Looking Forward

Abstract

Congress responded to news of Puerto Rico’s fiscal crisis by stripping the Commonwealth of its fiscal autonomy in 2017. Its lackluster response to Hurricane Maria the following year is yet another sign that Puerto Rico’s golden era has passed. That belle epoque—World War II through the Cold War— marks the half-century period when Washington cared about Puerto Rico, though only to display it as its showcase for democracy. Its current apathy is indicative of a federal government that continues to racialize islanders and non-white citizens as second-class in violation of the classic Civic Creed. While the statehood movement counted on the creed’s sincerity, its status rivals knew or suspected it was a thin veneer. In many respects, the fight over official languages in Puerto Rico has as much to say about American identity as it does Puerto Rican identity.