A Quote by Tom Perez

It's not only inhumane to treat Puerto Ricans as second-class citizens. It's deeply un-American. — © Tom Perez
It's not only inhumane to treat Puerto Ricans as second-class citizens. It's deeply un-American.
I believe that the overwhelming majority of Puerto Rico wants to be Puerto Ricans. I have been in five different states in the United States, and I have found young Puerto Ricans in the states who really love Puerto Rico, who really want to do something for Puerto Rico. And for me, Puerto Rico has to be the promised land of all Puerto Ricans, whether we are in the United States or wherever we are at. But this has to be the promised land. Annexation will never be the answer.
I believe, as a Puerto Rican, that the majority of Puerto Ricans want to be Puerto Ricans. Once we become annexed to the United States or by the United States, that we will lose our national identity. I can look at Hawaii as an example of people who lose, the Natives who lose their identity. I can look into the Native American reservations and see people who lose their national identity, their culture, their language, their land. And that's what's going to happen to Puerto Ricans here.
Puerto Ricans are so well educated, they're so capable, they're so competent, but due to a lack of opportunity, when you graduate from college, you leave. Puerto Rico's number one export is human beings; Puerto Ricans!
Growing up in the Midwest, Boston, and Alabama, I didn't know any Puerto Ricans... at least, I didn't know if I knew any Puerto Ricans. The only Puerto Rican that I had ever even heard of was Juan Epstein, one of the students from the classic 1970s sitcom 'Welcome Back, Kotter.'
Not only are Puerto Ricans citizens by birth, but one would be hard-pressed to find a Puerto Rican without a sister in New York or a son in Chicago, a cousin in Orlando or a daughter in Honolulu or Oklahoma City.
Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens, but by their own choice, Puerto Rico is not a state. The relationship has worked well for Puerto Rico - which has strengthened its culture, language and economy - and for the United States, which has helped create in Puerto Rico a showcase of democracy and prosperity for all of Latin America.
There's one last thing we need to point out. And it is a fact that Puerto Rico is a colonial territory of the United States. This puts us in a very significant disadvantage to all of the other states and to all of the other American citizens. As a matter of comparative, the U.S. citizens, the Puerto Ricans that live in the United States have much better incomes, more than twice as much, participate in the labor force of greater scales, have better results in the education system and so forth.
I am surprised at the number of Puerto Ricans that are moving out of Puerto Rico still. I thought that, by now, the immigration of Puerto Ricans had decreased a little bit. But, no, with a hurricane, it has increased even more. So, I see the financial institutions, especially the hedge funds, moving into Puerto Rico with all the - with all the force, knowing that their investments towards the future are going to be multiplied or probably elevated to quantities beyond any notion of how capital works.
American servicewomen will continue to be viewed as second-class warriors if leaders push them to take up the customs of countries where women are second-class citizens.
Puerto Ricans are United States citizens, and I think that the issue of statehood or independence needs to be addressed and needs to be resolved.
Media outlets treat conservative Americans as second-class citizens whose arguments don't need to be listened to or engaged with.
I think Puerto Rico becoming a state would fulfill the destiny of 3.5 million American citizens that live in Puerto Rico.
Cubans have no bar to being legalized once they are in America. All other Hispanics - with the exception of Puerto Ricans - have to go through a broken, dysfunctional process. One group is American from day one. And all the rest are trying to be.
I am very interested in the enlightenment of women. Very few teachers of advanced self discovery work with women, and if they do it's usually in a very second handed way. They treat women as second class citizens.
As a matter of comparative, the U.S. citizens - the Puerto Ricans that live in the United States - have much better incomes, more than twice as much, participate in the labor force of greater scales, have better results in the education system, and so forth.
It is imperative that we set the national example and make it clear that companies seeking to do business in New York City cannot be allowed to treat their workers like second-class citizens.
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