More than a million homes and businesses across Puerto Rico still lacked power, two days after Hurricane Fiona slammed into the island of 3.3 million people https://t.co/jbKNV4sX9b pic.twitter.com/wqPkVJgxh3
— Reuters (@Reuters) September 21, 2022
Today, I spoke with @GovPierluisi to address the immediate needs of Puerto Rico in the wake of Hurricane Fiona.
We discussed federal personnel working to assist the island's recovery, and I assured the Governor that we'll increase support substantially in the coming days. pic.twitter.com/Qc9goBEZxm
— President Biden (@POTUS) September 19, 2022
Praise Goddess we have an actual President in office now, but does anyone have suggestions for trustworthy relief / self-help organizations that could put individual donations to best use immediately?
I’m so proud of WCK teams around the world.. In Puerto Rico yesterday 5,000 meals & today doubled serving 10,000 people! We’ll keep adding restaurants to meet the need. And we’re following the path of Hurricane Fiona getting ready to help wherever it hits next.. #ChefsForTheWorld pic.twitter.com/90UXEsrWHx
— José Andrés (@chefjoseandres) September 20, 2022
At FEMA office in NYC, @POTUS says federal government will reimburse Puerto Rico 100% of the cost for debris removal, power and water restoration and shelter and food for the next month following Hurricane Fiona.
“We are with you. We are not going to walk away.” pic.twitter.com/QUqfhCtFc0
— Eli Stokols (@EliStokols) September 22, 2022
(Mild) readership capture:
Lin-Manuel Miranda and his father, Luis A. Miranda Jr., write in Opinions, “We call on all our partners in philanthropy, business and the arts to join our family and make direct investments in Puerto Rico.”https://t.co/OwpLyT8bSE
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) September 20, 2022
I swear to my fellow Olds, this headline from the Washington Post makes sense in context — “Bad Bunny wants you to stop ignoring Puerto Rico”:
… On Friday, less than 48 hours before Fiona, another catastrophic hurricane, made landfall in Puerto Rico — knocking out power across the island — Bad Bunny released a stunning 22-minute documentary/music video for “El Apagón” (“The Blackout”), a pointed track from his latest album, “Un Verano Sin Ti” (“A Summer Without You”), which has been atop the Billboard 200 chart for 11 weeks. Over the song’s jubilant, club-ready beat, Bad Bunny raps about his love for the island, ticking off a list of hometown treasures, including J.J. Barea, one of only a handful of Puerto Ricans to play for the NBA (“a champion before LeBron,” BB boasts), and reggaeton pioneer Tego Calderón. “Maldita sea, otro apagón,” Bad Bunny says, briefly interrupting his joyful ode: “Damn, another blackout.”
In the video, verses of “El Apagón” are interspersed with reporting by Bianca Graulau, an independent journalist who has been documenting inequities in the U.S. territory, whose residents lack representation in Congress and are unable to vote on a federal level. Five years after Maria, persistent blackouts continue to plague the more than 3 million U.S. citizens who call the island home. As Graulau explains in the video, the documentary portion of which is titled “Aquí Vive Gente” (“People Live Here”), Puerto Rico’s billion-dollar effort to privatize the electrical grid — through a controversial contract with Luma Energy — has done little to quell the problem. Gov. Pedro Pierluisi, whose administration hired Luma, publicly criticized the energy consortium for the first time last month after a report by Puerto Rico’s Energy Bureau showed that outages have actually increased in duration this year…
“El Apagón” references displacement in a bridge sung by Bad Bunny’s girlfriend, Gabriela Berlingeri. “I don’t want to leave here / I don’t want to leave here,” she sings in Spanish, while urging that the developers and crypto bros do. “This is my beach, this is my sun. This is my land, this is me.”
For Graulau, the impact of Bad Bunny’s song is both professional and personal. “It’s a music video that turns into a news documentary,” the reporter told her followers on TikTok, where she regularly posts videos breaking down issues in Puerto Rico that have historically gone unnoticed on the mainland. “I am so honored that you guys think of me when you think of these issues. I’m honored Bad Bunny thought of me and that he had the crazy idea to give us this platform.”
zhena gogolia
My colleague recommended Taller salud and Brigada solidaria del Oeste. I haven’t checked them out yet.
PPCLI
OK, Biden is doing all this stuff to get Puerto Rico back on track as quickly as possible. But a real president would fly down and throw rolls of paper towels at them.
HumboldtBlue
Justice has been on a roll this week.
Jeffro
WCK is one of my faves – good people doing important work.
Alison Rose 💙🌻💛
@Jeffro: It’s amazing to me too how they seem to be literally everywhere they’re needed, and thinking of how many people they must have working/volunteering for the organization. It does my soul a lot of good to be reminded that there are a lot of wonderful people out there.
Mike in NC
Apple TV has a five-part miniseries about Hurricane Katrina called “Five Days at Memorial”, concerning power outage at a New Orleans hospital where many people died. Scary as hell.
Mike in NC
As a slumlord from Queens, Trump deliberately withheld millions of relief dollars from Puerto Rico. He should have been impeached for that alone.
WaterGirl
I have mentioned before that I think working / volunteering for World Central Kitchen is the new Peace Corps for this generation.
WaterGirl
@Jeffro: World Central Kitchen is still in the sidebar.
zhena gogolia
@Alison Rose 💙🌻💛:
Open thread, so you mentioned Kuleba on Colbert — everyone should watch this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjUHY2XgIxE
Ripley
That video is awesome! Thank you.
SiubhanDuinne
@PPCLI:
Immediately after publicly insulting their governor.
Alison Rose 💙🌻💛
@zhena gogolia: Yes, it was great to hear from him, and I admit I got a tiny bit teary when he got the standing ovation. Plus, something I have loved from Zelenskyy and everyone in his government is just their rock-solid confidence in themselves. It’s beautiful.
zhena gogolia
@Alison Rose 💙🌻💛: The ovation was amazing.
SiubhanDuinne
@zhena gogolia:
Thank you! He reminds me so much (in all the good ways) of Lt Col (RET) Alexander Vindman — not just a slight physical resemblance, but one of demeanour and core integrity.
mrmoshpotato
@Mike in NC:
Have you seen Spike Lee’s When The Levees Broke?
Good lord did Shrub fuck over Louisiana.
EmbraceYourInnerCrone
NPR has a list of non profits who are helping, some of them set up in the wake of Hurricane Maria:
How to Help Puerto Rico
Alison Rose 💙🌻💛
@EmbraceYourInnerCrone: Thank you for sharing the link!
(Also I love your nym)
EmbraceYourInnerCrone
@Alison Rose 💙🌻💛: thank you! I picked it as a joke but now it really fits 🤣
BellyCat
Attended a lecture last night by two Puerto Rican architects. They played the Bad Bunny video while people were arriving. They pilloried the establishment, believing anti-profit was the only way forward. More questions raised than answers provided, but it was a truly unique experience.
https://waithinktank.com
Bruce K in ATH-GR
@HumboldtBlue: To paraphrase Terry Pratchett’s take on the old aphorism, a lie can cross the world before the truth has got its boots on, but once the truth gets its boots on, it can start kicking pretty hard.
From a book entitled, appropriately enough, The Truth.
RevRick
I would humbly suggest organizations like Catholic Charities, Lutheran World Relief, or Church World Services, which already have local churches on the ground and know their communities. These three organizations work in partnership to avoid duplication. I would also suggest not sending stuff, which only becomes a logistical nightmare.