Communications

October 31, 2024

On Sunday October 27th, comedian Tony Hinchcliffe—one of the many speakers amplifying white supremacist rhetoric at a rally for the convicted felon Donald Trump’s 2024 bid for president—called our beloved archipelago a "floating island of garbage.” 

We, members of the Executive Council of the Puerto Rican Studies Association, denounce his comments, reject any brush offs claiming it was “just a joke,” stand in solidarity with all communities targeted by the MAGA rhetoric, and reaffirm our commitment to promoting the development and circulation of knowledge about Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans. In the United States, comedy in the form of jokes and cartoons have tested the limits of racism and xenophobia in the cultural sphere. This is evident in the cartoons produced after 1898 portraying Puerto Rico, along with Cubans, Filipinxs, Native Americans, and African Americans as unruly children. Jokes building on Puerto Rican stereotypes have also been perpetuated in films, tv shows, and mainstream culture. That is why we reject the notion of jokes being neutral or a simple comedic relief.

We stand in solidarity and agreement with the Center for Puerto Rican Studies (CENTRO) at Hunter College, the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture in Chicago, the Puerto Rican Cultural Center, and the many organizations and individuals denouncing the racist, xenophobic, and deplorable remarks. As a Puerto Rican voter writes from Philadelphia: "We are more than garbage and all half a million of us living in PA have a voice and can vote.”

As both presidential candidates are courting Puerto Ricans and the Latinx vote more broadly, this moment ought to remind us of the stakes in addressing rhetorical constructions of Puerto Ricans and Puerto Rico as disposable. Puerto Ricans do not need to perform extraordinary services or contributions to history to be of value. Reminders of Puerto Ricans’ U.S. citizenship, photographic evidence of the unquestionable beauty of the archipelago, or calls for statehood may seem like acceptable responses to the violence, but they erase how ongoing conditions of colonialism and debilitation continue to affect those living in the archipelago and their kin across the diaspora. 

Jesse Fuentes, 26th Ward Representative in the city of Chicago captured the feelings of Puerto Ricans across the diaspora when she stated “Puerto Rico is considered the world’s oldest colony. Puerto Ricans have been used as testing objects for sterilization, our island used to test bombs, our economy obliterated through a fiscal control board, and darkness is a frequent reality because of a frail power grid. Want to know what’s garbage? The policies that have treated Puerto Ricans as a piece of property.” 

Further, this campaign season has vilified immigrants and refugees, called for mass deportations, and doubled-down on the curtailing of reproductive justice. The racism by a pseudo-comedian may also distract us from the ongoing displacement made possible by Act 20/22, by the creation of settler communities all throughout the archipelago, and the fact that Puerto Rico is also going through an important election that could dictate the growth of such initiatives by status quo politicians. 

We call on Puerto Ricans and their allies to consider these facts as they vote on Tuesday November 5th, whether in Puerto Rico or in the “states.” We recognize the difficulty of this electoral moment as one in a series of difficult moments for colonial subjects. While we call our members to action at the polls, we remain steadfast in our solidarities to Palestinian liberation and the liberation of all subjugated peoples.

In Solidarity,

The PRSA Executive Committee