September 26, 2017
Many people have compared the gallons of ink and hours of air time spent discussing Trump’s ongoing excoriation of the protests of Black athletes, with the below the fold coverage of the massive humanitarian crisis unfolding in Puerto Rico. 3.5 million Americans lack electrical power, cell coverage and fuel and face a rapidly dwindling supply of potable water. 80% of the island’s crops have been destroyed. Although the federal government has sent three amphibious ships with supplies and personnel, it is notable that it has not sent the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln, the much larger vessel which was deployed to the Florida Keys after Hurricane Irma. (Source: “Puerto Rico has become raw and primitive,” by Joel Achenbach, Dan Lamothe & Alex Horton, The Washington Post, 9/25/17). Trump’s response, which mentioned the debt owed by the territory to “Wall Street,” was one of callous indifference, lacking empathy or any concrete promise of aid. The reason for the differential treatment of 3.5 million Americans who live in Puerto Rico as compared to Floridians is obvious to anyone who is paying attention, and the reality is, the neglect of Puerto Rico and the attempted silencing of Black protest are two sides of the same coin.
While the crisis has been festering in Puerto Rico, Trump and, the racist, walking megaphones of Fox News have been busy deliberately missing the point of the protests started by Colin Kaepernick. They obdurately refuse to see why Steph Curry might be ambivalent about a visit to this White House. These Black men know that the wealth and privilege that they have EARNED with their hard work and talent does not completely insulate them from racism. They also know that their less fortunate brothers and sisters, who lack the shield of fame, are vulnerable to rampant police violence and discrimination. The fact is that, LeBron James and Steph Curry notwithstanding, the majority of Black and Latino Americans are living in an America where many of the gains of the Civil Rights movement have been erased. Yesterday was the 60th anniversary of the integration of Central High School by the Little Rock Nine under the protection of the National Guard. Yet today, from Birmingham, Alabama to New York City, school segregation is back to pre-Brown v. Board of Education levels. Between 2000 and 2014, the number of schools that were high poverty and predominantly Black or Latino doubled from 7009 to 15,089 (Source: “Whites Only: School Segregation is Back, from Birmingham to San Francisco,” by Alexander Nazaryan, Newsweek, 5/2/17).
In addition, although many aggrieved white working class Americans believe that they are discriminated against, the fact is that employment discrimination against Blacks and Latinos is at the same level as it was twenty-five years ago (Source: “Hiring Bias Blacks and Latinos Face Hasn’t Improved in Twenty-Five years,” by Eric Sherman, Forbes, 9/16/17). Given the stubborn persistence of myriad barriers to true equality, unless we are content with the status quo, it is incumbent on those of us with privilege of any kind, whether by dint of fame, wealth, education or skin color, to risk some of that privilege to tear these barriers down. Frankly, with a man like Trump in power, equivocation will not do. From The White House to the State House, people in power want nothing less than to calcify and codify white supremacy. The lines are clear. Take a knee.
#Takeaknee
#PuertoRico
Donate to The Hispanic Federation.org/hurricane relief effort