Session 6, Racialized Governance and the Struggle for Self-Determination - Video

Moderator: Rachael Stark, Associate Vice Provost & Deputy Dean of Students
Puerto Rico After Hurricane María: How Colonial Dynamics Shaped Recovery Efforts, Outward Migration, and Gentrification Trends
Gabriela Rojas-LeBron
Professor: Hijazi

On September 20, 2017, Hurricane María made landfall in Puerto Rico, causing catastrophic destruction across the island. Widespread flooding and landslides, infrastructural damage, the collapse of the power grid, the loss of communication networks, and nearly 3,000 deaths left all 3.4 million residents facing a prolonged humanitarian crisis. Recovery efforts in the months and years that followed were slow, uneven, and widely criticized. These failures exposed not only the island’s infrastructural vulnerabilities but also the deeper political and economic inequalities rooted in its colonial relationship with the United States. In this paper, I examine how U.S. neglect and colonial governance shaped post-María recovery efforts and their consequences for Puerto Rico’s population. I argue that these delayed and inadequate recovery responses—triggered by colonial dynamics and financial limitations—directly contributed to the mass outward migration of Puerto Ricans to the mainland United States. I further assert that this population loss accelerated gentrification across the island, as investment-driven recovery policies prioritized wealthy outside investors over local residents. By examining disaster response failures, displacement, migration, and gentrification, this paper demonstrates that Puerto Rico’s post-María recovery cannot be understood apart from its colonial status.

Threads of Oppression
Noelle Wesley
Professor: Hijazi

This essay examines the oppression inflicted upon the Uyghur people, a Muslim, Turkic speaking ethnic community from Xinjiang, China. Despite the Chinese government’s rejection of such claims, allegations of cultural genocide have been raised by international observers. These accusations stem from allegations of forced assimilation, including the presence of re-education camps, policies requiring Uyghur households to host CCP members, and the suppression and restriction of religious practices. This paper evaluates such claims by looking into the geographic, religious and physical control that the Chinese government has over the region and its population, focusing on how that affects the people as a whole. There are also two subsections about women and clothing. One subsection examines crimes and controversies that specifically target women through marriage policies, with the aim of eroding Uyghur culture at the family level. The other section focuses on clothing and cotton production, and how the usage of coerced labor is not only used as a control over the people but also an economic exploitation. The analysis highlights the tension between China’s claims of cultural preservation and reports documenting systemic injustice and repression.

The Black Influence on the Statehood Movements of the Late 1900s
Isabel Singleton
Professor: Mantler

The Black Influence on the Statehood Movement of the Late 1900s” examines the Black leaders who helped shape and became the backbone of the movement. They each helped to lay the groundwork for the statehood movements seen in the news today. The leaders influenced one another towards the dream of self-government. The Black statehood movement can even trace its roots back to the Civil Rights Movement, with many of the statehood leaders working within the movement. The statehood movement has also been linked to race since its inception, with Washington, D.C., being a Black-populist city. Though the dream has not yet been realized, the work of the Black leaders of the late 1900s is profound and serves as the foundation for today's movements.