THE FLAG REACHES THE ISLANDS. THE SERVICES SHOULD, TOO.

JUSTICE · RACIAL JUSTICE

Published by Langhorne P. Breedlove

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2026 · 12:52 AM ET

Tags: Racial Justice · U.S. Territories · Public Services · Healthcare · Infrastructure · Self-Determination

Dear fellow American proletariat: A U.S. map that ends at California and Florida has performed a remarkable act of cartographic convenience. It has misplaced millions of people living under American sovereignty and then acted astonished when their hospitals, electrical grids and water systems require federal attention. Geography is not an excuse for administrative amnesia.

Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands are the five permanently inhabited U.S. territories. They have distinct histories, forms of local government, citizenship rules and relationships with federal law. Equal access to essential public services must respect those differences rather than pretending five islands and archipelagos are one identical jurisdiction (Source 01).

THE MANDATE

American Proletariat proposes territory-specific federal partnerships to guarantee meaningful access to healthcare, public education, reliable electricity, safe drinking water and sanitation, dignified housing, communications, transportation, and climate-disaster preparedness across all five inhabited territories. Each program must be designed with territorial governments and residents, with respect for local institutions, land tenure, culture, self-government and legally protected rights.

This does not mean every territory must copy a mainland state's bureaucracy. It means the measurable level of essential service should be defensible wherever the United States exercises governing responsibility. A patient should not need a different standard of dignity because the hospital sits across an ocean.

The initial legislative package would identify barriers in federal program eligibility, funding formulas and agency implementation, then specify which laws need modification. Territorial leaders must help define the targets, not merely attend a federal announcement after the PowerPoint has already been approved.

FIVE TERRITORIES. FIVE SETS OF CIRCUMSTANCES.

Puerto Rico's large population, mountainous terrain, hurricane exposure and grid-recovery obligations differ from Guam's military footprint and Pacific logistics. The Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa and the U.S. Virgin Islands have still other population scales, utility systems, governance arrangements and economic pressures. The Government Accountability Office's 2025 review found that public debt, economic conditions and capacity to repay obligations varied among the five territories (Source 02).

The legal distinction is also important: people born in Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Northern Mariana Islands generally receive U.S. citizenship under federal law, while those born in American Samoa generally are U.S. nationals rather than citizens at birth unless they have another path to citizenship. American Samoa's communal-land and cultural institutions warrant particular care in any proposal about political status or federal administration (Source 03).

Essential services must not be used as bargaining chips in debates about statehood, independence, free association or other future arrangements. The people affected deserve a meaningful role in deciding their political future, while the government must still account for its existing legal obligations.

HEALTHCARE SHOULD NOT HAVE A TERRITORIAL ASTERISK.

Federal Medicaid financing historically has treated territories differently from states: instead of an open-ended federal match for eligible expenditures, the territories have been subject to statutory funding caps and distinct federal matching rules. Congress has repeatedly adjusted those rules, including temporary and longer-term enhancements (Source 04).

In fiscal 2023, more than 1.7 million people across the five territories were enrolled in Medicaid, according to a 2024 KFF review. That report also documented different matching-rate arrangements and the continuing challenges of physician supply, financial resources and disaster recovery. Funding parity alone would not automatically produce specialists, dialysis centers or medical transportation; capacity must be built alongside financing (Source 05).

AP would examine stable funding formulas, incentives for healthcare workers, interoperable records, emergency supply chains, telehealth where practical, and arrangements for specialty treatment not available on every island. Territorial health institutions should help govern these programs and retain local expertise rather than being reduced to branch offices of Washington.

THE ELECTRICAL GRID DOES NOT ACCEPT EXCUSES.

In June 2026, GAO found that approximately $14 billion was available for Puerto Rico's electricity grid recovery and modernization, yet relatively little had been disbursed and few federally funded projects were complete. The report identified complex reviews, turnover and uncertainty among agencies as obstacles. Announcing billions and delivering electricity are two entirely different achievements (Source 06).

The Department of Energy has a Territory and Recovery Assistance Program addressing reliability, energy affordability and resilience in all five territories, including coordination with local governments and utilities. That provides an existing platform from which to evaluate community priorities, generation diversification, grid hardening and emergency backups (Source 07).

Proposed investments should be assessed on actual service continuity: hours of power available, outage duration, repair time, public-facility backup capacity, fuel costs and locally appropriate renewable or storage options. Imported-fuel dependence is a material concern for island grids, but the appropriate energy mix will differ by geography, engineering and community choice.

WATER, HOMES, SCHOOLS & SURVIVAL

Public services are interconnected. A school without electricity cannot operate reliably. A hospital without potable water becomes a public-health emergency. Housing that cannot withstand foreseeable storms is a costly promise made on borrowed time. Territories need coordinated capital plans rather than competing federal grants that each assume somebody else funded the pipes.

AP would support locally designed investments in drinking-water systems, wastewater treatment, schools, affordable accessible housing, ports and transport, broadband, clinics and emergency shelters. Procurement should be transparent, construction adapted to local conditions, and maintenance funded for the life of the asset.

Residents should have accessible complaint mechanisms, independent inspections, and ways to monitor projects and budgets. Locally owned businesses, qualified workers and apprentices should have fair opportunities to participate without weakening safety, labor or procurement standards.

FIRST, COUNT THE PEOPLE WE KEEP OMITTING.

A 2024 GAO review found that most statistical products examined across the federal statistical agencies omitted at least one U.S. territory. It warned that missing or inconsistent data can make it harder to understand needs and allocate support. You cannot credibly promise equal services while leaving entire jurisdictions out of the spreadsheet (Source 08).

The federal government should publish comparable, territory-inclusive statistics for health access, school conditions, housing quality, poverty, wages, energy reliability, water safety and emergency recovery, while respecting statistical quality, privacy and the limits of small populations. If data collection is expensive or technically difficult, the government should publish a funded plan to improve it—not quietly erase the rows.

THE LEGAL PATH

Congress would have to review territorial program statutes, appropriations, fiscal rules, eligible entities and the distribution of authority among federal and territorial governments. Agencies including HUD, HHS, Education, Energy, EPA, FEMA and Interior could contribute within their lawful missions. Territory-specific compacts and cooperative agreements may be appropriate where the affected governments support them.

A phased approach would begin with a joint needs-and-rights audit, identify immediate threats to health and safety, publish service targets and project inventories, then finance implementation with transparent milestones. Federal oversight should focus on lawful expenditure and measurable results without turning territorial self-government into a decorative consultation exercise.

Not every territory has the same tax system, entitlement programs, eligibility rules, infrastructure conditions or local fiscal capacity. A legal design that ignores those distinctions risks producing inequity under the banner of equality.

THE TEN-YEAR LEDGER

The ten-year fiscal model must separate healthcare financing, housing construction, repairs to aging infrastructure, water and wastewater capital costs, education, grid modernization, shipping and supply-chain costs, staffing, emergency preparedness, administration and independent audits. It must distinguish new federal spending from existing appropriations or already committed disaster recovery resources.

For each territory, publish starting service levels, specific targets, capital obligations, operating and maintenance costs, local matching capacity, workforce needs and realistic project-completion dates. Federal funding previously announced but not disbursed must not be double-counted as newly available money.

The forecast should assess population change, climate risks, imported material and fuel costs, construction constraints, debt obligations and contingent disaster liabilities. It should include low, central and high scenarios and independent verification. A hospital built for an opening ceremony but not staffed in year four is not a finished healthcare policy.

WHAT COULD GO WRONG?

An overly centralized program can overlook local needs and impose designs unsuited to geography or culture. Project funding can be delayed by fragmented agencies, inexperienced contractors, procurement disputes or political turnover. Expanded entitlements can outpace staffing and infrastructure. Emergency grants can disappear into prolonged construction pipelines.

Conversely, a purely local system without dependable financing or technical assistance may be unable to deliver the standard residents deserve. That is why AP proposes shared accountability: local leadership, transparent federal responsibilities, public procurement, independent auditing, and credible service measurements rather than ceremonial arguments about which government gets the credit.

MEASURING SUCCESS

Measure appointment wait times, essential-service coverage, power reliability, safe-water compliance, school facilities, housing conditions, disaster recovery timelines, local workforce training, project completion against budget, and resident satisfaction. Report territory by territory, not as a misleading single average.

The objective is not to make every island look like an American suburb. It is to ensure that the people living under American jurisdiction can obtain essential services while keeping authority over their own communities and futures.

If the American flag travels across the ocean, public responsibility must not be left behind at the airport.

SOURCES & FURTHER READING

01 · U.S. Government Accountability Office — U.S. Territories: Public Debt and Economic Outlook, 2025 Update (June 30, 2025). https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-25-107560

02 · U.S. Government Accountability Office — U.S. Territories: Public Debt and Economic Outlook, 2025 Update, detailed report. https://files.gao.gov/reports/GAO-25-107560/index.html

03 · U.S. Court of Appeals and territorial citizenship discussion — Tuaua/Fitisemanu legal background and American Samoa's distinctive legal position. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCOURTS-hid-1_21-cv-00226/pdf/USCOURTS-hid-1_21-cv-00226-1.pdf

04 · Congressional Research Service — Legislative History of Medicaid Financing for the Territories (June 22, 2023). https://www.congress.gov/crs_external_products/R/PDF/R47601/R47601.1.pdf

05 · KFF — Recent Changes in Medicaid Financing in Puerto Rico and Other U.S. Territories (October 28, 2024). https://www.kff.org/medicaid/recent-changes-in-medicaid-financing-in-puerto-rico-and-other-u-s-territories/

06 · U.S. Government Accountability Office — Puerto Rico Grid Recovery: Limited Progress Toward Stability (June 2, 2026). https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-26-107772

07 · U.S. Department of Energy — Territory Recovery & Assistance. https://www.energy.gov/oe/territory-recovery-assistance

08 · U.S. Government Accountability Office — U.S. Territories: Coordinated Federal Approach Needed to Better Address Data Gaps (June 13, 2024). https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-24-107605

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WE ARE ONE.  ·  E PLURIBUS UNUM.