• About
  • Editorial Board
    • Staff Writers
  • Advertise
  • Join Us
  • Archives
The Wellesley News -
  • News and Features
    • Professor Phillip Levine Discusses “A Problem of Fit”
      Professor Phillip Levine Discusses “A Problem of Fit”
    • CS Department shifts CS 111 course structure
      CS Department shifts CS 111 course structure
    • WAMI and WRJ host discussion on criminalization of abortion
      WAMI and WRJ host discussion on criminalization of abortion
    • News
      • News in Brief
      • Nation & World
      • President’s Corner
      • Senate Report
    • Features
      • Alumnae Spotlight
      • Eye on Science
      • Faculty Focus
      • LGBTQIA+ Column
  • Opinions
    • Why Art Basel is partially responsible for Miami’s gentrification
      Why Art Basel is partially responsible for Miami’s gentrification
    • It’s time to put traditional grading to the test
      It’s time to put traditional grading to the test
    • What can the fall of Z-library teach us about textbook accessibility?
      What can the fall of Z-library teach us about textbook accessibility?
    • Staff Editorial
    • Letters to the Editor
    • The Elephant in the Room
  • Arts
    • No image
      Pentimento’s Open Mic is Like an Old Patchwork Quilt–Worn, Yet Cozy
    • No image
      Kanye’s Antisemitism Steps on his Shoe Brand
    • Lousy Realities: Luca Guadagnino (2015)
      Lousy Realities: Luca Guadagnino (2015)
    • Arts In The News
    • Reviews
    • Music Peek
    • Books Before Boys
  • Sports and Wellness
    • Student-Athlete of October
      Student-Athlete of October
    • Athletics Update Oct. 19, 2022
      Athletics Update Oct. 19, 2022
    • The Case for Body Neutrality
      The Case for Body Neutrality
    • Athlete of the Week
    • Boston Sports Update
    • The Vegan Digest
    • The SHE Corner
  • The Wellesley Snooze
    • Top 10 Girlbosses who aren’t alumnae, but I would totally believe you if you told me they were
      Top 10 Girlbosses who aren’t alumnae, but I would totally believe you if you told me they were
    • Wendy Wellesley’s Thanksgiving Menu
      Wendy Wellesley’s Thanksgiving Menu
    • The Snooze Awards for the Best Tanners of 2022
      The Snooze Awards for the Best Tanners of 2022
  • Miscellanea
    • President’s Column: The Butterfly Effect
      President’s Column: The Butterfly Effect
    • Administrators shocked to learn that students dislike being left in dark
      Administrators shocked to learn that students dislike being left in dark
    • 50 Lies You Tell Yourself in Order to Survive Until Graduation
      50 Lies You Tell Yourself in Order to Survive Until Graduation
    • The Dose
    • The Olive Branch
    • Multimedia
      • Galleries
      • Infographics
      • Videos
By Sarah Sansón Hernández Multicultural Column, News, News and FeaturesDecember 6, 2018

Born in a Colony

Citizens of Puerto Rico are taxed as U.S. citizens and can enlist in the army, but are unable to vote Photo Courtesy of SPS Events

Coming here to study at Wellesley was a dream come true. I always wanted to come to the U.S. mainland, study at a very fancy college and hopefully come back home so I could start my career and a family. But once I came here to the U.S. mainland, I started to realize the differences between me and my American classmates. You see, I was born and raised in Puerto Rico, a modern-day colony that belongs to the U.S. I am a U.S. citizen, but I can’t vote for president. I can serve in the U.S. military but I don’t have full representation in Congress. I pay taxes but the local government that I can vote for can have any of its decisions revoked by Congress. Essentially, I am a second-class citizen of the United States.

My relationship with my American citizenship is, to put it simply, complicated. I acknowledge how powerful my citizenship is compared to that of my family in Venezuela whose civil rights and liberties are violated every single day by its authoritarian government. Unfortunately, that doesn’t change the fact that I don’t feel American and my ancestors didn’t have a choice in the matter either. My land was stolen and bombed, my people killed, jailed, abused and ignored. Every time I travel and carry my American passport, I feel guilty and wrong. My passport and image of the American flag waving next to my beloved Puerto Rican flag to me are symbols of the violence and human rights violations my people and I have faced for over half a millennium.

This all became clearer to me on Sept. 20, 2017, the day Hurricane María made landfall in Puerto Rico. I remember seeing over and over again in the news the images of the streets I grew up in being destroyed. I remember how the current administration ignored my people and put the blame on us for the level of damage that the archipelago sustained, and how the press were outraged at how the U.S. government was treating Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Sadly, I wasn’t surprised. This kind of ignorance by the U.S. has been going on for the past 120 years, and the same went on during Spain’s 400-year colonization of Puerto Rico. Because of the inaction by the U.S. government and Federal Emergency Management Agency, approximately 2,658–3,290 people died because of Hurricane Maria, making it the third deadliest hurricane in US history and surpassing the death toll of Hurricane Katrina by nearly 2,000.

With all of this to consider I ask, “Was it all worth it? Was it worth stealing our land for sugarcane? Was it worth abusing, jailing and killing our people for coffee beans? Why can’t the U.S. see the irony of calling themselves the beacon of democracy when they still to this day hold five colonies in their iron grasp?”

Share on

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Google +
  • LinkedIn
  • Email
Previous articleSenate Report: 12/3/18
Next articleNews in Brief

You may also like

Professor Phillip Levine Discusses “A Problem of Fit”

CS Department shifts CS 111 course structure

WAMI and WRJ host discussion on criminalization of abortion

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Email Newsletter

Sign up to receive our weekly digest in your inbox

* indicates required

Top Articles

Sorry. No data so far.

Recent Tweets

Tweets by @Wellesley_News

The independent student newspaper of Wellesley College since 1901.

Sign up to receive our weekly digest in your inbox

* indicates required

  • About
  • Editorial Board
    • Staff Writers
  • Advertise
  • Join Us
  • Archives
COPYRIGHT © 2023 THE WELLESLEY NEWS
Back to top