarmenYulinCruz @jennimonet and Myrna Pagán
@democracynow @Pwr4PuertoRico

And, as always, to everyone who attended. #NN21