It’s no secret that Puerto Rico has been going through it. It took a few hits from tropical storms like Hurricane Harvey, Hurricane Irma, and Hurricane Maria. However, Hurricane Maria most definitely had the hardest punch. On Wednesday, September 20th, Maria left the entire territory in shambles after making its way around the island. People were left without gas, food, and power. Seeing Puerto Rico in this apocalyptic state for over a week begs the question: What is taking so long to provide relieve?
Many people were concerned about Trump’s empathy for victims of Hurricane Maria’s wrath due to Trump’s unfamiliar silence. On September 25th, Trump finally broke his silence regarding the impact of Maria on Puerto Rico and tweeted: “Texas & Florida are doing great but Puerto Rico, which was already suffering from broken infrastructure & massive debt, is in deep trouble..” Although the tweet was not comforting and rather passive-aggressive, it did indeed draw attention to this growing problem for American citizens.
Despite the fact that Trump has tweeted more about the NFL than he has the devastation in Puerto Rico, he did, in fact, overturn the Jones Act, allowing other countries to help Puerto Rican citizens. Being that Puerto Rico is a territory of the United States, these citizens deserve all the federal aid they can get.
On the bright side, humanity strikes again! Celebrities are reaching out to people with aspirations of raising money to help those in need. To name a few, Jennifer Lopez has donated one million dollars of her own money, Pitbull sent a private plane transfer cancer patients from the Puerto Rico to the U.S. to continue treatment, and Carmelo and Lala Anthony have raised over $210,000 so far as they raise awareness and continue to encourage people to donate. Although there has been a massive amount of destruction, it is great to see so many people come together to help.
Would you like to be apart of the relief? You can donate at: www.youcaring.com/puertorico-956698