Making Never-Never Land: Race and Law in the Creation of Puerto Rico

Historian/poet Jiménez (African diaspora and African studies, Univ. of Texas at Austin) presents an insightful legal analysis of Puerto Rico and how the U.S. government treats it. The U.S. government acquired the territory in 1898. Part I of the book analyzes the 1901 Downes v. Bidwell U.S. Supreme Court case in which the highest court ruled that citizens of unincorporated U.S. territories, such as Puerto Rico, were not necessarily entitled to all of the rights granted under the U.S. Constitution. Puerto Rico’s unincorporated status enabled the government to conduct social and medical experiments on its BIPOC population without consequence. The second half of the book shows how the federal government meddled in and manipulated local politics to allow absentee U.S.-based corporations and a tiny local elite to bankrupt the island as well. The author argues that racism and consequent exclusion played a significant role in both incidents and still affect the area and its residents today.