The
Nation - Something is changing in the political
conversation about Puerto Rico. In recent months, major leaders and
organizations on the American left have explicitly signaled their support for
the island’s independence.
On September 23, to mark the
158th anniversary of the Grito de Lares freedom revolt, future
congressman Chris Rabb joined his Puerto Rican constituents in
Philadelphia and declared, “I support Puerto Rican independence. Puerto Rico
has the right to be a free, sovereign, and independent nation.”
Rabb, who will almost certainly
get elected to the US House of Representatives from Pennsylvania’s 3rd
district, joined other influential progressives who have come out for Puerto
Rico’s freedom. Earlier this year another general election shoo-in, Darializa
Avila Chevalier in New York, called for an inclusive Puerto Rican
self-determination process. She added: “I also support independence for the
Puerto Rican people. Because after 128 years, it’s the least the people on the
island deserve.”
New York City Mayor Zohran
Mamdani has also weighed in. In June, on the eve of the National Puerto Rican
Day Parade, Mamdani gave Puerto Rican independence a poetic shoutout:
“This weekend, the boricuas of
our city will don bright colors, sing songs of freedom, and wave a flag that
was once made illegal by the United States government. There will be joy…as
well as the bittersweet knowledge of an independence that has too long been
denied.”
Notably, support for sovereignty
is rising among political leaders outside of Puerto Rican bastions like New
York and Pennsylvania. Former Missouri representative Cori Bush and fellow
Missouri Democratic primary candidate Hartzell Gray came out in support for Puerto Rican
sovereignty. So did Julie Gonzales, who gave John Hickenlooper a scare in the
Democratic primary for US Senate in Colorado. (Full disclosure: My
organization, Boricuas
Unidos en la Diáspora, which advocates for Puerto Rican independence,
endorsed all three of those candidates.)
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