America’s attitude to racism put to test
Puerto Rico would have been treated with more urgency if America was better informed and less racist.
The final month of school feels like an appropriate time for a quiz. The subject is current events. What was the most significant news story of recent days in Connecticut?
A) State prosecutors will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse the state court’s reversal of Michael Skakel’s murder conviction in the 1975 death of his Greenwich neighbor, Martha Moxley.
B) United Technologies announces plans to bring 9,000 new jobs to the state.
C) Researchers report Puerto Rico’s death toll from Hurricane Maria was closer to 4,600 than the official count of 64.
D) None of the above, provide your own choice. Those who opted for A should note it is a thin chapter in the 43-year saga.
And while B pushed Connecticut forward on job growth instead of in reverse, there remain many miles to go before we catch up with neighboring states.
The answer is C, which might seem like a red herring if you believe Puerto Rico’s fate has little to do with the Nutmeg State. If that’s the case, here’s an overripe news flash: Connecticut is the state with the highest percentage of population with Puerto Rican roots. The 2010 Census revealed Puerto Ricans represent 7.1 of the state’s population, followed by New York’s 5.5 percent.
America’s tepid response to Puerto Rico is driving those figures up. School systems across Connecticut have scrambled to accommodate these U.S. citizens (most Americans would get that question wrong as well) as they seek refuge with friends and family.
The public at large seemed to declare the biggest headline of last week to be “‘Roseanne’ canceled over star’s racist tweet.”
It’s easy to comprehend the power of racism when it impacts our TV habits, but we need to tune into the bigger picture. As U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, DConnecticut, told colleagues in October, “The United States has been screwing Puerto Rico for over 100 years, and this is just the latest, most disgusting chapter.”
Puerto Rico would have been treated with more urgency if America was better informed and less racist. Though the island was claimed as a U.S. territory during the Spanish-American War, Puerto Ricans have limited rights as U.S. citizens.
With no representation in Congress, they are left to the likes of Murphy to try to sway their fellow Americans to see the bigger picture.
That picture, as revealed in a new study released by George Washington University researchers, details preventable deaths that were the result of the delayed medical response; that it took an average of 68 days for water service to be restored to homes and 84 days for power to return.
There is a chasm between the passion of lawmakers such as Murphy and those who treat Puerto Rico with a laissez-faire attitude. Many Americans deny racism as a factor. But the lack of an appropriately humane response to this catastrophe on American soil leaves no doubt that our nation failed this test.