Being a New Yorker, and one who worked in the South Bronx for fifteen years, off and on, I have an appreciation for Puerto Rican people and their culture. Being U.S. citizens, the Puerto Rican population of New York city, Nuyoricans, often have jobs as civil servants- cops, firefighters, state and local clerical workers. Puerto Ricans have a long history of serving in the US military- they are good people, good neighbors, and good Americans.
It's heartbreaking to see Puerto Rico devastated by hurricane Maria after having been hit by hurricane Irma just days before. To compound matters, the government of Puerto Rico has labored under a debt burden for too long with no relief in sight.
At least FEMA seems to be on the ground, though Trump has been spending his day picking fights with football players. Knowing the close relationship between New York and Puerto Rico, our governor Cuomo traveled to the stricken island with needed supplies and a cadre of aid workers. At least one of our local papers has been vociferous about Puerto Rico's need for aid.
I've been reading up on which charities to donate to, and I think I will choose Voices for Puerto Rico, as they don't have a 'faith-based' agenda.
Here's a video of Ponce, Puerto Rico-born Eddie Palmieri and his band playing a love song to the island:
To all of my Puerto Rican friends, tuvieron mal suerte, tiene que estarán fuerte... y no se olvidáramos.
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2 comments:
Meh. What Trump does or doesn't do at this point doesn't matter. The agencies and institutions will deliver the resources available to them at the rate and capacity they are capable of. If the government provides the resources, and the agencies have the personnel and logistics necessary to process them, they will get the job done.
This was a HUGE disaster. Sometimes it's just not about government at all - sometimes it's just really HARD to fix it...
A competent administration would have mobilized naval assets before the hurricane hit land.
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