Puerto ricans let's celebrate!!!!!!!!!!! (Spanish, allowed)

[LaurieDonacik]

Hello,
This is my third time in Puerto Rico, I have found employment, and now I would like to become a citzen of Puerto Rico. I love this island, and want to make it my home. Can anybody advise me where to go next or my next steps? Thank you, Laurie

[motormaker]

I think you become a citizen by living there and paying taxes. Might have to register to vote.

[009]

Originally Posted by Sunil's Dad

But wasn't the first (American) Hispanic in space a Costa Rican, not a Puerto Rican?

Yes indeed. His name is Franklin Chang. He allegedly holds the title for most space flights with another spaceman.

[RUBIES77]

Originally Posted by InNeedOfAnswers

I don't know about FDNY, the case that made the headlines involved New Haven Fire department from Connecticut.

Then the problem is even worst..............because there are less Hispanics in New Haven, Conn., that in NYC!

[RUBIES77]

Originally Posted by Sunil's Dad

That's right. I was gonna point that out as well. As as Afro-Cuban I was doubly proud to see the first Latino/first African descendant in space back then. I am also very proud of Justice Sotomayor.

But wasn't the first (American) Hispanic in space a Costa Rican, not a Puerto Rican?

Sunil: If you look at post #15, I detailed that our astronaut was not the first one, but we have one anyway................

[Lucario]

Originally Posted by RUBIES77

Sunil: If you look at post #15, I detailed that our astronaut was not the first one, but we have one anyway................

Right. I thought you were speaking of the first one of us in space (Tamayo Mendez) as opposed to the first Latino astronaut (Chang-Diaz), though. Doesn't matter.....still something to celebrate.

[EDnurse]

Originally Posted by Outlander1

Wow, really?

Let's celebrate and be proud of our heritage, AND PUERTO RICAN POWER

how would you feel about this statement:
Let's celebrate and protect our heritage: WHITE POWER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Be proud to be Americans! A country that welcomes diversity to be
a part of AMERICA! If your country and heritage was so fabulous, would
you be here? Be proud of AMERICA, being AMERICAN, and quit being
racist with your statements. You aren't takin' over America, you are
being offered an opportunity to fit in and act right.

Imagine a white person went to your motherland of Puerto Rico, and
assume PR was open to diversity in government. Suppose that
a white person, capable or not, in office for the right reason or not,
was put in a similar position. Yeah represent....white power!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
How does that sound to you? Racist, exactly. As a white person it's
getting really old to see and hear all this crap.

Guess what.. you want to be somewhere where Puerto Ricans run government, and you can celebrate your heritage!! There is such
a place it's called PUERTO RICO head on over there and enjoy it,
OTHERWISE "CELEBRATE AMERICA". BE PART OF THE SOLUTION, NOT THE
PROBLEM.

Outlander1, you really are out there.

Please read up on the terms nationality, citizenship, culture and ethnicity. And while you're at it, please read up on Puerto Rican history before you start running your mouth and spewing ignorance. I won't provide links. You can do the research yourself. I am not going to do it for you.

Puerto Ricans come in all sorts of colors and shades. There are plenty of Puerto Ricans on the island and on the mainland who look as "white" as a White Anglo Saxon Protestant from Kansas.

Look up all the elected governors the island has had: they all "look white". Yet, they've all been Puerto Ricans born and raised on the island.

The color of one's skin doesn't tell the whole story about a person. There are other things such as history, ethnicity, culture, religion, language, values, mores, norms, etc. Being proud of one's heritage does not make a person a racist.

Judge Antonin Scalia is a white American whose father immigrated from Sicily. I have watched a few interviews where Judge Scalia refers to his Italian heritage with obvious pride. Why don't you tell him to go back to Sicily to celebrate his heritage?

The actor Denis Leary is always making reference to Irish ancestry in his show "Rescue Me". Why don't you tell him to shut up about the Irish already?

When Karol Józef Wojtyła was elected Pope and he became Pope John Paul II, people from Polish ancestry everywhere, especially in the USA, were extremely proud and justifiably so. I remember reading a cartoon that said "No more Polish jokes" signed by someone with a Polish surname. Why don't you go to Chicago and start a beef with the Polish folks over there?

Have you ever watched the show "Cake Boss" with Buddy Valastro? Buddy is an American from Hoboken, NJ. Yet, he's always saying that he's "Italian" and he also speaks a little bit of Italian on his show. Why don't you go to Hoboken and tell Buddy and his family to shut up about being Italian because he's in America and while he's at it, to stop speaking Italian on his show? Let me know how that goes.

All the people whom I mentioned above are proud Americans, yet they have not forgotten their heritage. Are you going to call them RACISTS? They know who they are, where they came from, what they are and how they are. Some even have the ability (the horror!!) to speak more than one language just like the majority of white Europeans do. What's wrong with that?

When you look at yourself in the mirror is the color of your skin all you see? Is that all you got? Is that why you sound so miffed? I guess you want all white people to be as generic as you. What about people who do not share the color of your skin? Are you going to tell them to go elsewhere also? Good luck with that.

Why don't you research your own family history? Get a DNA test to find out the origin of your most distant ancestor. Ancestry.com and familytreeDNA.com are good places to start. It's hard work, but it is very rewarding. With the exception of Native Americans, everybody's ancestors in America came from somewhere else. Discover and celebrate your heritage. Doing so isn't going to make you or anyone else for that matter, less of an American. If you choose not to, then leave other people alone and revel in your lameness.

Go ahead and scream "WHITE POWER!!" to your heart's content. It's a free country. Just don't expect me to be impressed or fearful. As for "Puerto Rican Power" you're the one who brought that up. I never heard a Puerto Rican speak of such a thing.

As for the poster who mentioned being "ashamed", I feel sorry for you. It's understandable to be ashamed of other people's behavior, but when you're ashamed of your cultural and ethnic background, you're ashamed of yourself.

Bottom line is Judge Sonia Sotomayor is a bright example of an American success story. She overcame the odds and attended Princeton and Yale law school. Affirmative action did not get her the Summa CumLaude at Princeton. She earned it with determination, hard work, and self discipline. She also spent 17 years as a federal judge. She attended the same schools a lot of her peers attended and she has more experience at the federal level than a lot of her peers. Judge Sotomayor was nominated for a seat on the SCOTUS and was confirmed by the US Senate. If you don't like her record, get over it. I did not like it when the SCOTUS chose George W. Bush as president in 2000, but I dealt with it.

Sonia Sotomayor is an example for others (not just people of Puerto Rican descent ) to follow. That is what some posters on this thread were trying to point out. No more excuses, no more "victimhood". The same goes for Obama and Americans of African descent.

[WIHS2006]

Originally Posted by LaurieDonacik

Hello,
This is my third time in Puerto Rico, I have found employment, and now I would like to become a citzen of Puerto Rico. I love this island, and want to make it my home. Can anybody advise me where to go next or my next steps? Thank you, Laurie

You simply have to live there for more then 6 months in the year and be registered to vote there but in doing so you lose the right to vote in presidential elections. You do however get to vote for a "resident commissioner" who represents Puerto Rico in Congress but he/she cannot vote on matters although they can provide "input" on matters that relate to their specific territory (each of the 5 US territories has an elected resident commissioner).

There is no such thing as Puerto Rican citizenship, they are native born American citizens the same as you and I.

[History Rules]

I'm curious why do Puerto Ricans love Orlando so much???

[Ounce]

Someone above said:

There is no such thing as Puerto Rican citizenship

There is such a thing has Puerto Rican Citizenship.

On April 12, 1900, the Congress of the United States enacted the Foraker Act of 1900, which replaced the governing military regime in Puerto Rico with a civil form of government. Section VII of this act created a Puerto Rican citizenship for the residents "born in Puerto Rico and, therefore, subject to its jurisdiction". The Puerto Rican citizenship replaced the Spanish citizenship that Puerto Ricans enjoyed at the time of the American invasion granted by Spain in 1897. This citizenship was reaffirmed by the United States Supreme Court in 1904 by its ruling in Gonzales v. Williams which denied that Puerto Ricans were United States citizens and labeled them as noncitizen nationals.

On March 2, 1917, the Jones-Shafroth Act was signed, granting United States citizenship to Puerto Ricans without rescinding their Puerto Rican citizenship. In 1922, the U.S. Supreme court in the case of Balzac v. Porto Rico ruled that the full protection and rights of the U.S constitution doesn't apply to residents of Puerto Rico until they come to reside in the US.

In 1994, Puerto Rican activist Juan Mari Bras flew to Venezuela and renounced his US citizenship before a consular agent in the US Embassy. Mari Bras through his renouncing of U.S. Citizenship, sought to redefine Section VII as a source of law that recognized a Puerto Rican nationality separate from that of the United States. In December 1995, his denaturalization was confirmed by the US State Department. Among the arguments that ensued over his action was whether he would now be able to vote in elections in Puerto Rico. On November 18, 1997, the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico through its ruling in Miriam J. Ramirez de Ferrer v. Juan Mari Bras reaffirmed the Puerto Rican citizenship by ruling that U.S. citizenship was not a requirement to vote in Puerto Rico.

Since the summer of 2007, the Puerto Rico State Department has developed a protocol to grant Puerto Rican certificate of citizenship to Puerto Ricans. Certificates of Puerto Rican citizenship are issued to any persons born on the island as well as to those born outside of the island that have at least one parent who was born on the island. Any U.S. citizen with at least one year of residence on the island is also eligible for the official citizenship certificate. The certificate is not a valid travel document.