1. Assuming we’re immigrants.
Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory and Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens. As in, we use U.S. dollars for currency, don’t need passports or visas to travel within the U.S., and fight in the U.S. Army with you side-by-side. You’d be surprised at how many Americans don’t know this. My Puerto Rican driver’s license has been rejected one too many times.
I used to wonder why this bothered me so much. I think my friend Kathy expressed it best when she said, “Many of my friends don’t know this, but often schools in Puerto Rico are expected to have students sing the U.S. national anthem, along with our own, we put our hands on our chests as we look up to your flag. We are taught from a young age to respect you, your culture, and your history. We are taught to be loyal to you, the same way we send thousands of our people to fight side-by-side with you at war. We only expect to be treated with the same kind of respect.”