Puerto Rico Reflection

When news of Hurricane Maria appeared on television and repeated to me by family I did not expect it to devastate Puerto Rico but simple knock down some palm trees and take out power like previous storms. A majority of my family still live on the island along with my father, who decided to retire and move there for some vacation time. Being that the hurricane came during the school year I was more vigilant with my grades and classes and did not follow the storms severity as it approached the island. Then the Facebook videos started to flood my screen of graphic images of my island stripped of the beautiful green pastures, tall palm trees gone, without power, and people practically swimming in their front yards. My mother called me and asked

if I had gotten in touch with my father or others through the phone because she could not. That was when we learned that there was no service on the island including no power and no clean water. I thought of my father, but I was not worried for his safety because he was a smart man and was always prepared for situations like this. I told my mother that everything would be okay because the President would send relief to the island because they are U.S citizens. Before this storm I believed that the U.S Government would always send large sums of relief to help citizens that were affected by natural disasters even if that meant that they shifted the budget. However, my assumption was proven wrong when I saw how the President responded to the pleas of help and after I read articles on the subject.
One article was Mainland Perceptions toward Puerto Rico & Disaster Relief by Shannon Milligan in which the author spoke about the conditions on the island and how the President’s response correlated to the U.S perception on whether Puerto Ricans are in fact U.S citizens.

While reading the article I came across one piece of information that made me question the governments intentions with the island. Millions of people were without power and due to outstanding bills, the power companies are not repairing the power grid. I found this to be absurd because this island is in a state of crisis therefore I believed that any bills would be funded by the government until the island could repay it. In addition, Trump made the storm seem like a category one by comparing it to Hurricane Katrina and therefore made the decision that the government could not keep FEMA on the island. One important question asked by Milligan was why Puerto Rico is being treated differently than other locations in the U.S that received help from the government. One main factor was that due to the territory status with the U.S Puerto Ricans are not seen as Americans. According to a survey only of Americans surveyed knew that Puerto Ricans were U.S citizens from

birth.
I was always aware of the relationship of Puerto Rico with the U.S and I have heard friends and family discussing whether Puerto Rico should become a state and when natural disasters like this occur it is simple to see that they should become a state. Puerto Rico already pays taxes to the U.S but since they are not a state they are not eligible for needed government aid like disaster relief or even SSI. After reading this article my perception of U.S government has changed because I assumed that they would help their common wealth when it is in need. Now I am aware that without being recognized as a state Puerto Rico will always be inferior and no given the support or equality that all U.S citizens have the right to.