VivirLatino

Not all U.S. citizens can vote. Specifically I am referring to Puerto Ricans. Pero before I am accused of bringing up my background, I direct you to the words of another Rican:

In October of 2008 I have discovered yet another off-putting situation. The other bearers of this passport are receiving their ballots this month, a head start to this November election. It’s an ex-pat party: the hitchhiker who went south from Recife and voted in Salvador, the old roommates from Buenos Aires, the new friends in Recife. All of them received their absentee ballots or voted at the embassy. Friends, acquaintances, strangers: all American citizens.

But, somehow, I am different than them. I cannot vote. Though I am weighed down by the negatives of carrying the same passport, I do not have the same rights. Why? The last address I registered with the IRS (and the American government in general) is in Puerto Rico, my home (non) state. And Puerto Ricans, though US citizens in paper, are second class citizens in practice. Therefore, I am not allowed to vote in the presidential elections, unless I move and prove that my current legal residence lies in of the (actual) 50 states.

I carry the weight of this passport because I have no option. There is no Puerto Rican passport; I am a second class citizen with no alternative.

Read the entire post and the struggle that the colonial status creates at Zerotres

y mil graciaa a Elenamary for sending me the link.