Trump Doesn’t Care About Brown People
President Donald Trump has made his sentiments about Latinos and immigration very public through a spree of comments during his run for presidency. He publicly and proudly has made claims such as, “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending the best. They’re sending people that have lots of problems and they’re bringing those problems. They’re bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime. They’re rapists and some, I assume, are good people, but I speak to border guards and they’re telling us what we’re getting.”
Once in office he implemented these sentiments by ending the Deferred Actions for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and enforcing “zero tolerance” at the border. Trump holds that he isn’t anti-Latino, but instead against illegal immigration; yet, his treatment of legal Latinos that reside in US territories do not hold up with this claim.
Puerto Rico and Hurricane Maria
Puerto Ricans are given American citizenship from birth because Puerto Rico is an “unincorporated territory,” and has been controlled by the U.S. Government since 1898, after defeating Spain in the Spanish-American War.
Between August 17th and October 2nd of 2017, three major Atlantic hurricanes took place and severely affected US territories and states. Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria occurred back to back and reached devastatingly high speeds.
Harvey: Category 4 (highest wind speed 130 mph)
Irma: Category 5 (highest wind speed 185 mph)
Maria: Category 5 (highest wind speed 175 mph)
and for comparison…
Katrina: Category 5 (highest wind speed 174 mph)
When data came in regarding fatalities, the numbers seemed to be consistent and fell in similar ranges.
Maria: 112
In October, Trump compared the number of fatalities with those of Katrina when numbers for Maria were still fluctuating.
At the time there were only 16 confirmed deaths in comparison to Katrina’s 1,833. President Trump took the low numbers at the time and credited it to the work he had done, but the following months would prove he overestimated his hand in Puerto Rico’s disaster relief and underestimated the truly devastating death toll.
In December of 2017, the reported numbers completely surpassed the original death toll when 1,052 became the new estimate. The horror of the number revealed hurricane Maria was not on the same level as Irma and Harvey despite the fact that they occurred around the same time and had similar wind speeds.
Now nearly 8 months later, the number of fatalities continues to grow. The newest estimate reported this week raises the death toll to at least 4,645. The distressing number of lives lost emerges new questions about the relief efforts in Puerto Rico compared to Texas and Florida.
Hurricanes and Aid
Puerto Rico has their own Latin culture that derives from Spanish colonization. Unlike Florida and Texas, Puerto Rico is a territory and not a state. Yet as a US territory, all Puerto Ricans are given US citizenship and therefore the responsibility of the US government just as any other American citizens.
In the wake of hurricane Maria, comments surrounding Puerto Rico’s already weakened infrastructure and bankrupt government were put up and center instead of the tragedy itself.
Being one of the many to disregard the turmoil the victims felt, Trump turned his attention to Puerto Rico’s government, which didn’t sit well with many members of the Puerto Rican community.
Jenniffer González-Colón is Puerto Rico’s nonvoting representative in congress. Despite being a Republican who endorsed Trump, Jenniffer found his comments shocking and saw them as a way of victim blaming Puerto Rico.
Trump arrived at Florida and Texas four days after both hurricanes Irma and Harvey hit; while, it took 13 days to arrive to Puerto Rico after hurricane Maria.
The relief efforts varied, but statistics from the first nine days after the storms revealed how Puerto Rico’s aid fell behind in several categories compared to Texas and Florida.
Supplies Delivered Nine Days After Each Storm
Meals
Harvey: 5.1 Million
Irma: 10.9 Million
Maria: 1.6 Million
Water (liters)
Harvey: 4.5 Million
Irma: 7 Million
Maria: 2.8 Million
Tarps
Harvey: 20,000
Irma: 98,000
Maria: 5,000
In every category, Puerto Rico received the least aid. FEMA’s incompetence led to mishandling back in 2005 when Katrina hit Louisiana. It was no secret that the relief efforts were just as catastrophic as the hurricane itself. The White house has defended FEMA and has stated that FEMA did the best they could to provide assistance during 2017’s hurricane season. Yet the lack of aid in at least one of these categories leads back to misjudgments on FEMA’s behalf. Puerto Rico lacked meals due to a contract that shouldn’t have gone through in the first place.
“To deliver 30 million meals, the agency contracted with an Atlanta-based wedding caterer with no experience in emergency management. By the time the company’s contract was terminated, it had delivered just 50,000 of those meals.”
Federal Workforce
Personnel deployed nine days after each storm
Harvey: 30,000
Irma: 22,000
Maria: 10,000
Not only did Puerto Rico receive the least federal works, but also the least qualified as many were trainees because qualified workers were already deployed in Texas and Florida.
Housing Assistance
Average amount awarded per household
Harvey: 6,980
Irma: 1,290
Maria: 2,974
Hurricane Maria caused Puerto Rico to lose over one third of its homes. The numbers were by far the worst out of the three, yet they received far less than Texas.
Slow Violence
In the cases of hurricanes Katrina and Maria, the governments reaction to natural disasters left people in need and minimized the struggles of poorer, ethnic groups.
How and where slow violence occurs varies, but ultimately the victims are always those at the bottom the capitalist pyramid. The bottom is disregarded despite being the majority.
Some may believe slow violence resides in only war stricken countries or places outside the US, but in fact even America’s own citizslwoens are victims of corporate greed.
Global warming is real and has led to other tragedies such as the severe drought currently happening in Cape Town.
But the current string of devastating hurricanes can be tied back to the rising seas levels,hot water, and hot air that result from global warming. Despite being portrayed as a hoax by many (including president Trump), the affects are visible both outside the country and close to home.
Capitalist leaders benefit from slow violence and the tragedies that come full force as a result. The disregard for human life applies to tragedies that occur in US territory just like any other affected countries across the pond.
Trumps comments about Puerto Rico's impoverish state pre-hurricane is an example of the lack of concern for those at the bottom. A type of slow violence, global warming, caused the hurricanes intensity: not the impoverished standing of the country.
