D.C. and Puerto Rico Compared

Mr. Beat compares and contrasts the two American territories which are brought up the most as the potential 51st state.

Produced by Matt Beat. All images and video by Matt Beat, used under fair use guidelines, or found in the public domain. Written by Will Fox and Matt Beat. Additional animations by Adam Christians. Music by Quincas Moreira, Jimmy Fontanez, and Geographer.

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#puertorico #districtofcolumbia #geography
DC and Puerto Rico. The 51st state and the 51st state. Wait.

No. Neither DC nor Puerto Rico are the 51st state of these United States. But folks have floated both as potential additions, receiving celebrations from Civil Rights advocates, and boos from graphic design artists.

Puerto Rico got a lot of attention during the arrival and aftermath of Hurricane Maria in 2017. The handling of the disaster and rebuilding was seen as a national scandal. Generally, Puerto Rico tends to only make the news when there are presidential primaries, or when the issue of statehood comes up.

DC, on the other hand, is in a constant state of national attention, especially with all the media outlets there. The National Cathedral is often shown for funerals of notable political figures, and the monuments appear in an endless number of shows and movies. Outside of the National Mall is also a vibrant city, which is generally ignored in popular imagination.

Speaking of under-appreciated in the popular imagination, Puerto Rico is a gem often overlooked by Americans. Perhaps the reason why Washingtonians and Puerto Ricans are often overlooked? Well, they can’t vote…at least in federal elections anyway. But that could change soon IF
Both become states.

0:00 Introduction
0:48 Sponsor
2:00 Similarities
4:20 Differences

[iammrbeat]

Which has a better path to statehood? Puerto Rico or D.C.?

[alittlepuertoricanboy]

Fun fact: Puerto Rico was originally named "San Juan Bautista" when Spanish colonization began. The name was eventually changed to "Puerto Rico", since it became a merchant and military port for the Spanish Empire, and the capital was called "San Juan".

Also, more than 50% of ALL Puerto Ricans have Taino ancestry of some degree, but we're still overwhelmingly more Spanish or African in ancestry.

[sambolino]

My trips to Washington DC as a child will never be forgotten. I think all school-age children in America should go there at least once. The National Gallery, the Air and Space Museum, and the rest of the Smithsonian were highlights, along with the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials. I have also spent time in Puerto Rico, namely San Juan, Vieques, and Culebra, and I wish I could go back; it's stunningly beautiful.

[joelito]

As a Puerto Rican I have to say I really liked this video. In my opinion DC is going to become a state first because we are really divided in what’s status we prefer. The minimum wage here is $8.50 not $8.20. Also a Fun Fact the Montreal Expos now know as the Washington Nationals played a couple of home games in San Juan and even considered moving here permanently. Anyways great video Mr Beat 💪🏻

[bradleynoneofyourbizz]

The fact that the 580, 000 people in Wyoming get two votes in the US Senate whereas the 700, 000 living in DC get zero is just insane.

[yarielrobles]

To add to the information about Puerto Rico's education: although only about a quarter of our population has a bachelor's or higher, it's important to note why that is. Puerto Ricans that have any form of university education and/or proficiency in the English language are dramatically more likely to leave for the mainland, which exacerbates the already crippling diaspora of our population. Because of this, it's very difficult to gather the large support required to improve our education system to be on par with the mainland. In almost any other place on earth, education is an investment in the future, in Puerto Rico, it's an investment in the diaspora that so many hate. Most Puerto Ricans will say they want better education, but anyone without children will at best drag their feet in doing anything about it. This is why Spanish is still so dominant even after being part of the us for over a century, the English speakers leave at disproportionate rates, so the spanish speakers will always be dominant. This has gotten to the point where we are severely lacking in certain medical specialists, sometimes having less doctors of a particular field than we have fingers in a hand. I myself have plans to move to Pennsylvania, and the vast majority of my English speaking friends have expressed interest in either leaving for the mainland or to a new country entirely.

[FredoRockwell]

Personally, I'm in favour of both DC and PR getting statehood if they want it. I can't honestly think of a valid reason to deny it. Sure, it would upset the balance of power in the Senate, but deciding who gets to be a state based on trying to keep the Senate balanced seems like a totally cynical way to do politics. Great video!

[angel_epv]

Puerto Rico is a gem indeed 😊 Thank you for (yet another) amazing, comprehensive, and soundly researched video; and thank you for keeping Puerto Rico among your channel's topics. I feel appreciated and seen.

[teego]

I'm glad you mentioned that we are split on statehood, most americans assume that support for statehood is as popular as it is in DC, when in reality it's a super polarizing issue.

[CaribbeanHistory]

Hello Mr. Beat, fellow historian and history teacher from PR here:

A few notes:

The origin of Puerto Rico is from Juan Ponce de León, our first governor and referred to just the capital city as Ciudad de Puerto Rico because Columbus had named the entire island San Juan. They switched the names in the early 19th century.

60% of people here can trace their ancestors to the taino

$8.50 is the minimum

If you work in certain agencies and work groups, you do have to pay federal taxes

Puerto Rico’s traffic is horrible especially on routes 30, 22, 52 and 26 (which all coincidently are in the metro area). Once a 45 min drive from work to home took me 3hr 30min one time

If you ever visit the island, I can gladly give you a tour, especially in the Old San Juan area

[pikespice]

When you mentioned it would take 3 hours to drive across Puerto Rico, I immediately went "DC would be about the same".

[thatrandomnoob]

My Great Grandma was born in Puerto Rico on March 2, 1917, the day the residents gained citizenship. She is likely one of the first babies born being given citizenship on birth. I have much pride in my Puerto Rican Heritage and have 1% of native Puerto Rican in my blood. I often go back and forth on statehood but due to the economy being so linked to the mainland that statehood would benefit the island

[SayuriSRC]

Dang, what a great comparison video! As a Puerto Rican and former decade-plus long resident of DC, this made me so happy to see! It's my personal hope that DC especially will become a state one day.

[itzawildgamer]

You should compare Puerto Rico and Hawaii that would be very interesting

[SiVlog]

I saw a Vox video from 2020 about DC residents' desire for statehood. In it, they mentioned the taxation situation in the District and showed that the licence plates of the cars in the District dust off the old rallying cry "No taxation without representation, "

Although the areas of the District that aren't Federal Buildings (the ~66 Square Miles surrounding the Federal Buildings and the areas owned by the Federal government) are unlikely to become a state on their own, much like Puerto Rico, the video does talk about some of the reasons why they want statehood.

For example, they talk about how the Federal government overrules the local government of DC with regards to what they want to do (while DC normally gets treated like a state in many matters, like Electoral College votes etc, when Congress was passing relief packages for States during the height of the first stage of the Covid-19 pandemic, DC received the equivalent to that of a US territory, less than half that of a state and even the DC Mayor was vocally less than impressed with this). Another raw spot for them was how the National Guard cleared the streets before Donald Trump posed for a photo with a Bible in front of the Lafayette Church, such action would be illegal in every state, but not DC

[PremierCCGuyMMXVI]

I personally think we should make both states. As well as giving other over seas territories some form of representation. But if we make PR a state, I think the US Virgin Islands should join up with it

[shadyxv]

Didn’t know other Puerto Ricans watched MrBeat, was pleasantly surprised! Hi from Bayamon :)

[evielhernandez]

Thanks for talking about Puerto Rico. A clarification, we only have the American citizenship. Puerto Rican citizenship doesn’t really exist for practical purposes, it is rather a certification issued by the Puerto Rico Department of State to whoever requests it. That identifies the person as coming from and residing in Puerto Rico. But most of us only have american citizenship. For everything else, excellent video Mr. Beat. Greetings from Puerto Rico.

[SeanA]

I think Puerto Rico has a much better chance of becoming a state. It has a large territory and large population. It is also very unique, this justifies itself much more than DC, which could honestly be reverted to Maryland because of how integrated it is with the area. Also, Puerto Rico could be seen as a less partisan addition to congress, since neither of the major parties in PR fully align with Democrats or Republicans. It could be interesting to see

[jodiecarlson]

Mr. Beat, did you notice your little photo bomber in the background?? At 0:50