Opinion Pieces

CLOSED MOUTHS DON’T GET FED – VIRGIN ISLANDERS HAVE THE WILL TO FIGHT

Congresswoman Stacey E. Plaskett

U.S. Virgin Islands

A few months ago, the Virgin Islands Daily News featured an editorial piece by Sue Lisky of St. Thomas, entitled, “The Spectacle of Plaskett’s ‘Territory and Colonies Problem’ Speech on House Floor.” Sue refers to my speech after the Speaker vote during the opening session of the 119th Congress in early January of this year, where I, with the support of my Democratic colleagues drew attention to the very real, long-standing disenfranchisement of Virgin Islanders in Congress and as possessions of the United States. I and other members who represent the U.S. territories do not have full voting privileges (other than in committees and on amendments before final passage on the floor) and cannot vote for who will be the Speaker of the House. Sue states, “...it is distressing to me that Delegate Plaskett sinks to a low position in making a claim about colonies...There are no colonies; she should know that and respect it.”

With regard to the notion that the Virgin Islands and territories are not prima facie colonies, I would direct her attention to the United Nations continued declaration, as recently as October 17, 2024, of the US Virgin Islands as one of the last 17 colonies in the world or to Daniel Immerwahr’s seminal work, How to Hide an Empire.

Acquired in the costliest per-acre sale in U.S. land purchase, our islands became the most easterly point of the United States in 1917 and served to protect the Caribbean Basin and the Panama Canal. Our islands acted as a naval base in possible submarine warfare against Germany during World War I.

The plebiscite for purchase was facilitated in Denmark at the time of the sale, and no vote was taken by the Virgin Islanders then living under the title of the Danish West Indies. If there had been a vote by the people of the islands, under the then Danish serf system, merely 700 people would have met the qualifications to vote which required “unblemished character” and substantial income. The people of the Virgin Islands during the Transfer ceremonies on March 31, 1917, were in effect a marooned people— citizens of no country. All 4 of my grandparents and several greats were alive and stateless persons at the time. It would take a decade for Congress to grant U.S. citizenship to Virgin Islanders.

The sales document made almost no provisions for the people of the territory. Absolutely none of the remarkable $25 Million in gold bullion was given to the islands but instead shipped — along with much of the wealth and records— to Copenhagen.

Until the United States began ownership of territories, which have majority minority people, disenfranchisement in territories was viewed as a temporary condition. From the 1787 Northwest Ordinance until the acquisition of Puerto Rico, lands were deemed territories with the expectation that they would eventually become fully part of the Union as a state. Additionally, the disenfranchisement and unequal treatment of the people of the Virgin Islands are de jure law. The Insular Cases decided at the turn of the 20th century by the Plessy v. Ferguson-era Supreme Court established a doctrine of “separate and unequal” status for the overseas territories that has since been upheld by multiple administrations. It was only in 2023—after I led a bipartisan, bicameral group of members to pen a letter to the Department of Justice (DOJ)—that the Justice Department gave a department-wide opinion not to use the caseload anymore.  

The timing of my inquiry on the House Floor was the perfect opportunity to raise the issue as the 119th Congress convened for its first day of work. Ms. Lisky’s list of “benefits” and reasons why I should not have made a spectacle and possibly risk us “losing” such “benefits” is blind to the effect of the disenfranchisement and unequal treatment faced by residents of US territories—the inability to access SSI, inequitable funding formulas, discriminatory treatment with regard to infrastructure and environmental practices, young men who must register and be subject to a draft for a commander-in-chief for whom they cannot vote are just a few of the hurdles we’ve had to battle during our time as an insular possession of the United States.

Several Republican members, ironically all who were veterans of our armed service, approached me after the “spectacle” and expressed that 1) they had not known of the number of veterans who lived in the territories; 2) it reminded them of the discrimination of African-American soldiers denied the right to vote after coming home from WWI; and 3) I have their support for equitable treatment.

Despite the enormous challenges we may face as a territory and even as a nation, we must continue to call upon the spirit of revolution, resilience and innovation, passed down to us from ancestors like General Buddhoe, the Fireburn Queens, Queens Coziah of St. Thomas and Breffu of St. John to forge a path forward that demands equal treatment for us and for the generations after us.

As we commemorate Transfer Day, let us also reflect on the power of our voices and the ongoing fight for equity and equality for these Virgin Islands of the United States.

 Congresswoman Stacey E. Plaskett represents the United States Virgin Islands’ at-large Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives. She is currently serving her sixth term in Congress and is a member of the House Ways & Means, Budget and Intelligence Committees.