Maria made landfall on Puerto Rico on Sept. 21. In its wake, the entire electrical grid was disabled and water service was cut-off to 75 percent of the island. Widespread flooding and/or wind-blown debris disrupted access to towns and cities throughout the island. Cell towers were knocked-down and communication on the island is severely disabled. Hundreds of people crowd the San Juan airport, where temperatures soar above 100 degrees, in hopes of securing a seat on an outbound airplane to relative safety. Of over 60 hospitals on the island, only 11 are operational. Others lack the electrical power necessary to provide adequate services. People line-up before dawn to get the limited supplies of ice to preserve their food and fuel to power generators and other machinery. Yet, it has taken #45 seven days to relieve Puerto Rico from the Jones Act and eight days to direct enhanced support from the US military.
Lieutenant Gen. Russell Honore, who directed Katrina relief and recovery, has publicly criticized current relief efforts. It did not take General Honore to address the fact that the US military was the only single entity with the personnel resourced and trained to manage a catastrophe of this magnitude. He compares the 60,000 active duty and reserve soldiers assigned to the Katrina response to the inadequacy of the 5,000 assigned to relieve Puerto Rico.
For over a week, broadcasters have suggested that it was not widely known that Puerto Ricans were Americans, too. That may be true, but I add that they are mostly Americans of color and speakers of the Spanish language. History has proven a standard of disparate treatment for persons so situated.
Considering the lack-luster response of #45’s administration to the tragedy in Puerto Rico, it is easy to draw parallels between Nero and #45. In the midst of suffering, #45 has belatedly cast a blind eye on the needs of our island kin. We must not continue to accept or tolerate his neglect.
(Dr. E. Faye Williams, national president of the National Congress of Black Women, Inc. www.nationalcongressbw.org 202/678-6788)
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