Normally when we think of “nine months,” it’s a period of pregnancy that ends in the celebration of the joyous birth of a child. But that’s not so when it comes to #TrumpsKatrina in Puerto Rico. It has been nine hard months for the island’s people and they now face the hurricane season ahead, still suffering from the living ghost of nine months past.
There is mourning. There is frustration. There is anger. And yet there is an amazing will to survive and move forward, best captured in the word “Pa’lante,” which is a shortened version of the phrase “para adelante”: forward.
I was very moved when Hurray for the Riff Raff produced and debuted Pa’lante (you can watch the music video below).
The lyrics at the end had special meaning for me. There are references to many histories, especially to poet Julia de Burgos and Sylvia Rivera, who was a community worker with the Young Lords).
From el barrio to Arecibo, ¡Pa’lante!
From Marble Hill to the ghost of Emmett Till, ¡Pa’lante!
To Juan, Miguel, Milagros, Manuel, ¡Pa’lante!
To all who came before, we say, ¡Pa’lante!
To my mother and my father, I say, ¡Pa’lante!
To Julia, and Sylvia, ¡Pa’lante!
To all who had to hide, I say, ¡Pa’lante!
To all who lost their pride, I say, ¡Pa’lante!
To all who had to survive, I say, ¡Pa’lante!
To my brothers, and my sisters, I say, ¡Pa’lante!
¡Pa’lante!
¡Pa’lante!
To all came before, we say, ¡Pa’lante!
In a review for Sojourners, Christina Colón wrote:
'Pa'lante' Is an Ode to Puerto Rico's Future
For eight sobering minutes, a new Hurray for the Riff Raff music video follows a working-class Puerto Rican family as they try to rebuild physically and emotionally in the wake of Hurricane Maria. Filmed on the island and starring The Florida Project’s Mela Murder, the video — a vibrant backdrop to the band’s new song “Pa’lante,” sung by Riff Raff’s Nuyorican lead singer Alynda Segarra — captures in brilliant colors the pain and strength of the Puerto Rican people.
The video opens with a woman carrying her baby past rows of boarded houses and scrap heaps to the water's edge. As she looks out, the camera jumps to New York City, where a man is working odd jobs, carrying mattresses and packaging chicken. Their separation is an acknowledgement of the thousands who have fled the island, in what the media has called a mass “exodus.” From cooking to washing hair, the couples’ daily routines set against a backdrop of distress serve as an ode to life after trauma.
“Pa’lante,” a contraction of “para adelante,” is a Spanish affirmation meaning “forward.” In the 1960s, it served as the title of the newspaper produced by the historic Puerto Rican civil rights activist group the Young Lords. The group makes an appearance in the video, black and white footage of their protests flickering in and out as stanzas from Pedro Pietri’s poem, “Puerto Rican Obituary,” are read.
“Pa’lante is a very Puerto Rican mindset,” Kristian Mercado Figueroa, who directed the music video, said. “Be it a family struggling to stay together, or recovering from the hurricane, the Puerto Rican people are strong and they will always stand and move forward.”
As mentioned, Palante was the name we took for our Young Lords Party newspaper back in the late ‘60s, and one of our slogans was “Pa’lante, Siempre Pa’lante (forward, always forward).
Pedro Pietri’s “Puerto Rican Obituary” became our official poem.
The spirit of resilience was expressed here at Daily Kos this week by Bobby Neary:
We are rising,
cresting,
crashing onto the shores
of our nation’s conscience
with the combined force
of all who have sacrificed before us.
We were not defeated by a hurricane,
we are the hurricane
….
Nine months after the storm,
a new battle begins
with each new day,
no matter the destruction around us.
We simply cannot allow injustice
to infest and fester,
to shame and corrupt.
This moment in time
will forever be remembered,
the course of history changed.
In 200 years they will not remember our names,
they will remember our actions.
So we rise
because we must.
We dust ourselves off
because we must.
We will never be defeated
because we are Borinquen.
In spite of Trump and FEMA lies and mainland media neglect, the people—la gente, los Borinqueños,—of the island and their families here on the mainland are going to thrive, like they have been doing since the first invasion of the Spaniards on the magical isle of Borikén.
A nation of people descended through their mothers from South and Central American indigenous navigators who became the Taino. They are cousins in spirit and ancestry to those who are now being denied refuge at our borders, and they are cousins via the brutal African slave trade to those black folks living on the mainland under the white supremacy of Republicans.
Is there any question about why a man who spews endless filth against Spanish-speaking refugees attempting to find safe haven on our soil decided to allow Puerto Ricans to die?
Political cartoonists like Steve Breen are linking both events, using the paper towels that Trump cavalierly lobbed at Puerto Ricans to dry the tears of kids in cages.
As we have now hit the nine-month mark, it is time to take stock and see where we are, and what can we still do to help Puerto Rico in the days, months, and years ahead.
Where things stand now:
The list of things going wrong on the island is a long one. It includes school closings, the sale of the island’s energy company, laws which would restrict and eliminate certain labor rights, and a budget debacle backed by the U.S. Fiscal Control Board (the Junta) and the governor. The budget is meeting opposition in the Puerto Rican legislature, even from members of Rosselló’s ruling party.
The island’s political divisions won’t be put to the ballot test until 2020. However, the Puerto Rico Senate’s recent unanimous decision to denounce Donald Trump was probably the first time that all three parties have agreed in recent history.
Since we cannot force Donald Trump and FEMA or the Junta and Gov. Rosselló to do what needs to be done, your aid and assistance is still sorely needed.
There are still entire communities without light and clean water.
This unlikely partnership is addressing the water situation, and they are trying to reach a new goal by October.
...the AFT has raised almost $2 million to ship close to 80,000 water filters to Puerto Rico. The filters allowed public schools to open across the island last fall and have provided reliably clean drinking water for an estimated 389,134 people. And Operation Agua plans to meet its goal. It has targeted early October to finish distributing its initial goal of 100,000 filters.
Here's why it matters: contaminated drinking water is a long-time problem in Puerto Rico. Before Maria, poor management combined with geography issues led to a water supply in frequent violation of federal standards. After Maria, power outages virtually prevented water treatment, making it easy for Puerto Ricans to get sick from drinking their own water.
Fernando Silva, director of the Institute of Sciences for Conservation in Puerto Rico, has seen it happen. Speaking to CBN News during an Operation Agua distribution event in the town of Salinas he explained, "if they don't have access to drinking water – safe sources of water – they will get infected with bacteria which was the case here and in many of the communities on the coastal areas.
Thanks to Operation Agua's filters, tens of thousands of Puerto Ricans have safe drinking water in their homes or schools. And thanks to Operation Blessing and the AFT there's a new reason to believe that people can put aside their differences for the sake of a greater good.
Support Operation Agua
Maternal health care is still a problem, and given all the recent furor over the proposed slashing of the budget for community health centers, a good place to give would be to Circle of Health International’s Hurricane Maria Women's Health Response
Most important, of course, is voting Republicans out of office and ensuring that Democrats don’t drop the ball on Puerto Rico once we elect them. The 5 million mainland Puerto Ricans need strong white, black, other Latino, Asian, and Native American allies.
Allyship is key. That means doing a bit of homework, and learning more about Puerto Rican history, culture, and, most importantly, the politics of both Puerto Rico and the U.S. governments control of the island. Too many well-meaning people have weighed in here in the past, proclaiming things like “Puerto Rico should become a part of Cuba, or Canada ...” or “the only solution for Puerto Rico is statehood.” That’s not helpful, given the unlikely possibility of Congress taking that decision anytime in the foreseeable future, and the disagreements between statehoodists and populares on the island. It’s better to focus on things that can actually be done, like changing or eliminating the Jones Act (the U.S. Virgin Islands are exempt) and increasing the amount of money Puerto Rico receives as reimbursement for health care from the Feds, which is currently far less than the percentage granted to states. Puerto Rico pays more into federal coffers than it is getting back.
Debunk the myths, like:
“Puerto Rico does not pay federal taxes”: Before 2006, Puerto Rico paid more federal taxes than Vermont, Wyoming, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana and Alaska. In fact, from 1998 to 2016, Puerto Rico has paid approximately $74.4 billion in federal taxes (without adjusting for inflation). Vermont paid $66.7 billion in the same period.
The effects of underfunding and FEMA mismanagement of disaster relief can be seen in the large death toll. Democrats have called for an investigation, and if and when that happens, corrective measures and money need to be locked in for both current recovery and future hurricanes.
If you live in a district where Democrats are running for national office, be sure to ask them what their positions are on Puerto Rico. The future of Puerto Rico should not just be a concern of senators and congresspeople who are members of the Hispanic Caucus, or elected officials from states that have large Puerto Rican populations like New York, Florida, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Connecticut, California, and Illinois.
This may piss some folks off, but imply repeating cries of “disaster or vulture capitalism” isn’t a solution, either. First: the island has been exploited by the U.S since the annexation in 1898, by mainland interests and colonial elites. The gated communities of the rich, guarded by private armed security, and the luxury hotels and condos that circle the shoreline have been there for decades and aren’t going anywhere, since part of the economy of PR depends on tourism, like every other Caribbean nation. Those who spend a lot of time talking about fighting capitalism, which is a large part of the left (and I include myself in that cohort), would perhaps serve the needs of Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans better by working on some more pragmatic, immediate, and near future needs. I have to admit to being pretty pissed off at friends, acquaintances, and Puerto Rican Green Party members who ran around in the last election telling young people not to vote for Hillary, because “capitalism”... yadda yadda.
People on the island need potable water, roofs, electricity, health care, jobs, union benefits, public education, lower food costs, and peace of mind.
You can help.
Vote for Democrats.
Pa’lante, Puerto Rico.