I know it’s hard to believe this, and some of you may think I’m making this up, but Puerto Ricans are as American as you and I are (except that they don’t have meaningful representation in Congress, but I’m not going to pretend that you care about that, anyway).
I need you to look at these pictures, and understand how massively devastated Puerto Rico is right now (for example: imagine how you’d feel if the power was out in the entire state of Hawaii, or the entire city of – hey, I’ll let you pick any city in America that isn’t New York or Los Angeles).
Remember how we came together as a nation after Katrina, and we all chipped in to help the Gulf Coast recover? Remember how furious we were at George W. Bush’s incompetence and indifference to the suffering in the Superdome? Remember how we all mobilized to help our fellow Americans, because that’s what we do?
Well, we need to do that right now, White America. I know they mostly speak a different language and that they don’t have white skin like we do, but they aren’t just our fellow humans (which should be enough, but I know it isn’t because I know you, White America). The people who are suffering in Puerto Rico right now are our fellow American Citizens.
Look at all of these states that have a smaller population than Puerto Rico:
Imagine that any one of those states (or more, if you want to do the math) were destroyed by a natural disaster. They have no power. They have no clean water. They have no cell or internet service. It’s hot as hell and they have no air conditioning.
Try your best, White America, to imagine it, and reach into your heart to find the same empathy and concern and resolve to help the people of Puerto Rico, because our shitty “president” is too busy having a tantrum about athletes protesting police brutality (when he isn’t praising a Turkish dictator whose bodyguards keep beating up our fellow citizens) to do anything about it.
Thanks for listening, White America. We have a lot more to talk about.
