[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 5 (Thursday, January 8, 2026)]
[House]
[Pages H148-H149]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     RECOGNIZING 20TH ANNUAL CRUCIAN-RICAN TRAMP AND BIG BREAKFAST

  (Ms. PLASKETT asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. PLASKETT. Madam Speaker, I rise to share the unbreakable ties 
between the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, demonstrated this week 
through the Annual Crucian-Rican Tramp and Big Breakfast, a powerful 
reminder that Virgin Islands culture is inseparable from our Latin 
Caribbean heritage.
  Puerto Rican immigrants began coming to the Virgin Islands by the 
thousands in the late 1800s, cutting cane alongside Crucians, whose 
ancestors endured the same cane fields. Families planted roots, 
building communities throughout the island and on St. Thomas. They 
established social clubs and created businesses.
  Spanish became our second language. Our children grew bilingual. Our 
families intertwined. Our kitchens became sacred ground, where callaloo 
met asopao, fungi sat beside mofongo, and johnnycakes shared the table 
with bacalaitos.
  Yet, before the migration to St. Croix were the boats of enslaved 
Crucians, who were fleeing slavery by making the dangerous trip to 
Vieques and Culebra. This isn't fusion. It is family, Caribbean people 
who refused to let colonial borders divide us, who

[[Page H149]]

recognized in each other the same bloodlines and the same determination 
to thrive.
  The Crucian-Rican Tramp celebrates this truth: We are stronger 
together.

                          ____________________