Puerto Rico
POLICANO, JOSEPH D.
death penalty. "Mercy," declared Roberton, "trumps justice." Ron Carlson, the brother of one of Tucker's victims, voiced the core argument against capital punishment. "The reason I think...
...one of them had already won several feminist awards at age twenty-one...
...They simply believe that the taking of the life of a guilty person does not make up for the taking of innocent life...
...Not for independence...
...As my mother says, the one issue that can fire up even the meekest of women is a threat to her child, and so I guess it's at least partly maternal drive that is fueling me...
...The bill is timed to coincide with this year's one-hundredth anniversary of the island's annexation by the United States...
...I seem to have imbued my kids with my convictions...
...If a man says Commonweal | | February 27, 1998...
...the school system itself is on the brink of disaster...
...A woman's place is not in the home, it's wherever she wants to be...
...Puerto Ricans, like many other Hispanics, are basically conservaCommonweal | Q February 27, 1998 tive...
...They cite the following problems: Less than 3 percent of the island's students speak English fluently, and ~hey do so only because they have lived on the mainland...
...Support for the death penalty began rising in the face of the violent crime wave that started in the mid-'60s...
...oters in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico have V twice refused to become what many of the island's Caribbean neighbors and most of the underdeveloped world can only dream of becoming: the fifty-first state of the Union...
...they tend to look with suspicion on something new like statehood...
...One woman in my position took to signing her first name as "Justa," as in "Justa Housewife...
...These business leaders have the means to wage a strong media campaign to maintain the status quo...
...labor laws will raise the price of doing business, discouraging new investment...
...They shrink from that prospect...
...Officially a commonwealth but actually a colony, Puerto Rico presently chooses its local officials and decides its own budget and taxes...
...It's partly a matter of culture and tradition...
...That is because, thanks to post-World War II American aid and tax incentives, Puerto Rico is now the richest land in the Caribbean and one of the most welloff in all of Latin America...
...A bill authorizing a third plebiscite is to be presented before the U.S...
...Like one of the states, it has no power to legislate foreign policy, defense matters, or international trade issues...
...Karla Faye Tucker, despite her vicious crime, may help us to do that...
...E _9 1998, Washington Post Writers Group Joseph D. Policano P•KRT@ RIC@ Will it be the fifty-first state...
...But with crime rates abating and with tough laws on the books to jail the guilty, it may he possible for us to re-examine whether our support for the death penalty is genuinely rooted in a concern for justice or whether it in fact violates our sense of both fairness and mercy...
...Why shouldn't I be allowed to define mothering and homemaking as my job, my career, and still be treated as a grown-up...
...unemployment is at 10.5 percent (which is historically low...
...Islanders have a deep pride in their distinct heritage...
...Those against statehood also argue that the island is not ready for the rigors the transition would impose...
...Thus, supporters of the present commonwealth status argue that the choice would mean the loss of the island's Spanish heritage...
...Advocating the death penalty was a loud and forceful way of saying: Enough...
...But these slights are not the bottom line...
...greater access to capital (Puerto Rican companies now depend on expensive bank loans rather than on corporate bonds...
...Still, Puerto Rico trails all fifty states in economic development...
...In 1966, opposition to the death penalty hit its peak...
...I am a feminist by conviction...
...The Reverends Robertson and Falwell bore witness to our doubts...
...Real per capita income ($6,360 in 1992) is three to four times that of Caribbean neighbors like Jamaica and the Dominican Republic, and incalculably more than that of Cuba or Haiti...
...Still, if the past holds true, should Puerto Ricans step into the voting booth, powerful and unpredictable emotions can take over...
...When I publish something I often use my initials, "B.G.," instead of my name, "Beverly," so that people will judge my work, gender excluded...
...Therefore, I believe that only God should take the life...
...next to D.C...
...God creates this life...
...darn it, I'm used to a little respect...
...Congress this session and has ostensible support from both the Republican and Democratic leadership, and from the president...
...My husband tells me I'm a more ardent feminist than most of the women he works with--a comment I'm not sure is meant as praise...
...The reason I think that Karla should live is that I don't think that we, as human beings, have the right to take a life, whether it is for justice or whether it is in vengeance or revenge," he said...
...Doubts about the death penalty led to a decline in executions--in 1966, there was but one and in 1967 just two...
...and significant political representation in Congress that would help to transform the island's colonial status to one of full citizenship...
...Still, Puerto Ricans who want to keep their language could do that, even with statehood...
...It would give Puerto Rico's 3.5 million residents the chance to decide whether their homeland will become a state, an independent country, or retain its current status...
...So it was a shock when a store clerk told me she couldn't accept my check because I didn't have a job, and again when my credit card >,'as refused because I didn't have a note from my husband...
...the number of murders on the island rivals that of New York City, which has twice the population...
...If there is a third referendum, which way is it likely to go...
...Statehood advocates argue that if Puerto Rico becomes part of the Union, it will be the twenty-sixth largest state, and that an economic and political bonanza will follow...
...But in my country (and elsewhere) her preference is not honored, or rewarded, if she chooses to be in the home...
...citizens, they can do without obstruction--Puerto Ricans cannot vote for president or Congress, and their only representation in Washington is a single, nonvoting but popularly elected member called a resident commissioner...
...Behind the scenes, some members of the Republican leadership are reported to be gagging on the idea...
...D Joseph D. Policano's most recent article for Commonweal was a rep~Jrt from Germany (February 13, 1998...
...The popular sense, not at all foolish, was that the criminal justice system was failing, neither punishing enough criminals nor delivering much justice...
...Though the independence movement gets a fair amount of press, independistas gained barely 5 percent of the vote in the last two referenda, and would fare even worse next time out...
...Furthermore, in past referenda the island's business community has been lukewarm toward statehood, fearful of being placed under Washington's IRS regulations rather than the island's more familiar Treasury Department procedures...
...Whatever it takes...
...The truth as I see it is that I'm driven to follow through on what 1 believe, and that one particular feminist belief has led me to lobby Canadian government officials, write letters to editors, appear on talk shows, and research three books...
...The San Juan Star reported that the commonwealth received $10 billion from Washington in 1996, more than sixteen states, but that, based on population, island residents were still shortchanged in comparison...
...According to the Gallup Poll, 47 percent of Americans opposed the death penalty then and only 42 favored it...
...the island's strong labor unions will deter new business ventures, and U.S...
...My problem is that I'm a homemaker...
...and New York City, AIDS is the highest per capita in the United States...
...They know that to be truly "fair," the death penalty would have to involve the execution of thousand s every year...
...But unless residents emigrate to the mainland United States--which, as U.S...
...We, human beings, did not create life...
...the thousand miles of ocean between the island and the mainland contributes to the cost of everything made and sold on the island...
...I applaud as loudly as anyone when the specialist heart surgeon is a woman or when a woman is appointed a judge...
...In my country that ranks me slightly above garden soil in the social hierarchy...
...Carlson reminded us that those who oppose the death penalty are not indifferent to justice or soft on crime or uncaring about victims...
...Still, the arguments for statehood and its benefits seem convincing: Statehood would mean a precisely defined relationship with the United States and the rest of the world...
...a plethora of additional economic assistance from Washington...
...All because I'm Justa...
...Statehood might mean two more Democratic senators and six additional Democrats in the House...
...Though some islanders disparage that heritage--as nearly four hund red years of slavery, exploitation, and poverty--it nonetheless has a strong pull on educated islanders who identify with the language but not the history of imperial Spain...
...I earned honors in school and university and I've taught school to (literally) thousands of kids...
...I seethed when I learned I could not get life insurance and was not permitted to contribute to our national pension plan...
...Beverly Smith 'JUSTA' HOMEMAKER One Canadian's fight for recognition W y kids tell me that I may not have been a rebellious teen-ager but now I'm making up for it...
Vol. 125 • February 1998 • No. 4
