One Year Later Remembering Puerto Rico's Dead: The Children +

Photo: 9/20/18 New York, Manhattan: A view of a portion of the 3000 candles that illumined the altar of St. Bart's Church, each one representing someone that died in Puerto Rico as a result of Hurricane Maria.

I will not forget the faces I saw on September 20, 2018 of only some of Puerto Rico’s dead. The faces of the dead as they pulsed in and out on the screen, like a distant but ever-present heartbeat, in the darkness of St. Bart’s Church chapel for the memorial service Boriquas Remember: Interfaith Observance of the 1st Anniversary of Hurricane Maria. The assemblage present were there to remember those that had died on the island of Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria from lack of food, water, medicine and or inadequate medical treatment (many as a of result of no electricity), for those who took their lives out of despair, for the evacuees that are displaced and continue to undergo hardships, and for those that still do not have electricity or potable water on the island one year later. And there was a call for justice.

I had fully expected to see images of the dead to be fragile seniors, cancer patients, certainly mature individuals, but instead my eyes were flooded with the faces of toddlers, young children, young adults and…. It was disturbing and unsettling. When we hear of Puerto Rico’s dead they are just a number, a single unified number and not individuals, and worse still they are nameless. We do not know their names or the actual number. Had it not been for the Harvard University study findings published on May 30th, 2018, that approximately 4645 persons had died as a result of conditions directly related to Maria, this may have been a secret to the world, but not to the people of Puerto Rico.

It is so easy for us (for me) to believe that the people that have died were just the elderly or infirm, whose lives are of no less value and are also part of that total. But no! And again no. There were faces of babies, children, and young people that had long lives to live, to love and to carry out their dreams that died for the lack of basic necessities or the lack of medical attention that would have normally saved them, had there been a more effective response that would have provided emergency generators to hospitals, temporary refrigeration to keep medication from spoiling, identification of those requiring medical treatment being evacuated to safe locations, faster and more efficient distribution of food and supplies and etc. Clearly, if I can outline just a few methods that could have saved lives, and I am not skilled in this area, then what was required was better management, funds and the determination to get the job done right.

But we aren’t hearing the details of why so many people died, because there has been no official move from the federal government to take an accounting of those who have died, why and how to mitigate this from happening again?

After the memorial service the attendees walked to Trump Tower each carrying one of the 3000 candles (this is now the official total for the dead) that illumined St. Bart’s Church altar led by former NY Council Speaker Melissa Mark Viverito, current director of Power 4 Puerto Rico, Rev. Demaris Whitacker of Ft. Washington Collegiate Church along with other communities leaders and partners from Make the Road, Union Theological, Letitia James along with other local politicians and Peter Gudaitis, Executive Director of New York Disaster Interfaith Services, asking for a Just Recovery for Puerto Rico. Melissa Mark Viverito specifically called for an independent commission to investigate the response to Hurricane Maria. This same request had been sent in a letter earlier in the day from New York City leaders to the POTUS (https://abc7ny.com/nyc-leaders-call-for-investigation-into-maria-respons...) There were other demands as well. There was a call to put an end to Puerto Rico’s debt, a request for funds to rebuild Puerto Rico, and a call for Puerto Rico to be self-determining, but all who came stood in solidarity with Puerto Rico, whether they were recent evacuees, people whose grandparents were from the island, or people with no relation to the island but have a sense of conscience and responsibility to see that a humanitarian disaster like this doesn’t happen again.

On July 12, 2018 FEMA admitted that they were not prepared for the devastation. (https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/fema-admits-failures-in-puerto-r...).

If you wish you can donate to grass roots organizations working directly on rebuilding Puerto Rico (the organizations were sourced through research and some from this list https://www.vrnikblog.com/help...):

Climate Justice Alliance partnering with Puerto Rico based Organizacion Boricua: To achieve food sovereignty, environmental justice and self determination https://climatejusticealliance...

Brigada Solidaria Del Oeste (Solidarity Brigade of the West): "supporting the development of collective processes in communities and to promote grassroots efforts (pulitzercenter.org 9/26/18 1:16pm).

https://www.facebook.com/briga...

F0undation for Puerto Rico: Helping small businesses survive and promoting economic opportunities.

https://www.foundationforpuert...

Puerto Rican Family Institute: Helping families recover from the devastation caused by Hurricane maria

http://www.prfi.org/donate/

Chilis on Wheels: (full disclosure I personally have sent food and supplies (sourced by donation and personal funds) to this organization after Hurricane Maria, and recently went to Puerto Rico to participate in their food distribution efforts. I can personally vouch for this organization.) They provide vegan food to the homeless and hungry weekly in Caguas, Vega Baja and Santurce.

www.chilisonwheels.org