U.S. Territories. Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

A set of Supreme Court decisions made over 100 years ago has left U.S. territories without meaningful representation. That’s weird, right?

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To help commemorate the 50th anniversary of the march on Selma, Alabama, John Oliver focused his Last Week Tonightire on a topic that does not tend to generate headlines: voting rights for the U.S. island territories — that is, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, and the Marianas Islands.[h=6]MORE[/h]The Walking Dead Spinoff Coming This SummerSam Simon, The Simpsons Co-Creator, Dead at 59Tony Robinson's Uncle Says Family Trusts Investigators NBC News'Disgraceful': Oklahoma Boots Frat After Racist Video NBC NewsPoll: Nearly 60% Looking For Change in '16. Will They Get It?NBC News
According to Oliver, there are 4.1 million people living in Puerto Rico and the island territories. Of that population, 98.4% are racial or ethnic minorities, none of whom have the right to vote in U.S. elections. According to Oliver, the more you look into the reasons that the U.S. territories don’t have voting rights, the harder it is to understand why these dated laws have not been changed. Way back in 1901, it was said that the island territories were inhabited by “alien races” that couldn’t “understand Anglo-Saxon principles” and thus were denied the vote. That hasn’t changed, despite the fact that even at the time, American legal thinkers thought that the territories’ lack of voting power should only last for a limited time. Fast forward 114 years and the U.S. citizens living on these territories still can’t vote, which Oliver compares to failing to update your computer operating system for over a millennium.
To bolster his argument that many U.S. citizens don’t understand the relationship between the 50 states and the U.S territories, Oliver showed clip after clip of news sources reporting that U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor was the child of Puerto Ricans who “immigrated” to the United States. As Oliver says, “If Puerto Ricans are immigrants, so is anyone who moves anywhere.” Despite the fact that Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens—and has more U.S. citizens than 21 states— they can’t vote for president, have no representation in the U.S. Senate and send only one non-voting delegate to the U.S. House. Oliver compares this status to letting a six-year old “vote” on where to spend the family vacation.

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TheDemSocialist said:

Video @: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: U.S. Territories (HBO)
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Read more @: John Oliver Last Week Tonight: Voting Rights for US Territories

This is truly shameful. There is no reason why these citizens should not have voting rights. They are dictated over federal government decisions yet they have zero meaningful representation when it truly comes down to it. And to make matters worse a lot of this has to do with a racist 1901 Supreme Court Decision. Shameful.

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PeteEU said:

Nothing is going to change. It also shows the ingrown racism still in American politics and society. It is nice to have willing people to fight for you and you not having to give them the same rights and privileges as normal citizens. I mean 3000+ miles for a PTS help.. hey he aint American so what right?

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