“Last Week: Tonight” host John Oliver reached deep into the historical record on Sunday to expose how millions of Americans living in the U.S. territories are denied voting rights.
Oliver pointed out that citizens living in U.S. territories such as Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, the Northern Marianas, and American Samoa do not get to vote for President or enjoy standard representation in Congress.
He called it “the kind of unsettling fact that deep down you probably knew, but chose not to think about.”
“Like the fact that the dog from ‘Full House’ is definitely dead by now,” he said as the audience moaned. “You’re proving my point,” he said to them.
Getting serious, Oliver pointed out that over 4 million people live in the U.S. territories, an overwhelming majority of them minorities.
But since the U.S. acquired the territories, it has denied the populations voting rights. Oliver showed that the arrangement was long ago justified by a ruling by the Supreme Court.
In a decision in the early 20th century, the Court ruled that “alien races” could not understand “Anglo-Saxon principles” and would not enjoy certain rights guaranteed by the Constitution.
What’s more, Oliver said that these exceptions to the Constitution were only supposed to apply temporarily.
“It’s like for over a century, America’s computer is saying, ‘an update to your country is available,’ and we’ve been clicking ‘remind me later’ again and again and again,” the host said.
Watch the clip, courtesy of HBO:
