Lazy? Not us Puerto Ricans

‘TICKING TIME BOMB’

At 7:19 a.m. on Saturday, my son Lin-Manuel and I were on a plane when President Trump attacked the mayor of San Juan’s plea for help and called it political. Five minutes later, he called the Puerto Rican leadership on the island ineffective since they “are not able to get their workers to help.” Then, three minutes later, he called Puerto Ricans lazy by saying that they “want everything to be done for them.” As Trump was calling our people lazy, Lin-Manuel and I were on our way to increase support for relief efforts. We have been working nonstop to help Puerto Rico since Hurricane Maria hit the island more than 10 days ago.The President is calling 3.4 million Puerto Ricans “lazy.” Puerto Ricans who are doing everything they can to get the island back to normal, or at least, first, inhabitable. He is politicizing the devastation and criticizing a mayor who has worked overtime to provide love, comfort and hope to her neighbors. He is calling “lazy” my brother Elvin, who yesterday and today, and again tomorrow, spends five hours on a line to retrieve pallets of food for people in my hometown of Vega Alta. He is calling “lazy” my friends on the island who have been working nonstop to open lines of communication to “barrios” buried under debris. He is calling “lazy” my son Lin-Manuel, who has worked day and night to raise funds to rebuild and feed and clothe the people on the island. We all know what the President was REALLY doing — throwing red meat to the only supporters he has left, who feast upon his insults about minorities, immigrants, women, the handicapped, those perceived to be different or less than. It is his way of detracting from a presidency that has delivered nothing to his supporters on the protectionist and anti-immigrant promises he made, nor to the country. We know we are not lazy. We know the mayor of San Juan is a heroine. We know our people in Puerto Rico will continue to work hard until the island is up and running. The Puerto Rican diaspora will continue to raise funds for relief efforts. We will continue to partner with the overwhelming majority of our country who is decent and giving. And we will forever remember Trump and his supporters’ inaction. The great thing about democracy is that we get to elect who represents us every two or four years. Luis Miranda Jr. is a founding partner of the MirRam Group consulting firm, and father of playwright LinManuel Miranda.