Mónica A. Jiménez, "Making Never-Never Land: Race and Law in the Creation of Puerto Rico" (UNC Press, 2024)
Jul 14, 2024
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Dr. Mónica A. Jiménez discusses race and law in Puerto Rico, tracing colonial dynamics and the impact of Supreme Court decisions. The podcast explores the legal history, economic challenges, and racial exclusion in Puerto Rico. Topics include the financial crisis, gentrification, and the formation of ELA post-World War II.
US Supreme Court's jurisdiction on Puerto Rico's legal status is based on colonial logics and racial exclusion.
Historical mistreatment of Puerto Rican laborers during WWI and WWII reflects colonial power dynamics and racial prejudices.
US intervention in Puerto Rico introduced birth control measures, industrialization, and autonomy struggles, showcasing ongoing colonial influences.
Deep dives
The Historical Context of Puerto Rico's Colonial Relationship with the United States
The podcast delves into the historical context of Puerto Rico's colonial relationship with the United States, focusing on the legal foundations set in the early 20th century. It explores the Downs v. Bidwell Supreme Court case of 1901, where Puerto Rico was designated as an unincorporated territory under Congress's plenary power, drawing parallels to racial exclusion precedents set in prior cases. The discussion highlights how these legal decisions continue to shape Puerto Rico's exclusion from full constitutional rights even after over a century.
Impact of Racial Exclusion in Puerto Rico
The episode highlights the impact of racial exclusion on Puerto Rico's governance and relationship with the US, emphasizing the racialized lens through which US structures of power viewed the island's inhabitants. By exploring the linkages between the treatment of Native American, African American, and Puerto Rican populations in colonial law, it reveals how race influenced legal reasoning in determining Puerto Rico's status as an unincorporated territory, setting the stage for ongoing colonial dynamics.
Surveillance and Exploitation of Laborers in Puerto Rico
The podcast addresses the surveillance and exploitation of laborers from Puerto Rico, particularly during World War II, shedding light on Camp Bragg's labor camp experiences. It discusses the dire living conditions and mistreatment faced by Puerto Rican laborers, illustrating the racial prejudices at play and the consequences of colonial power dynamics. By connecting historical instances of mistreatment and surveillance, the episode underscores the lasting impact of white supremacist ideologies on labor practices and the overall colonial relationship.
US Citizenship in World War I and its Treatment Impact on Puerto Rican Laborers
During World War I in 1917, Puerto Rican men who were made US citizens experienced mistreatment due to racial prejudices. Many laborers, facing sickness and lack of medical assistance, wrote letters seeking help but were disregarded. The tragic outcomes included deaths and unknown fates of many. The colonial violence against Puerto Rican bodies included forced sterilization and control of women perceived as problematic, reinforcing the struggle for autonomy.
Impact of Colonialism on Puerto Rican Society Through US-Imposed Policies
Historically, US intervention shaped Puerto Rican society, introducing concepts like birth control due to perceived overpopulation. Forced sterilization and control measures targeted women, reflecting a colonial impulse to regulate bodies. Industrialization through initiatives like Operation Bootstrap led to economic growth but also constant job migration and dependency on US incentives. The establishment of the ELA state presented a facade of autonomy but resulted in economic challenges and the implementation of oversight boards like PROMESA, illustrating continuing colonial influences into the 21st century.
Myths about the powers held by the United States are often supported by the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, which derives its logic from the interpretation of a document that the US itself developed. Therefore, when pressure is placed on a specific legal precedent, the shallowness of its validity is revealed. Dr. Mónica A. Jiménez accomplishes this kind of scholarly work in her recently published book Making Never-Never Land: Race and Law in the Creation of Puerto Rico (University of North Carolina Press, 2024). By tracing the legal logic of what continues to animate the colonial dynamics between the United States and Puerto Rico, Jiménez offers a “genealogy of racial exclusion in law” (36) that both folds time and space to make clear how late-19th century Supreme Court logics and opinions continue to subjugate the land and people of Puerto Rico to colonial violence.
Split into two sections, the first half of the book details the key case Downes v. Bidwell (1901), while the second half explores how the legal ramifications of Downes continued to haunt the archipelago. The first chapter focuses on the development of Downes and its outcome, which argued that territories of the United States were not allowed to access certain provisions of the U.S. Constitution. The ambiguous legal foundation for this decision was established in 1900 after Puerto Rico was acquired by the United States when the US Supreme Court established the territorial incorporation doctrine, effectively creating the legal category of “unincorporated territory." Chapter two probes the white supremacist U.S. legal landscape to offer a “genealogy of racial exclusion in law” (36) that shows the reader how U.S. settler colonialism and empire-making are dependent on the reuse and recycling of legal precedents and tactics that disenfranchised and dispossessed racially marginalized communities. By excavating the legal opinions handed down during the Marshal Trilolgy and Dred Scott v. Sandford – a collection of Supreme Court cases that defined 19th-century legal policy for Native Americans and African Americans, respectively – Jiménez makes clear that “It is not a coincidence that the most shameful cases in the United States’ legal history of race should serve as direct precedents to a decision that continues to serve as the basis for Puerto Rico’s exclusion more than one hundred years after it was handed down” (9).
