BLOG: Trump, Puerto Rico and Environmental Racism

Evan Popp
Oct 6, 2017
2 min read

In mid-September, Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico, devastating the island. The natural disaster came in the wake of two massive hurricanes, which slammed into Texas and Florida, respectively.

Following the hurricanes in Texas and Florida, President Donald Trump's Federal Emergency Management Agency approved hundreds of millions of dollars in grants to aid the recovery effort. In contrast, following the devastation in Puerto Rico, FEMA approved just $35 million in grants.

It's inexcusable that Florida and Texas got so much more recovery money than Puerto Rico. As a U.S. territory, the people of Puerto Rico pay taxes, just like those who live in Florida and Texas. Despite this, Trump has given them a short shrift when it comes to the recovery effort and has instead seemed more interested in picking fights with Puerto Rican officials on Twitter.

What Trump has done is a form of environmental racism. While close attention is paid to the environmental destruction in official U.S. states, the environmental impacts of a storm in a U.S. territory with a history of experiencing colonization aren't responded to nearly as quickly or with nearly as many resources.

And people in Puerto Rico have taken notice of Trump's slow response.

Trump's actions also set a dangerous precedent in the future. As the impacts of climate change worsen, powerful storms like Hurricanes Maria, Harvey and Irma will likely continue to make landfall, impacting many people from various backgrounds. When these events happen, there cannot be a precedent of doling out aid based on a political agenda. People are people. And when these kinds of catastrophes hit, substantive relief efforts need to go to all the places impacted.

Instead of doing this, Trump has:

Insulted political leaders in Puerto Rico
Said the hurricane was not a catastrophe
Said the U.S. spends too much on Puerto Rico

What Puerto Rico needs now is not political games but actual substantive support. Unfortunately, it is unlikely they will receive such support from a Trump administration that plays into environmental racism and seems to care little about them.

Image courtesy of NOAA