Five reasons why Puerto Ricans are so angry about Trump's 'trash joke'

Juan Garcia was a student at Amherst College in Massachusetts in 1982 when he decided to join the military.

Garcia, now 67, served in the Army Reserves for 34 years, deployed twice, dodged improvised explosive devices during combat in Iraq and retired from the Army Reserves as a colonel while graduating from Amherst, earning a law degree from Boston College and working as a lawyer in New York and now Miami.

Born in New York City, Garcia comes from a Puerto Rican family with deep military roots. His grandfather and an uncle served during World War II, and two of his sons fought in Iraq with the U.S. Army. One of them, Jaime, was shot in the chest during a fight and received a Purple Heart, Garcia said.

Puerto Ricans have served in every major U.S. military conflict since World War I, when the U.S. granted citizenship to Puerto Ricans so they could help fight.

But Garcia believes Puerto Ricans don’t join the military solely out of patriotic duty or personal gain. As American citizens who are often treated as “foreigners,” Garcia believes they join because they feel like they have something to prove.

“Many Puerto Ricans joined the military and served in the military to gain acceptance and be accepted,” Garcia said in an interview.

So when comedian Tony Hinchcliffe compared Puerto Rico to a “floating island of trash” during a Trump rally at New York’s Madison Square Garden on Oct. 27, Garcia understood why there was such an outpouring of anger among ordinary Puerto Ricans and global celebrities. like Jennifer Lopez, Lin-Manuel Miranda And Bad bunny.

“It becomes tiring to have to fight the same battle for acceptance of our personhood and the right to be American, when we are American citizens born on that island called ‘garbage,’” Garcia said in an email.

Puerto Ricans are known for their immense pride, which they often display openly with Puerto Rican flags hanging from car mirrors or with lively street festivals and parades in cities with large Puerto Rican populations.

That pride often stems from Puerto Rico’s fraught history as a U.S. colony and the long struggle for acceptance of Puerto Ricans, laid bare by the political uproar sparked by the bullshit joke about Puerto Rico at the Trump rally made. In response, the Trump campaign has tried to distance itself from the comments.

“That joke would be offensive to anyone whose country was singled out, not just Puerto Ricans,” said Carlos Vargas-Ramos, director of public policy at the Center of Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College in New York. “But the fact that it was made to insult (Puerto Ricans) makes you wonder what the intention was, not only of the comedian, but also of the Trump campaign, to allow this singling out, smearing and tearing down of an entire country to stand.”

Here are five reasons why the Trump rally joke hit Puerto Ricans hard.

Puerto Rico is a colony of the United States

Puerto Rico was colonized by Spain after Christopher Columbus landed on the island in 1493. The first inhabitants of the island were the indigenous Tainos. Puerto Rico is a mix of Taino, Spanish, and African cultures, the latter transmitted by enslaved Africans.

Puerto Rico remained under Spanish rule until 1898, when Spain ceded the island, a major sugar cane producer and military outpost, to the US after the Spanish-American War. At the time, a push for independence from the Spanish crown was developing as Puerto Ricans suddenly found themselves under American rule.

“How did Puerto Rico become a colony of the United States? Well, Puerto Rico is the spoils of war. Puerto Rico is part of the spoils of war that the United States won after the Cuban-Spanish-American War in 1898,” Vargas-Ramos said.

US states operated military bases in Puerto Rico for decades, including training ranges in Vieques where the Navy tested Agent Orange, napalm, white phosphorus and depleted uranium, advocates say caused cancer and other diseases among the population. The US ended bombing exercises on Vieques in 2003 after bombs killed a civilian Puerto Rican security officer in 1999, sparking mass protests.

Puerto Ricans have remained politically divided among those who still seek independence, those who want Puerto Rico to become the 51st state, and those who prefer the status quo as a commonwealth of the US.

“Puerto Ricans of any political persuasion are very proud, but the fact that Puerto Rico is a colony of the United States makes that pride even greater,” Vargas-Ramos said.

Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens, but are often treated as foreigners

There are 3.2 million Puerto Ricans living in Puerto Rico. Puerto Ricans living in the U.S. territory can vote in presidential elections, but cannot participate in presidential elections. There are 5.8 million Puerto Ricans living in the US, including about 65,000 in Arizona. Puerto Ricans living in the US are eligible to register and vote for president.

Despite the fact that Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens, they are often mistaken as foreigners or immigrants, in part because Puerto Rico’s main language is Spanish, not English.

“People forget that Puerto Rico is within the reach of the United States, that Puerto Rico is a colony of the United States and that the people of that island are American citizens.,” Vargas-Ramos said. “This is due to the will of the US Congress,” which rarely pays political attention to Puerto Rico.

“Puerto Ricans are crazy, right? For the vast majority of people in the United States, they ignore Puerto Rico. They ignore Puerto Ricans. It just doesn’t get registered until cases like this (just kidding) or disasters like Hurricane Maria or when Puerto Ricans decide to bring their demands to the halls of Congress,” Vargas-Ramos said, referring to the 1954 attack by Puerto Rican nationalists injuring five members of Congress.

Puerto Ricans remember Trump’s ‘paper towel’ response to hurricanes

In September 2017, when Donald Trump was president, Puerto Rico was hit by two catastrophic storms: Hurricane Irma, followed by Hurricane Maria less than two weeks later. The successive major hurricanes killed about 3,000 people, paralyzed neighborhoods, destroyed 80% of the island’s power grid and caused $90 billion in damage. the third most expensive in American history.

Video of then-President Trump throwing paper towels into a crowd of desperate Puerto Ricans during a visit to the island infuriated Puerto Ricans and symbolized the Trump administration’s handling of the island’s disaster. Trump also opposed sending disaster funding to the island, citing possible corruption.

“The way he saw fit to manifest his help was just to clarify the situation. He just started throwing paper towels as the mainstay, out of necessity, for people dying under his watch.“ Vargas-Ramos said. Puerto Ricans “saw that image of just the insensitivity and obliviousness to the circumstances.“

Puerto Ricans are proud of their contributions to the US

Despite its small size, Puerto Rico has made outsized contributions to the U.S. that are often overlooked, Vargas-Ramos said.

“For such a small country, so many remarkable individuals have come out of Puerto Rico compared to other countries of similar size and population, and that instills pride in Puerto Rico and among Puerto Ricans,” Vargas-Ramos said.

In sports, Vargas-Ramos mentioned pioneering baseball players Roberto Clemente and Pedro “Perucho” Cepeda; boxers Hector “Macho” Camacho, Wilfredo Gomez and Wilfred Benitez; and actors Rita Moreno, Jose Ferrer and Raul Julia.

“In popular music recently you have Bad Bunny, and in science you have also had a number of astronauts,” including Joseph Acaba and Marcos Berríos, Vargas-Ramos said.

Trump missed an opportunity to reach Puerto Ricans

Trump has tried to distance himself from Hinchcliffe’s comments.

“I have no idea who he is,” Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity. “What they have done is take someone who has nothing to do with the party and try to make a big deal.”

But Vargas-Ramos said Trump squandered an opportunity to reach Puerto Ricans.

“He said these comments are not what President Trump or his campaign thought of Puerto Rico,” Vargas-Ramos said. “Well, what does President Trump think about Puerto Rico? What public policies does President Trump want to promote toward Puerto Rico? Does President Trump want to trade Puerto Rico for Greenland?’ Vargas-Ramos said. He was referring to comments made by Miles Taylor, a former Homeland Security chief of staff. Taylor said in 2020 that Trump proposed swapping Puerto Rico for Greenland before a DHS hurricane recovery trip to Puerto Rico in 2018.

Taylor told MSNBC that Trump said he wanted to trade with Puerto Rico because, in Trump’s words, “Puerto Rico was dirty and the people were poor.”

“What are his positions on rebuilding Puerto Rico seven years, eight years after the hurricanes and subsequent earthquakes in Puerto Rico?” Vargas-Ramos continued. “What are his plans for Puerto Rico? That was a great missed opportunity for President Trump, and, I will say, for the entire Republican Party, because we must not forget that the sovereignty of Puerto Rico rests with the Congress of the United States.”

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