Committee on Health and Human Relations
Resolution
WHEREAS, Chicago is home to over 150,000 Puerto Rican residents deeply concerned with and connected to Puerto Rico, as demonstrated by the fact that Chicago's Puerto Rican community was the first to send nongovernmental aid to the island after Hurricane Maria in 2017;and
WHEREAS, this diasporic community has long voiced support for Puerto Rico's decolonization and self-determination, today it once again reaffirms this right, in recognition of international law and human rights; and
WHEREAS, Puerto Rico enters the one-hundred and twenty-third year of U.S. colonization, which began with the U.S. invasion in 1898 and the subsequent and illegal annexation of Puerto Rico through The Treaty of Paris between the U.S. and Spain that year; and
WHEREAS, the U.S. Supreme Court declared, in the wake ofthe Plessy vs. Ferguson decision, that Puerto Rico belongs to but is not part of the United States, citing Puerto Ricans supposed racial inferiority and unfitness for self-rule, and that would subsequently govern Puerto Rico through a doctrine of separate and unequal; and
WHEREAS, the U.S. government and corporations have benefited immensely from Puerto Rico's resources, labor, and environment at the cost of Puerto Rican well-being and freedom, and as a result fueled mass migration from the island, to such an extent that today the majority of Puerto Ricans live outside of Puerto Rico; and
WHEREAS, while Puerto Rico was granted local autonomy through the establishment of the Commonwealth constitution in 1952, this did not alter the colonial relationship between the U.S. and Puerto Rico, as the U.S. Congress retained plenary power over Puerto Rico; and
WHEREAS, U.S. authorities have long repressed pro-independence movements and efforts to self-determination, it has allowed non-binding plebiscites and referendums that have unresolved the status issue; and
WHEREAS, the Puerto Rican New Progressive Party, which advocates for Pue...
Click here for full text