Political Quotes

“Today, the House is holding a hearing on the insular cases, doctrines which hold the territories in a perpetual state of colonialism. Earlier this year, I served as a House impeachment manager in the second trial of President Donald Trump. My presence on the floor of the U.S. Senate carried a great deal of meaning for me. It also said a lot about America. Although I was making the case, I was unable to actually cast a vote in the House. My constituents in the Virgin Islands, U.S. citizens, remain unable to vote for President, lack any voice in the Senate, and have only a limited vote in the House. The second-class treatment of the territories is not just unfair; it is un-American. More than 3.5 million Americans are denied the right to vote simply because of where they live, whether it is Puerto Rico; Guam; Northern Mariana Islands; American Samoa; or my home, the Virgin Islands of the United States. This number of people is equivalent to the population of the five smallest States combined, and each of the territories send more men and women to the military per capita than any State. More than 98 percent of the territorial residents are racial or ethnic minorities like me, a fact that cannot be a mere coincidence in our continuing disenfranchisement, which extends well past the century mark. Our Nation's Founders never intended our country to work this way.…”