Dual Governments, Two Flags, and the Ultimate Identity Crisis President Woodrow Wilson signed the Jones Act on March 2, 1917, granting U.S. citizenship to Puerto Ricans, but 95 years later the territory and the world are still perplexed by this political relationship. Two national flags symbolically represent Puerto Rico, and the U.S. and Puerto Rican flags traditionally fly side-by-side. Juan Manual Carrion, a professor at the University of Puerto Rico, says that flying both flags next to each other eliminates the fear some Puerto Rican people have of autonomy. When the Puerto Rican flag flies alone its practically unavoidable to prevent it from becoming a symbol of nationalism, he said. Together with the American flag, the Puerto Rican flag is tame. The flag that represents the commonwealth of Puerto Rico was originally created to be a symbol of Puerto Rican independence but today it is seen as a symbol of ethnic pride. Ethnic pride is just like a very ambiguous frontier between expressing your ethnic pride and presenting a demand for self-rule, Manuel said. Manuel feels that the coexistence of these flags creates a living contradiction. We want to eat our cake and have it too, he said. To be able to express our ethnic national pride, while at the same time maintaining our link with the strongest country in the world. For many Puerto Ricans, the flags are just the beginning of this political tug-of-war. Gabriela Joglar Burrowes, a senior at the University of Puerto Rico, says that she has faced challenges in defining her national identity to outsiders. Its always difficult for me to defend that I am Puerto Rican when I have a passport that says U.S.A., Joglar said. Miguel Rodriguez, director of the Center for Advanced Studies of Puerto Rico and the Caribbean, says that despite the identity crisis, U.S. citizenship provides the Puerto Rican people economic and political advantages. To be an American citizen is safety, Rodriguez said. If you have that identification passport, you will be safe in the world, safe from enemies. Manuel agrees that U.S. citizenship provides Puerto Ricans access to many things but he believes that Puerto Ricos ethnic identity still remains present. It has survived more than 100 years under U.S. control, and to be directly under the influence of the U.S. is a very strong thing, Manuel said. Puerto Rico has managed to make a name in international competitions, where it competes as a sovereign nation, with five Miss Universe winners and a well-known basketball team. Duany, the anthropologist and dean at the University of Puerto Rico, says that this success has been very meaningful to the island. Beauty contests and sports representation may not be significant in other places but here they are because they are the only expressions of cultural identity that have an international projection, Duany said. Even with these triumphs, Andrew Vasquez, a student at the University of Sacred Heart, feels that Puerto Ricans walk a very fine line when it comes to national identity. We are constantly being torn between where we start being Puerto Rican and where we start being a U.S. citizen, he said. Vasquez believes that the daily contradictions pile up over a lifetime and create reservations within the hearts and minds of the Puerto Rican people. You come to this point where you doubt what you should answer; am I Puerto Rican or am I American? he said. Vasquez believes that the question can only be answered by an individual based upon his or her own experience. If I say that I am Puerto Rican, I am not denying anything else, he said. I am just reaffirming what I believe that I am. Vasquez says that merging the two unique cultures completely will be impossible. The social movements that gave birth to your culture are very different than the ones that gave birth to my culture, he said. Rodriguez, the director of the center for Advanced Studies, agrees, adding there is no feeling of unity between the two cultures. He believes that in Puerto Rico there is no real feeling of being American. It is not that we are Americans because we are not Americans, Rodriguez said. They are Americans. We are Puerto Ricans. We have (American) citizenship. The right to politically self-identify is valued by many Puerto Ricans but, for a growing number, the question of cultural identity dates to the pre-Columbian era.
Posted on: Thu, 22 Jan 2015 10:00:53 +0000
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