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Celebrity Sightings In New York City - October 19, 2019

Source: Bauzen / Getty

From the very first day that he announced his candidacy for President of The United States, Donald Trump’s blatant racism towards Latinos has been on full display. True to form the white-nationalist driven administration continues to treat the island of Puerto Rico (which is home to 3.7 million American citizens) as if they don’t matter.

Now with the Coronavirus disrupting life across the globe and causing businesses to shutter down and employees left to fend for themselves, the United States government sent out tens of millions of stimulus checks to Americans that qualify for the monetary assistance to help them. Except Puerto Ricans.

According to Raw Story, the mayor of San Juan, Carmen Yulín Cruz, has stated that not a single person on the island has received a stimulus check which went out the second weekend of April while struggling to distribute $500 payments that were promised to Puerto Rico Gov. Wanda Vázquez Garced.

“Money is not getting into people’s hands because of the current local government of Puerto Rico, and perhaps guidelines that have not been distributed,” she added. “But the problem is not getting the support that we need. The problem is that the support goes to the higher levels of government, and doesn’t reach the people that it’s supposed to reach.”

Though close to 90 million residents living in the states have already received their checks, the Treasury Department did promise to eventually get stimulus money in the pockets of Puerto Ricans… in the coming weeks.

“As we complete the agreements with the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Treasury on the distribution of the Economic Impact Payment, we have already identified some 486,000 taxpayers who would receive approximately $800.1 million, in all likelihood, in the upcoming weeks,” Francisco Parés, secretary at the Puerto Rico Treasury Department, told the Puerto Rican business news outlet News Is My Business.

That’s nice to know. It’s not like people can starve to death in weeks, right? SMH.

It’s gotten to the point that 11 U.S. House members (many of Latino decent) have taken it upon themselves to call on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Republican Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy to “guarantee that Puerto Rico is treated equally to the states in any of the upcoming coronavirus stimulus packages.”

“Even before COVID-19, Puerto Rico was suffering immensely from earthquakes earlier this year, longstanding economic and physical damage from Hurricane Maria and decades of economic neglect,” Rep. Nydia Velázquez, D-N.Y., told NBC News.

Real talk, that shouldn’t even be necessary, but when it comes to this Trump administration who view brown Americans as “breeders” and “invaders” regardless of where they’re from, it’s a must.

“As Congress begins the next phase of legislation with help for states and localities,” Velázquez said, “I’ll be working hand-in-glove with Speaker Pelosi on solutions that address the unique challenges facing Puerto Rico and the 3.5 million U.S. citizens who live there.”

Thank goodness for morally just elected officials. What a f*cking concept.