🇦🇸🇬🇺🇲🇵🇵🇷🇻🇮 Are 🇺🇲! Why Are They Still Treated Like Second Class Citizens?

Team USA won Olympic Gold in basketball. They played in a competing round against the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico.

There are 4.1 million citizens living in the U.S. territories. The islands are located in the Caribbean and Pacific Ocean.

The current U.S. House members are non voting delegates with one being a residential commissioner.

• Rep. Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon (NPP/R-PR) (retiring)
• Rep. Stacey Plaskett (D-VI)
• Rep. Gregorio Kilili Sablan (D-MP) (retiring)
• Rep. James Moylan (R-GU)
• Rep. Amata Coleman Radewagen (R-AS)

Puerto Rico is the most populated has 3.2 million residents.

Those living in our occupied territories are U.S. citizens. They just don't have the complete rights as the United States consist of 50 states, five territories, one federal district and 10 uninhabited islands under either military control or in protection of the Department of Interior.

In the five permanently inhabited territories, citizens are not allowed to vote for president. They only are allowed to pick the nominee for president. They have a U.S. Representative who is a non-voting delegate who only votes in committee but not on the general floor. Inside The District of Columbia, those who live there are allowed to vote for president and it holds three electoral votes.

With the exception of American Samoa, anyone born in a U.S. territory are citizens. They can freely enter the mainland without any restrictions. 

President Joe Biden and former president Barack Obama failed at this. It appears that the Democrats will still have trouble trying to pass voting reform so it allows all Americans the opportunity to vote.

Puerto Rico is a U.S. commonwealth that has semi-autonomy. Most citizens speak Spanish.

The U.S. Virgin Islands is a territory that maintains all motorists drive on the left of the road. 

Guam is the most strategic point between the U.S. state of Hawai'i, Japan and Australia.

Northern Mariana Islands is the poorest of U.S. territories. The commonwealth is notorious for sweatshop labor.

American Samoa is the only territory where being unincorporated inserts that born residents are not citizens but U.S. nationals. They have to obtain a special U.S. passport and pass a citizenship test to be citizens. They also can't work in federal jobs until they become citizens. It which means you're only 2/5 of American. Due to their conservative traditional laws and regulations, for the time being they are comfortable with it. If they are granted citizenship, any U.S. citizen could sue the territory for land ownership and access to reside without being denied. You must obtain a passport to enter American Samoa due to the territory having no U.S. Customs and Border Agency stations.

Due to the Insular Act, those born on U.S. territories are 3/5 American. They have legal right to travel freely to the United States if they did not land on a foreign port. They are considered not American enough in the minds of the Supreme Court and Congress. 

According to a 2021 U.S. Commission of Civil Rights Report, these territories have a total population of 3.5 million, 98 percent of whom are ethnic or racial minorities. This is equivalent to the number of people residing in the country's five least-populated states - Wyoming, Vermont, Alaska, North Dakota, and South Dakota.

Rep. Stacey Plaskett (D-VI) one of the sponsors of the John Lewis Voting Rights Act is pushing for President Joe Biden and Democrats to grant voting rights to the five territories.

The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act allows former residents of any of the 50 states living in a U.S. territory or commonwealth to vote absentee in presidential elections. The 2021 U.S. Commission of Civil Rights Report recommended extending the right to vote to all citizens living in U.S. territories and commonwealths.

Republicans oppose granting voting rights to those living in the U.S. territories.

They also oppose granting statehood to Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia.

The John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2023 (H.R. 14) is proposed voting rights legislation named after civil rights activist John Lewis. The bill would restore and strengthen parts of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, most notably its requirement for certain jurisdictions to seek federal approval before enacting certain changes to their voting laws. The bill was written in response to the Supreme Court decision in Shelby County v. Holder in 2013, which struck down the system that was used to determine which jurisdictions were subject to that requirement.

The bill is constantly stalled because Republicans oppose any opportunity for citizens to vote because they assume voter fraud despite evidence saying it is rare.

Defeating Donald J. Trump is essential. Defeating Israel is essential.

To save democracy will be making a choice between Kamala Harris and Trump.