One of today’s biggest ironies is that the current occupant of the White House, who has spectacularly failed to handle our longest-running disaster in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, is a New Yorker. But the flip side of that tarnished and bigoted Trumpian coin is the pure gold of New York’s response to Hurricanes Irma and Maria. The state of New York has been joined by millions of New Yorkers who stepped up to the plate to provide aid and ongoing assistance to their beleaguered fellow U.S. citizens on the islands—immediately.
On Sept. 20, 2017, Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico. On Sept. 22, right after Maria smashed into the island, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez, and several others headed to the island, and they didn’t arrive empty-handed. By Sept. 24, New York had launched a major relief and recovery effort.
That drive raised millions of dollars and sent in planes and ships loaded with supplies, along with union workers and equipment.
Donald Trump showed up in Puerto Rico to lob paper towels on Oct. 3, 2017. The federal response, from the Orange Honcho down, has left much to be desired (to put it mildly) since then.
Here in New York, seven months after the disaster struck, new efforts are now underway with the launch of Phase 2 of the “New York Stands with Puerto Rico Recovery & Rebuilding Initiative.”
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced the launch of the NY Stands with Puerto Rico Recovery and Rebuilding Initiative, deploying a Tactical Assessment Team of state experts and labor, non-profit, philanthropic, and academic partners to evaluate reconstruction needs and to develop a comprehensive rebuilding roadmap for communities in need. The Assessment Team's findings will inform the strategic deployment of approximately 500 SUNY and CUNY students, as well as skilled workers from the building and construction trades, beginning in June. The Governor convened a roundtable with local partners and Tactical Assessment Team members to launch the new initiative and to discuss New York State's ongoing efforts to help Puerto Rico build back better. The Governor then toured a neighborhood in Toa Baja where volunteers are already working to repair flooded homes.
"There are too many residents in Puerto Rico living in temporary homes that will not withstand this year's fast-approaching hurricane season," Governor Cuomo said. "As our federal government continues to flounder, New York is taking action to deliver critical housing assistance, resources, and the workforce needed to accelerate rebuilding efforts and construct more resilient homes for residents throughout Puerto Rico."
There are reasons for this response from New York and New Yorkers, most importantly the longstanding ties between the Empire State and the island. Over the course of decades, New York became the first home for most Puerto Ricans coming to the mainland.
Donald Trump grew up in a New York filled with arriving Puerto Ricans. He has no excuse. He has deaths and blood on his hands.
New York has the largest Puerto Rican population of any city in the world. And more persons of West Indian ancestry live in New York City than any city outside of the West Indies; among them are U.S. Virgin Islanders.
...in 2016, the state of New York had the largest concentration of Puerto Ricans in the United States (1,081,110). New York and Florida were the only states with more than one million Puerto Ricans during this year.
While Florida rivals New York and has had a significant increase in its Puerto Rican population in recent years, there is still a major difference. New York’s culture and politics have been strongly influenced by decades of Puerto Rican moves from the island to stateside. The vast majority became Democrats. While there are signs of a shift, with Dominicans beginning to play a key role, the New York Latino political scene is still founded in all things Boricua. Florida Hispanic politics and culture have been dominated by waves of Cubans who have traditionally been both right-wing and Republican, though that is also shifting. Both Republican Rick Scott and Democrat Bill Nelson are currently campaigning among Florida’s Puerto Rican community, and Scott has the help of Republican Puerto Ricans like Puerto Rico Secretary of State Luis G. Rivera-Marín and Puerto Rico’s non-voting delegate in the U.S. House, Jenniffer González.
Some of the story of Puerto Rican moves from the island to New York is told in Becoming "Nuyorican": The History of Puerto Rican Migration to NYC.
Puerto Ricans have been emigrating to New York City since the middle of the 19th century, in the first so-called “wave.” At the time, the island was still a Spanish province, and the motivation to move was the same as it was for other immigrants—America offered the greatest opportunities for economic success. Puerto Rico then became a territory of the United States as a result of the treaty arrangement following the Spanish-American War.
In 1917, the Jones-Shafroth Act changed the status for Puerto Ricans forever. Now, they were officially American citizens, and could travel to and from the United States without the use of a passport. Eligible Puerto Rican males could also be drafted into the military, just in time for World War I. This change in citizenship status caused many Puerto Ricans to head to New York City, as the island had previously been terrorized by hurricanes, ruining many crops and causing great financial crisis. But the industrialized city presented other hardships to the newly arrived Puerto Ricans. Discrimination, language barriers, and lack of technical skills were all hurdles newly arrived immigrants faced on their job hunt—and these issues are often discussed on current Tenement Museum tours about German, Irish, and Italian immigrants—and many Puerto Ricans encountered the same. However, as citizens, those who struggled to find work often resorted to joining the military.
The third and largest wave of Puerto Ricans occurred in the 1950s, known today as “the Great Migration.” The Great Depression, World War II, and the advent of air travel were all leading contributors to the increase in migration during this time. This era marked the first time a Hispanic group moved to New York City in great numbers. Throughout these waves, new terminology began to spring up, and the name Nuyorican initially started as a kind of insult towards assimilated Puerto Ricans or second and third generation Puerto Ricans who have lost touch with their island roots. Traditionally, Nuyoricans planted their flags in what became known as “Spanish Harlem” in East Harlem, and “Loisaida” in the East Village, a Nuyorican pronunciation of “Lower East Side.”
Over the years and through the waves, Puerto Ricans in New York began to run for political office in the city and in the surrounding metro area. The New York State Assembly now has a Puerto Rican/Hispanic Task Force, the majority of whom are Puerto Rican, and who as a unified group have been working tirelessly to alleviate conditions on the island and for those who have fled here.
On April 29, 2018, Cuomo co-chaired a roundtable in Puerto Rico with Assemblyman Marcos Crespo, a Democratic leader from the Bronx..
Participants in the discussion and task force were Gil Quiniones, president and chief executive officer of the New York Power Authority; Building Trades Employers' Association president & CEO Louis J. Coletti; New York City Councilwoman Carlina Rivera, who represents the 2nd Council District; Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr.; Santos Rodriguez, director of community affairs and strategic initiatives at Building & Construction Trades Council of Greater New York; Caryl M. Stern, the president and CEO of UNICEF USA; Buena Vibra Foundation president Emil Medina; Robert Mujica, director of the New York State Division of the Budget; Rossana Rosado, Secretary of State of New York and former publisher and CEO of El Diario La Prensa; New York State Assemblyman Marcos Crespo; Fernando Gil Enseñat, secretary of housing for Puerto Rico; Dr. Havidán Rodríguez, president of SUNY Albany; and Edwin Meléndez, director of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College in New York.
The video above is long, and my apologies for not having a transcript. What it illustrates for is that where there is a will, government can do.
Imagine if we had a president of the United States who could harness the power of the U.S. government in the same way the resources of one state (albeit a powerful one) are being used to step in and help.
The difference is that New York hearts and helps Puerto Rico, and Donald Trump and his “team” are heartless.
As a native New Yorker and a hard core New York chauvinist, I’m proud of my state. As a Democrat, I’m proud of New York Democrats and what they are doing for Puerto Rico. That goes for everyone from the governor, to our senators and congressional delegation, to New York mayors and borough presidents, and the assembly’s Puerto Rico Task Force. I’m also proud of State and City University students who are headed to Puerto Rico to help.
Don’t get me wrong: I’m well aware of the efforts of Democratic senators like Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy of Connecticut, and Congress folks like Luis Gutiérrez of Illinois and Darren Soto of Florida. However, no state has stepped up for Puerto Rico like New York has.
It was back in November 2017 when national Democrats gathered on the steps of the Capitol and called for support.
Unfortunately, not having Democratic control of either the House or the Senate nullified those efforts.
Who would have thought that we would now be at the eight-month mark, moving into the next hurricane season, with so many tasks left undone? Who could have imagined people still without power, still without potable water, and much of the island is still without traffic lights?
It’s impossible to wrap my brain around it.
I was glad to see that SOMOS will be holding their next conference in Puerto Rico
SOMOS’ mission is to unite the Latino community and raise awareness, advocate and elevate social consciousness on public policy in collaboration with the New York State Assembly/Senate Puerto Rican & Hispanic Task Force; and to ensure the upward mobility of Latino youth through educational empowerment, mentoring programs and scholarships.
In case you think New York coming to the aid of Puerto Rico is something new, both Gov. Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio marched in Puerto Rico in 2015 with the Task Force during the island’s debt and health care crisis.
It’s true that there are New Yorkers who don’t support these efforts. We have heartless, bigoted Republicans and Trump voters here, too.
The only long-term solution will be crafted at the ballot box in November 2018, and then in 2020.
Until then, and always: I’m standing with Puerto Rico.
Tengo Puerto Rico en mi corazón.