On June 4, the organization Right to Democracy organized a briefing in the U.S. House of Representatives examining the core U.S. principle of “consent of the governed” as it applies to residents of the U.S. territories.
Speakers at the briefing, which included numerous congressional delegates representing the U.S. territories, made the point that today’s colonial relationships run counter to this essential founding principle, as expressed in the Declaration of Independence. As the U.S. prepares for the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Right to Democracy has prepared a Declaration to End Colonialism in the U.S. Territories.
The U.S. territories.
The United States has five inhabited territories:
- Puerto Rico
- U.S. Virgin Islands
- Guam
- Northern Mariana Islands
- American Samoa
At the briefing, Puerto Rico’s Resident Commissioner in Washington, Pablo José Hernández (D-PR), said, “We must take advantage of the United States’ 250th anniversary to educate the American people about these persistent inequalities and challenges and work to resolve them once and for all.” El Nuevo Dia pointed out that Hernandez does not agree that Puerto Rico is a colony despite the imposition of the Fiscal Oversight Board that controls the finances of the elected government.
Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY), a New York representative born in Puerto Rico, has said that Puerto Rico is a colony. In her speech at the briefing, she said, “We cannot fully celebrate the promise of a document based on equality and the consent of the governed while this country continues to marginalize the voices of millions of people in Puerto Rico and throughout the Pacific and Caribbean territories. For more than three decades advocating for the people of Puerto Rico and our diaspora, I have said it clearly: the idea that the United States can maintain colonies and claim plenary power over millions of people reminds us too much of King George III.” George III, a mentally ill King of England, was in power in 1776.
Rep. Stacey Plaskett (D-VI), representing the U.S. Virgin Islands, said, “As this nation faces growing threats to our multiracial democracy, the territories are not a footnote. We are a warning and a roadmap. We are living proof of what happens when the consent of the governed is conditioned, when constitutional protections are treated as negotiable, when second-class citizenship is enshrined in law and disguised as precedent.”
María Hernandez, co-director of the Micronesia Climate Change Alliance, represented Guam at the Right to Democracy briefing. According to the Guam Daily Post, she spoke about how the federal government makes decisions that affect daily life for Guamanians without allowing Guam the input they should have.
The representative of the Northern Mariana Islands, Kimberly King-Hinds (R-MP), shared in a video statement that “no American community should be too small or too remote to have its voice respected. As we approach America’s 250th anniversary, we should recommit ourselves to ensuring that the principles of the Declaration of Independence apply equally to all Americans, including those living in the territories.”
Andra Samoa, community leader and Director of Pacific Global Citizens, and Dr. Sabrina Suluai Mahuka, Executive Director of Finafinau, spoke for Samoa.
The Declaration to End Colonialism in U.S. Territories
The new declaration begins with a preamble: “We, the people of American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, together with our allies, unite in solidarity to challenge and condemn the ongoing colonial framework established under the law and policy of the United States. For over 125 years, the United States has governed 3.6 million people in our island communities—and impacted a territorial diaspora of over 6 million—under a system that denies democracy, equity, and self-determination to our people. We come together to affirm that colonial rule is not just a relic of 1776, but a present injustice that must end now.”
The declaration goes on to recall various sections of the Declaration of Independence, beginning with, “Two hundred and fifty years ago, the United States boldly rejected colonial rule and founded a nation on the self-evident truths that all are created equal and that legitimate governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed. We declare that no government is just unless it rests on the genuine consent of the people it governs.”
You can sign the declaration at the Right to Democracy website.
Download the full Declaration to End Colonialism.
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