This Saturday 13th of August, Mónica Puig did what many thought impossible: she won the first Olympic Gold Medal for Puerto Rico. In the island, what followed was a frenzied reaction by everyone, whether at home or at a mall watching the match by the hundreds. Social Media was, for the most part, filled with joyous messages. However, the odd, ignorant, condescending messages stood out. While on twitter throughout the entire day, but specifically during Mónica’s game, I kept seeing tweets of people asking if our soon-to-be-gold medal belonged to the US, since we are a territory.
I was taken aback and more than a little mad. Mind you, I have not seen one tweet from any regular twitter account from the USA talking about the serious crisis going on in my country. I have never felt like other US citizens are my countrymen, because they aren’t. They probably have never felt that way about us either, and that is more than okay. What is not okay, is ignoring the fact that it is your country that currently holds control over us, making us a colony, and that it is insensitive to claim ownership over something that was hard-earned by a Puerto Rican. We were a nation before being a Spanish, and later US, colony. Do not ever attempt to erase such an identity or past; we do not want our Olympic delegates grouped in with yours. I also don’t think it would be well-received if all of the sudden, everyone in Puerto Rico started claiming Michael Phelps’ medals as our own, so please put yourselves in our shoes. Furthermore, we do not wish to have your Olympic medals, because they are not Puerto Rican medals. We are proud of what is ours and respectful of what is not.
If you have never had interest in Puerto Rican history, or in our wellbeing, please do not feign interest in us as your countrymen in order to feel entitled to a medal that never was, and will never be yours. Asking if it technically belongs to you lets me know that deep down, in the back of your mind, is the thought that we, as a country, also belong to you. I find it appalling that you only take interest in our political relation to the USA when it comes to claiming prestigious medals, or that your main sport’s channel decided it would be acceptable to compare the amount of US Gold Medals next to the amount of Puerto Rico’s Gold medals. It felt like you couldn’t have given Mónica and the PUR Olympic delegation a simple, pure congratulations, but a backhanded compliment underlined with the egotistical intention of adding yourself into the conversation no matter what.
Next time, when you want to claim ownership over a Puerto Rican medal, also offer to claim ownership of our crippling debt. Next time, when you apologize and claim your comment was a simple joke out of lack of knowledge, also apologize for your ignorance in every other area of Puerto Rico-US relations. Better yet, next time, don’t tweet or comment out of impulse and an attitude of entitlement. Let this be Mónica Puig’s victory as the woman who brought us our first Gold Medal, and let it be a beautiful, joyous moment for Team PUR.
