Latinx Organizers Continue to Fight for Puerto Rico
All around the small office, boxes were piled high with canned goods and toiletries. There would have been more than enough food to feed the small crowd gathering outside, dancing to the live music and chattering in both Spanish and English. Still, it was not enough to help the over three million people still struggling to survive in Puerto Rico.
After the island was hit hard by hurricane Irma and again by hurricane Maria, several members of the East Elmhurst community in Queens organized Bomba y Plena for Puerto Rico, a hurricane relief event with music, food and cultural activities.
Together, Irma and Maria have killed an estimated 128 people. More recently, Ricardo A. Rosselló, the governor of Puerto Rico, ordered a review of the deaths caused by hurricane Maria, believing them to be much higher.
Although Irma struck Puerto Rico in early September and Maria in late September, the country is still struggling.
“This isn’t even half of what they need over there,” said Shamaya Morris, a Queens-based community organizer, referring to the donations. “They’re looking at six months to a year of repairs.”
Even the donations that make it to the island do not always make it to the right people. Trucks carrying supplies have been unable to make it to the distribution centers. Sometimes, no one knows what happened to them or where to find the supplies.
The supplies that do manage to get to the appropriate places are often not enough. Each day, the Puerto Rican government distributes close to five million meals to long lines of civilians, enough for one or two meals per person, according to the New York Times. Often, people are turned away.
Although much of the conversation has been centered around Donald Trump’s reluctance to help the people of Puerto Rico, Raquel Medina, who is organizing for Puerto Rico in Spain, hopes to keep the conversation on the relief efforts and the survivors. Medina is a New York native with family in Puerto Rico.
“Whether people agree or not with the current administration, we cannot make this disaster about them,” said Medina in an email interview. “Like the mayor of San Juan recently stated in a speech, Puerto Rico is going to come out of this with or without the U.S.’s help.”
Medina’s Puerto Rican family includes her great grandfather, who is 107 and just lost everything he owned. He is one of many.
Because Puerto Ricans make up one of the largest Latinx groups in the U.S. — second only to Mexican Americans — organizing for this particular cause is personal. In New York alone, Puerto Ricans make up over five percent of the population according to the 2010 U.S. census.
Like Medina, many residents in East Elmhurst have family in Puerto Rico. One such person is Hiram Monserrate, a former state senator who helped organize Bomba y Plena for Puerto Rico in East Elmhurst.
“My cousin’s brother was killed in the storm and I have two uncles that live there,” said Monserrate. “I’ve been in contact with them indirectly. They still don’t have phone service.”
Much of the organizing efforts in the United States have been by Latinx organizers, largely from Puerto Rico or who have family in Puerto Rico. A more famous example is Lin-Manuel Miranda, who released a single in early October called “Almost Like Praying.” The song’s proceeds will go to The Hispanic Federation.
“The majority of organizing efforts for Puerto Rico are being done by Latinx organizations,” said Justice Galvan, who studied political science at St. Olaf College. “However, representing only those efforts in the media might lead to the belief that this is only a Latinx issue, when it should be considered an American issue. It’s more about framing the issue and making a majority of non-Latinx Americans realize they should be doing more.”
Relief efforts in the United States have been slow, but they have been going. In East Elmhurst and all over the United States, firehouses and other community buildings are collecting supplies.
Susan Ayala, who is organizing for Puerto Rico in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, has hope.
“My dad and his brothers organized a donation center as a relief effort for Puerto Rico,” said Ayala. “He just sent a trailer of 60,000 bottles of water to the people of Puerto Rico. We are still continuing to accept donations on behalf of Puerto Rico.”
