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Puerto Rico Hurricane Impacts

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The significant tragic event that stands out in my mind is the devastating hurricanes of 2017 that hit Texas, Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico. The devastation will always be in my mind as I currently live here in TX. The hurricanes affected many families close and far away from where they actually made land fall. The hurricanes affected the way of life for many Americans and to this day those areas have not fully recovered from the damage that was caused. Family members are still looking for loved ones in Puerto Rico from the water that rushed in and pulled them away. Rebuilding has begun, but the grieving is still ongoing for many families that were affected. The lack of water and electricity has caused a myriad of issues for the people in …show more content…

In October, President Donald Trump signed a relief bill to help rebuild areas of the country damaged by natural disasters this fall, including up to $4.9 billion in loans to help Puerto Rico’s cash-strapped central government (Connelly Holmes, 2017). This help would significantly help Puerto Rico in the long term, but short term it did little as the bureaucracy took over. The agencies that wanted to help were stuck because of bidding on government contracts and red tape from the federal government. Private businesses and citizens decided to take things into their own hands to help Puerto …show more content…

In their eyes they were not good enough to warrant the efforts that people received on the main land. Although logistics was a problem, the effort was just not there. President Trump got into spats with government officials from Puerto Rico, and in my opinion this hurt the efforts even more. All Americans should be treated equally and no one life should be put before others. Lessons should have been learned from the devastation that happened in the ninth ward of New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. It is the responsibility of the federal government to be prepared for scenarios like a hurricane because after all they can see them coming. The way that the Puerto Rican people were treated affected society as a whole, now people see how the government can take anyone for

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Success-wise, it offered the United States greater land and provided Puerto Rico with military assistance, but it was contentious due to the measures' strong resemblance to

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Considering the fact that I have lived on eastern long island all my life, it would be thought that I’ve been to all the wildlife refuges possible. Strangely enough, I have never even heard of the “Elizabeth A. Morton National Wildlife Refuge” right off of Noyack Road. This is an upsetting thing after our hike there, it is one of the best refuges I’ve been to in a very long time. The paths are well marked, the bridges and walk ways are well made also the fact that you can literally have wild birds eat out of your hand is amazing. Although this didn’t happen, I’ve been told not just on the hike but by friends that the squirrels and chipmunks will eat out of your hand as well.

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The only reason this occurred was because World War I was beginning. The U.S. government needed troops to send down to defend the Panama Canal and they felt that whites weren’t suited to fight in tropical climates. Instead they labeled puerto rican citizens as “immunes” due to them being

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They have been loyal for 117 years. They have asked to make it to become a state and it has good reason. They want to join the government and become apart of the legal system. Although it has a lot of debt it can bring a lot of money into the states that can be put to good use. Puerto Rico can be trusted to uphold the morals of the US government because they have as a territory.

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Though every historical event affects us today,, the least relevant event to my life is the Louisiana Purchase. The Louisiana Purchase was a major stepping stone in U.S. History. The purchase was a land investment between the United States

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Puerto Rico and the United States The debate on whether or not Puerto Rico should become a US state has been going on since 1898, after the U.S. defeated Spain in the Spanish-American war. Factors such as the country's relationship, how it might benefit the United States, and our laws, all affect the outcome. This is a complex topic, and there are many sides to it. There are numerous different opinions that people have, both in the United States and in Puerto Rico. “In November 2020, 53 percent of Puerto Ricans voted in favor of becoming a U.S. state” (“Could” 1).

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In my opinion, this island has grown from where they started but are not fully ready to become an independent nation. The people may feel “whole” because they have built their culture from all of these different types of people that have taken over their island these past hundreds of years, but they still heavily lean on America’s government. Why would Puerto Rico choose to become independent anyway? People born on the island are automatically born as United States citizens and have all of the rights of a natural born, U.S. citizen. Puerto Rico is ruled by our government, has the same rights as Americans, and even use the U.S. dollar as their currency.

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The third thing is a way for those puertoricans who want something different, but do not care about national pride one way or the other and want to keep some ties to the United States for reasons that seem to hinge on economic advantage. It's those money-grubbing few in the middle who are causing all the trouble. The last popular vote showed that things have not changed much in the last 50 years or so. I remember when I was a child that the most popular choice for the future of Puerto Rico was to remain a commonwealth, like not to become a state or an independent nation. They conduct this vote every few years and that is always the been the top choice.

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For one, even though Cuba had intense difficulties in the past, it 's been able to provide for itself and sustain its own economy. However as for Puerto Rico, it 's recently had a large decline in its economy. Due to the decline, it 's had to rely on the United States in federal aid, and as a consequence Puerto Rico 's “unemployment rate swelled to about 16% compared to that of Cuba, which stands at only 2.4%”. In fact, these unemployment rates have again changed the view of the islands. Puerto Rico is now viewed as an island that 's close to falling apart.

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However there was additional devastation and neglect to be found in the rescue of the citizens of New Orleans. The Un Human Rights Committee issued a report in 2006 that showed how our Government failed to make sure plans were in place to ensure that the black citizens of New Orleans were included in a plan to make sure they had adequate housing and healthcare available after the disaster. Not only were blacks affected, but people in the handicap group were also. New Orleans and the surrounding areas in the gulf coast region had plenty of warning, but yet there were numerous lives lost and more devastation with the people themselves than the property that could not have been saved. This toll does not include the losses suffered by those who are handicapped and depend on aids, such as service dogs, wheelchairs and the likes they need for everyday survival.

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Informative Speech Outline By: Katherine M Perez-Arroyo 1. Speech Topic: The History of Puerto Rico and its ties to the United States 2. Attention-Getter: Hi, my name is Kat and I was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico and I would like to ask you a question I was asked a few years ago when I was living in Topeka, Kansas “What kind of documentation do I need to travel to and from Puerto Rico?

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I was determined to make a better life for myself so I did what most Puerto Ricans do. Most of you don’t know but, the history of Puerto Rican Americans dates back to the 1800’s but the significant Immigration started with the result of the Spanish American war in 1898 when Puerto Rico was ceded by Spain to the U.S.(Green2008) Immigration was slow to start with because of the relative poverty of Puerto Ricans at the time. The first significant wave of immigration to the U.S. was based in New York where an Abundance of garment shops welcomed women who worked hard and spoke

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During the four centuries of Spanish rule, the island 's cultural and physical landscapes were transformed, with European knowledge, customs, and traditions being introduced, especially Roman Catholicism and the Spanish language. In 1898, following the Spanish–American War, Spain ceded the island to the United States under the terms of the Treaty of Paris (Mitchell 1). Almost from the very beginning, Puerto Rico spawned political movements that saw the future of the island very differently, as an independent nation or a state of the United States of America. The Independence movement has been a constant in Puerto Rico’s history, but has never reached a level that could register in the double digits as a percentage at the polls. For example, in 2012, in the last Puerto Rico status referendum, the independence option received only 4.4% of the vote.

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As a Puerto Rican citizen, I do not fit in to that part of our history very much. In the late 1800’s, Puerto Rico was not a U.S. territory; instead, it formed part of the Spanish empire. It wasn’t until the end of the Spanish-American war that Puerto Rico became a U.S. property. Even then (after being conquered by the U.S. in the year 1900), the common American belief was that Puerto Ricans weren’t inherently equal any more than they thought that blacks were racially equal to whites. Rather, because the American public wouldn’t consent to treating Puerto Ricans as equals or granting them citizenship, the U.S. had trouble keeping the island as an imperial possession.

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Many Puerto Ricans have always dreamed of seeing their beautiful commonwealth become its own country. American laws today are imposed on the territory, but by leaving Puerto Rico to make its own choices, the citizens could design their government whichever way they would like. This choice has the support of many current Americans, from former inhabitants of Puerto Rico wishing for independence to politicians not wanting to support the island in times of need. On the contrary, Puerto Rico has been the colony of a nation for hundreds of years. They have not had independence since before Spain took over the island in the 1500s, and because of that, it could be disastrous to simply cut all ties with the nation.

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