Puerto Rico and Hurricane Maria: Ain’t I a U.S. Citizen!

‘Viva Puerto Rico Libre!’

These were the defiant words of Lolita Lebron in 1954 as she fired off rounds from her Luger gun in the halls of Congress. The group of four Puerto Rican nationalists voiced the demands of the independence movement. They wanted an end to colonialism and repression by the U.S. government. This revolutionary act has long faded from the nation’s consciousness and the mainstream media’s spotlight. Depending on the eye of the beholder, Puerto Rico is seen as a tourist attraction or military base.

It seems like the only people talking about Puerto Rico’s future after the devastation of Hurricane Maria are Puerto Ricans or those who know a Puerto Rican. Puerto Ricans raised the same rallying cry at those in Nawlins in the face of racist government indifference after Hurricane Katrina: Ain’t I a U.S. Citizen!

According to one poll, nearly half of Americans don’t know that the Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens. They don’t even know that the little country of 3.5 million residents has been a U.S. colony since 1898 with its indigenous people forced to become U.S. citizens in 1917. I say “forced” because since that fateful day, Puerto Ricans have been fighting for independence and against the colonial domination of the U.S. government. This history of this colonization and the Puerto Rican people’s proud and protracted struggle to their oppression is complicated and worth the research.

We’re now two months out from Hurricane Maria hitting the island with all of her might and fury. Most of the country is still without power and all the problems that come with it. There’s limited access to fresh water, making residents vulnerable to disease and additional suffering. To the Black and Brown people who claim the island as home, being treated like second-class citizens didn’t just happen with Hurricane Maria. Did I mention that Puerto Ricans can serve in the U.S. military but don’t have full voting rights?

The trump administration’s response to the catastrophe has been criminally negligent but predictable. When San Juan’s mayor criticized the slow and apathetic relief efforts, the inept president accused her of “poor leadership” and went so far as to claim that the hard-working people were not helping themselves.

In fact, the country has been besieged with carpetbaggers salivating over no-bid government contracts, super-exploiting the already dire situation. Like the $300 million no-bid contract to Whitefish Energy to rebuild the island’s power grid with two full time employees.

There are about five million Puerto Ricans living in the U.S. with the highest population outside the island in the states of New York and Florida. The sizable P.R. population in the U.S. have been deeply impacted by the suffering of their loved ones back home. They are amplifying the voices of pain from the island.

The people of Puerto Rico – as hard-working as they are – cannot make a full recovery without major assistance from the outside world. Individuals such as long-time organizer Rosa Clemente or Lin-Manuel Miranda of Hamilton fame are using their position and voice to raise awareness about the pressing needs of their homeland.

The rest of us non-Puerto Rican, freedom-loving, justice-seeking people have a responsibility too. We must fire up the trump administration to get serious resources to Puerto Rico and to work with P.R. officials to develop a long-term reconstruction plan.

Simultaneously, we must also support the independence movement in Puerto Rico whatever form that self-determination takes. For the U.S. government, propelled by our tax dollars, to still be a colonizer in 2017 is unconscionable.