Puerto Rico (Ava)
Ava, here. I asked Trina if I could fill in because I’m really ticked off.
I keep seeing headlines like CNN “Puerto Rico will be an enduring stain on Trump’s presidency.”
Excuse me. Do most of you read that and nod your heads?
I can’t imagine all of you do. Because I’m sure some of you aren’t xenophobes.
I’m also sure that some of you who don’t get my rage right now don’t get it because the media doesn’t tell the f-ing truth.
My rage?
I don’t care what Donald Trump does in 2017 and 2018 to Puerto Rico.
It could never be as bad as what the US has done to it for decades.
It is a colony. It has no rights. It
is subjugated and it’s long past the time that independence for Puerto
Rico became a reality. The hurricane issue? That’s a speeding ticket
compared to what the US government has done and continues
to do. It’s a speeding ticket compared to a serial killer on a
spree.
I’m not calling for Puerto Rico to be a
state. Clearly the noses in the air don’t believe it’s good enough for
statehood. Nor should it want to be after the way the US has treated
it. I am calling for independence. And I’m not the only
one making that call.
If you are new to this issue – again,
that’s not your fault, the media does a lousy job – here’s a pretty centrist view from priss-pot Jon Lee Anderson’s NEW YORKER article:
In Utuado, a rural community in the epicenter of the island and the site of some of Maria’s worst ravages, I spoke with a local man, Pedro J. López, who had lost his home in a mudslide caused by the hurricane. He was busy trying to put his family’s life back together—he had two daughters and a diabetic wife—and he made it plain that he was doing so with pride, and was not waiting for any handouts. But he also told me that he had heard about Trump’s visit, and he wondered aloud whether the American President expected Puerto Ricans to use those paper towels to wipe “our asses or our tears?”
Puerto Rico’s relationship with the United States is an unequal one, and it has over the years brought about many humiliations for Puerto Ricans—who are U.S. citizens but who cannot vote for President if they live on the island, and have limited representation in Congress. Yet in modern times, most American Presidents have taken pains to be respectful of the island and its status. Not so with Trump. San Juan’s outspoken mayor, Carmen Yulín Cruz, who repeatedly tangled with the President on Twitter and through the media in the immediate aftermath of the storm, told me that he was “a man with a big mouth” who “lacked empathy.” But she hoped that the political fallout from Hurricane Maria would provide an opportunity to finally redefine Puerto Rico’s relationship with the United States, which, she said, “needs to be dignified. It has to change.”
It’s time for independence.
Jon Lee Anderson a priss pot? I spoke
with him once – he is prissy – and complimented him about an article
and he stood there denying it. I went over to C.I. who was also at the
gathering and asked, “Am I crazy?” No. She said he did
the same thing with the “night letter” when he was on Laura Flanders
radio show. He had written about the night letter and it’s effects and
Laura had asked him about it and he had asked her what she was talking
about. Priss pot has no idea what he has typed.
Back to Puerto Rico, don’t buy into
the hype. The real issue is independence and any American who says
“poor Puerto Rico” about the hurricane and the deaths that resulted but
says nothing about the need for independence.
Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"