The Global South

So, Puerto Rico voted to become a state this week...although that is only a half-truth as this Huffington Post article points out.  Regardless, isn't it kinda strange that no one in the mass media is talking about it?  At all?

I'm particularly interested in this topic right now because the class that I've been TA'ing is  centered in the idea of America as an empire, which the period of time at the turn of the 20th century illustrates most clearly (Puerto Rico was invaded by the U.S. in 1898 during the Spanish-American War and taken as a possession).  It's a fascinating time in U.S. history that I, for one, did not learn a whole lot about in U.S. history classes.  The national history I learned in high school basically went from the Civil War to the idea that Reconstruction was a failure and then, straight on into the 20th century.  

Anyway I'm re-learning this history and seeing a lot of complexity that I've never understood before.  This is the same time period that the U.S. became involved in the Phillipines, Panama, etc.  In a way, I'm also learning more deeply about the history of my hometown since a major figure from Thibodaux, Supreme Court Justice Edward Douglass White, was instrumental in shaping the relationship we now have with Puerto Rico based on his role in the "Insular Cases."  The Philippines became independent after WWII...I wonder what U.S. crisis it will take for Puerto Rico to get the kind of government that the people want--within the U.S. or independent from the U.S.