{"id":143646,"date":"2024-02-06T13:38:25","date_gmt":"2024-02-06T18:38:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/?post_type=issue&p=143646"},"modified":"2024-09-18T11:38:04","modified_gmt":"2024-09-18T15:38:04","slug":"anti-colonialism","status":"publish","type":"issue","link":"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/racial-justice\/anti-colonialism","title":{"rendered":"Anti-colonialism"},"parent":46673,"menu_order":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-143646","issue","type-issue","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":{"featured-image":145428,"intro":"The Racial Justice Program challenges laws, policies and legal precedent that discriminate against residents of the United States territories: American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.","what-you-need-to-know":[{"highlighted":"5","description":"The five unincorporated U.S. territories are American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands."},{"highlighted":"4 million","description":"More than 4 million people live in the U.S. territories. The overwhelming majority are U.S. citizens"},{"highlighted":"98%","description":"The percentage of residents in the territories who are people of color.\r\n"}],"promo":{"description":"","button":"","url":""},"faq":{"description":"","faq-items":[{"title":"What is a \u201cterritory\u201d and why does the U.S. have them?","content":"Under the U.S. Constitution<\/a>, a territory is land \u201cbelonging\u201d to the U.S. It is not a state, and it is not a sovereign nation. These lands became U.S. territories when the U.S. bought them, won them as spoils of wars, or \u201cdiscovered\u201d them. The people living in these countries had no say in those acquisitions. That lack of consent is reflected in their relationship to the U.S. The people in the territories have neither the rights of state residents nor of sovereign nations. They cannot establish trade relations with foreign countries absent congressional consent or engage in any other power typically associated with independent nations. They are totally subject to federal power. Yet, they cannot vote in presidential elections, have no senators, and only a single non-voting representative in the U.S. House of Representatives. The people in the territories are therefore ruled by the federal government but have only very limited influence over the shape of that government."},{"title":"Do people in the territories have access to the same constitutional rights as people in the states?","content":"Not always. In 1898, questions arose about the applicability of the U.S. Constitution to the residents of the then newly-acquired overseas territories. In a string of decisions known as the Insular Cases<\/a>, the Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution applies only \u201cin part\" in these territories. The reasons the court gave were explicitly racist. It described the people living in these territories as \u201calien races<\/a>\u201d and \u201csavage tribes<\/a>\u201d and based its decision on the presumed racial inferiority of the non-white people living in the territories. The court has withheld the application of only a few constitutional provisions to the territories. These include provisions on tariffs and taxation to Puerto Rico, and portions of the Fifth and Sixth Amendments, specifically, the right to indictment by a grand jury in Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines and the right to trial by jury in Puerto Rico and the Philippines. However, the uncertainty and associated stigma continues to linger over the territories."},{"title":"Are U.S. territories colonies?","content":"Yes. A \u2018colony\u2019 is a \u201cdependent territorial entity subject to the sovereignty of an independent country, but considered part of that country for purposes of relations with third countries.\u201d Each of the five U.S. territories fits this definition (COLONY, Black's Law Dictionary (11th ed. 2019)).\r\n\r\nThe United Nations uses a similar term, \u201cnon-self-governing territory (NSGT).\u201d The U.N. Charter defines a NSGT as a territory \"whose people have not yet attained a full measure of self-government\". That means they have not fulfilled their right to self-determination as guaranteed under international law<\/a>.\r\n\r\n17 NSGTs<\/a> exist today, including three of the five U.S. territories: U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and Guam. The Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) was on the U.N. list of non-self governing territories until 1990<\/a>. Puerto Rico was on the list until 1953<\/a>. The U.N. removal of this label for CNMI and Puerto Rico is misleading. Like the other U.S. territories, Puerto Rico and CNMI lack sovereignty and are totally subject to federal power. Any semblance of self-government that either territory enjoys can be superseded by the federal government tomorrow."},{"title":"What does the path toward decolonization look like?","content":"Three non-colonial options exist under international law. Under U.N. resolution 1541<\/a>, an NSGT can be said to have reached a full measure of self-government by (1) emergence as a sovereign independent State; (2) free association with an independent State; or (3) integration with an independent State.\r\n\r\nEach of these options are illustrated by former U.S. territories. The Philippines became a sovereign independent country in 1946. The Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, and Palau became sovereign independent countries in free association with the U.S. in 1990. Alaska and Hawaii became U.S. states in 1959."}]},"featured-stories":[{"image":46281,"title":"The Most Racist Supreme Court Cases You\u2019ve Probably Never Heard Of","content-type":"news_and_commentary","last-updated":null,"description":"Why does the Biden administration's Department of Justice continue to rely on cases that presume people in the territories are \u201calien races\u201d composing \u201csavage tribes\u201d?","url":"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/news\/racial-justice\/the-most-racist-supreme-court-cases-youve-probably-never-heard-of"}],"latest-stories":[{"image":"","title":"Letter From 12 Civil Rights Organizations to President Biden on Insular Cases ","type":"document","url":"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/documents\/letter-from-12-civil-rights-organizations-to-president-biden-on-insular-cases"},{"image":"","title":"ACLU, Advocacy Groups Call on Congress to Condemn the Insular Cases","type":"press_release","url":"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/press-releases\/aclu-advocacy-groups-call-congress-condemn-insular-cases"},{"image":"","title":"U.S. v. Vaello-Madero","type":"court_case","url":"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/cases\/us-v-vaello-madero"},{"image":"","title":"Fitisemanu v. United States, et al.","type":"court_case","url":"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/cases\/fitisemanu-v-united-states-et-al"}],"whats-at-stake":{"title":"","description":"The U.S. Declaration of Independence states that governments derive their just powers from the \u201cConsent of the Governed\u201d and calls for equality and individual civil rights for all. Yet, since 1898, when Puerto Rico and Guam were acquired by the U.S., followed by American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands, the U.S. has continued to discriminate against residents of the territories.\r\n\r\nPeople in U.S. territories cannot vote in presidential elections, have no just representation in Congress, and no constitutional right to receive certain federal benefits that the government provides, such as Medicaid, food stamps, and Supplemental Security Income benefits for seniors and people with disabilities. Their right to self-determination is routinely ignored by the U.S., and their governance is treated as a purely domestic matter under Congress\u2019s plenary powers.\r\n\r\nThe ACLU opposes this status quo. We seek to dismantle colonialist policies that undermine human rights and economic opportunity. To that end, we have filed amicus briefs to the Supreme Court, including:\r\n