By Kelly Cazzetto
Staff Writer

Since Hurricane Maria struck, Puerto Rico has been in devastation. Despite it being our territory, they have hardly received the support they need from the U.S. Approximately 3.4 million people inhabit the island, and they are without clean water or electricity. It is unlikely either of those problems will be resolved anytime soon due to the amount of desolation and lack of financials needed for fixing it.

A deplorable amount of Americans have been looking the other direction from this crisis. Americans do not seem to realize they are dismissing other Americans. Puerto Ricans are no less of citizens than anyone else living in America.

These are our people. Hurricane Maria is not Puerto Rico’s fault. Help is expected, because it is in the interest of preserving human lives. Trump compared their catastrophe to hurricane Katrina as if to imply that because others had it worse Puerto Rico is not as deserving of as much aid.

Trump addresses crowds in Puerto Rico – Photo from fortune.com

How “lucky” they are in comparison to an unrelated event does not determine the severity of their needs. Trump reminded Puerto Rico of its financial state, which did nothing but kick them while they were down.

The hurricane could not have been foreseen. Regardless, that does not make them any less worthy of assistance.

More than 80 percent of the island still has no electricity making it extremely difficult for family members in the U.S. to know if their relatives are even alive. The destruction occurred so recently, and already our president has tweeted about removing aid.

Trump arrived in Puerto Rico for his photo op, then proceeded to toss paper towels into the crowd at random rather than hand them out to ensure everyone received supplies.

He says the crowd was cheering for him when in reality they were trying to gain his attention hoping he would send supplies their direction. They were treated like animals. But as per usual, Trump gave himself an enthusiastic pat on the back.

Our president, who is incapable of handling criticism, loves to compliment himself. He said the crowd was applauding him. Our president did not even bother putting together a plan to help. He made a brief appearance, distributed some supplies, and now is abandoning Puerto Rico altogether. Our people deserve more.