America's Colony: The Political and Cultural Conflict between the United States and Puerto Rico

1. Race, Culture, Colonialism, Citizenships, and Latina/o Critical Race Theory

Race, Culture, Colonialism, Citizenships, and Latina/o Critical Race Theory Latina and Latino Critical Race Theory (“LatCrit”) In this chapter I try to center the Puerto Rican condition in critical academic discourse as well as in the broader marketplace of ideas. I use Latina and Latino critical race theory (LatCrit theory) to help convey the purpose , importance, and qualifying factors of studying and focusing on the flawed relationship between Puerto Rico and the United States. According to one of the founders of this movement, LatCrit theory is . . . discourse that responds primarily to the long historical presence and general sociolegal invisibility of Latinas/os in the lands now known as the United States. As with other traditionally subordinated communities within this country, the combination of longstanding occupancy and persistent marginality fueled an increasing sense of frustration among contemporary Latina/o legal scholars, some of whom already identified with Critical Race Theory (CRT) and participated in its gatherings. Like other genres of critical legal scholarship, LatCrit literature tends to reflect the conditions of its production as well as the conditioning of its early and vocal adherents.1 As an expression of LatCrit scholarship, this book fits comfortably within contemporary critical jurisprudence.2 More precisely, LatCrit is one of the most current of the constantly evolving forms of outsider jurisprudence , that is, scholarship produced by and focused on outsider perspectives , communities, and interests that goes beyond the dominant group.3 It is based on such movements as critical legal studies, feminist legal theory , and critical race theory.4 1 15 LatCrit is a refinement and refocusing of critical race theory (CRT), which Cornel West defined as follows: Critical Race Theory is the most exciting development in contemporary legal studies. This comprehensive movement in thought and life—created primarily, though not exclusively, by progressive intellectuals of color—compels us to confront critically the most explosive issue in American civilization: the historical centrality and complicity of law in up holding white supremacy (and concomitant hierarchies of gender, class, and sexual orientation).5 The refocusing of academic and theoretical schools more precisely on previously invisible (or unrepresented) groups is not always easy. Just as critical race theory was born partly of the frustration of African American academics with the critical legal studies movement, LatCrit was born out of a sense of exclusion from CRT, especially from the CRT annual workshop . Therefore, claiming the center, even if only temporarily, requires sensibilities, because even the best-intentioned theory can sometimes produce unintended exclusionary effects. For example, developing the consciousness of being victims of U.S. racism has often produced more con- flict than common ground among Latinas/os and between Latinas/os and other racialized groups, especially African Americans.6 The recent discussion of reparations provides a good example of the possible pitfalls of focusing exclusively or principally on one group.7 As did my fellow LatCrit Robert Westley—a reparations expert—I use a comparative study of reparations to set a moral, and sometimes legal, precedent for other claims of reparations and not to develop a “comparative victimology,” that is, “to situate a given group . . . at the top of an imagined hierarchy of oppression” intended to divide marginalized groups.8 The movement favoring Puerto Rico’s decolonization9 is one of many “progressive social movements” that seek to undo the legacy of U.S. imperialism. The problem of Puerto Ricans in no way diminishes the claims to reparations made by other groups, especially African Americans .10 Instead, I want to empower the Puerto Ricans and, I hope, help other victims of imperialism as well. This disclaimer is important because the place for blackness in LatCrit has occupied a great deal of our scholarly time.11 After all, LatCrit was born in part out of Latinas’/os’ frustration with the CRT workshop (the annual meeting of RaceCrits), which was at this time dominated by 16 | Race, Culture, Colonialism, Citizenships African American scholars. While LatCrit has and will continue to have a fundamental intellectual link to CRT, it represents a reorientation of critical race theory to “center” outsider groups other than African Americans . While I am not suggesting that there is a monolithic CRT experience or that the CRT workshop either represented the entire field of critical race theory or lacked the capacity to grow, the workshop unfortunately appears to have generated a sense of exclusion of Latinas/os and of issues of particular...