Stacey Plaskett: Fact Citizens of U.S. Virgin Islands Can’t Vote for President Is Another Example of Systemic Racism

EXCERPT:

PLASKETT: “First I want to thank you for your work and thank you for checking up on people of the Virgin Islands. I think this is another example of systemic racism in this country, that the individuals, the families and individuals of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands still have not seen so much of the funding that we should have received from the hurricanes. We have not begun the rebuilding of our schools that were decimated. We have not begun the rebuilding from the hurricanes. I want people to remember, the Virgin Islands, 4 million people that live in the territories, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, the other territories, do not have the ability to vote for the commander in chief, even though we serve in more numbers per capita than most all of the states, actually. It’s that systemic racism that during the insular cases in the 1900s said the inhabitants of the territories are alien races that cannot understand Anglo-Saxon principles of law and therefore should not have the privilege of being able to vote for president nor having a full voice in this Congress. Those are the things we’re fighting for, the systemic racism that occurs throughout this country that needs to be dismantled."