Where is the national outrage?
More than a year has passed since back-to-back Hurricanes Irma and Maria devastated Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, killing thousands of people—not on direct impact, but in the days and months of neglect from their government and their “president,” aka Donald Trump, that followed.
The situation remains grave for the survivors. Contrary to much of the published mainstream media reportage, not everyone has power, more than 60,000 people are living under leaky tarps, schools have closed, there is a mental health crisis, and we are in the middle of hurricane season 2018. New storms form each week and people who live in the Caribbean live with the daily anxiety of weather watching.
xPuerto Rico's recovery, one year after Hurricane Maria: roofless homes, closed schools, an island left to fend for itself https://t.co/u3UiOAIKl9 #ForgottenIsland @chefjoseandres pic.twitter.com/ddDHowHMeK
— Miami Herald (@MiamiHerald) September 25, 2018This is a powerful read from the Miami Herald titled “Puerto Rico recovery: roofless homes, closed schools, an island left to fend for itself”:
Stability of any kind — economic, political, demographic, in daily life — remains a scarce commodity in Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory of 3.3 million people who are American citizens by birth, and also survivors of one of the most devastating natural disasters in U.S. history.
Nearly every one of them lives today with some portion of the emotional and physical trauma that accompanied the storm’s far-reaching devastation and its grueling aftermath: the weeks and months without power, reliable healthcare, basic government services or many of the conveniences and safeguards of modern life to which they were accustomed.
For many, it’s far from over.
Where is the mass outrage?
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