Formal Blog Introduction

When Congress passed the Jones-Shafroth Act in 1917, Puerto Ricans were granted United States citizenship and thereby were able to travel freely to the mainland without a passport as well as seek office there. With transportation to the mainland facilitated, a much steadier stream of Puerto Ricans ensued. Between 1945 and 1964, a time that became known as the “Great Puerto Rican Migration,” the Puerto Rican government and substantially higher mainland wages encouraged a massive flow of Puerto Ricans to the mainland United States, New York City especially. Soon, New York City became home to the largest concentration of Puerto Ricans in the world and Puerto Ricans became roughly ten percent of its population. Many of these immigrants did not feel that they would remain in the United States permanently and hoped to return soon to Puerto Rico. Puerto Rican historian Edgardo Meléndez feels that this notion contributed to some historians claiming that Puerto Ricans initially were politically apathetic in the United States.


However, not only did a huge number stay but more continued to immigrate, and the lack of a Puerto Rican political voice on the mainland soon became evident because it became clear they were not receiving adequate services in their communities. Thus, it is not surprising that the 1970s saw the rise of politically extreme organizations such as the Young Lords, which were effective in bringing public attention to the issues particular to Puerto Ricans, for instance, the unsatisfactory access Puerto Rican neighborhoods had to public services. These groups also provided services such as free breakfasts to these communities.

On the island of Puerto Rico, the longest standing political party in Puerto Rico's history was created by Luis Munoz Marin, one of the most important political figures to take part in Puerto Rican politics. He created the Popular Democratic Party of Puerto Rico (PDP) and at the head of the party and as governor of the island, he moved the status of Puerto Rico forward into that of a commonwealth. For sometime following this transition the politics of the island were dominated by the PDP. His understudy, Roberto Sánchez Vilella, eventually brought about the end of these years by breaking off and forming his own party-- the Popular Party-- and bringing enough of the PDP's followers to bring balance to the Puerto Rican Political system.

On the mainland, most Puerto Rican politicians today are members of the Democrat Party. This is thanks largely to Herman Badillo, who was the first Puerto Rican to be a member of the U.S. Congress and also seemed to bridge the gaps between Puerto Ricans and a party that was more focused on white immigrants, the Democrats. He worked to eliminate corruption within Puerto Rican communities by targeting organizations that monopolized federal money in order to create a political machine atmosphere in New York City in Puerto Rican communities.

While these developments transpired on the mainland, the island of Puerto Rico itself has and continues to exist as a commonwealth to the United States where it exercises limited self-government but falls under the ultimate sovereignty of the United States. Discontent over Puerto Rico’s political status has raged on and, as of now, still has no resolution. Fruitless attempts have been made since 1967 at plebiscites, or referendums, in Puerto Rico on its status with options essentially amounting to maintaining the status quo, independence, or statehood. These plebiscites failed because of low voter turnout, or options that had unclear wording as was the case in 1998 when "none of the above" was what garnered a majority of the vote. Puerto Ricans such as Representative Jose Serrano have brought the issue of Puerto Rican self-determination before Congress multiple times, but it has never amounted to any substantive changes other than more talk and studies conducted on the issue. Puerto Rican self-determination has been and will continue to be an essential issue for the island, but there has been increasingly more support for a resolution to this question recently with the introduction of the bill H.R. 2499.

Sources:
Alba, Richard, and Reynolds Farley. “The New Second Generation in the United States.” International Migration Review. 36, no. 3 (2002): 669.

Anderson, Robert. 1965. Party Politics in Puerto Rico. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

Flores, Juan. From Bomba to Hip-Hop: Puerto Rican Culture and Latino Identity. New York: Columbia University Press, 2000.

Baver, Sherrie. "Puerto Rican Politics in New York City: The Post-World War II Period." In Puerto Rican Politics in Urban America, ed. James Jennings and Monte Rivera, 43-55. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1984.

Meléndez, Edgardo. “Puerto Rican Politics in the United States: Examination of Major Perspectioves and Theories.” Centro Journal. 15, no. 1 (2003): 9-39.

Thomas, Robert . 1997. Roberto Sanchez Vilella, 84, Puerto Rican Governor, Dies. New York Times (March 26), http://www.nytimes.com/1997/03/26/us/roberto-sanchez-vilella-84-puerto-rican-governor-dies.html (accessed 15 December 2009)