Rosie Perez is dismayed by the President’s response to the disaster in Puerto Rico — especially when she thinks about how ‘heartbroken’ her deeply patriotic father would have been to witness it.
The 53-year-old Academy Award-nominated actress, who was born in New York to two Puerto Rican parents, has written an essay for Lenny Letter begging Americans to help with disaster relief.
In her plea, Rosie does more than just tell people where they can donate; she also explains that she has feelings of abandonment and disappointment as a Puerto Rican following Trump’s criticism of the people there, as well as his refusal to take the same steps he did for Texas and Florida earlier this summer.
Perspective: Rosie Perez wrote an essay in which she spoke about her father, a World War II and Korean War veteran from Puerto Rico
Home: The 53-year-old actress was born in the US to two Puerto Rican parents and described her dad as deeply patriotic
Rosie said her late father, who lived in Puerto Rican town of Anguilla, was a ‘very proud American’ who served in World War II and the Korean War.
‘He believed in the American Dream, the promise that if you worked hard, you could achieve your goals, and that regardless of race, color, or creed, you had a right to be at the table because of your citizenship,’ she wrote.
For Rosie, that idea could be difficult to reconcile with the realities of racism she faced growing up. She said she was always forced to defend her accent and her skin color to people who ‘made me question my father’s seemingly blind love for our great nation’.
It hurt when she’d hear people call Puerto Ricans ‘ignorant, uneducated, and lazy,’ and it was exhausting to have to explain that she wasn’t an immigrant, that Puerto Ricans are American citizens. She still has to do this today.
Horrifying: She has been upset by the response from the White House to the devastation in Puerto Rico
They’re Americans, too! Rosie said that her whole life, she has had to explain that she is not an immigrant and their Puerto Ricans are American citizens
Proud: Her dad had discussed similar issues with her, saying that it hurts that Puerto Ricans are treated differently, even though many fought for their country
Her father experienced this, too, but was determined to see the best in people.
‘Their stupidity and meanness is their right as Americans,’ her father told her once. ‘[But] the mainland should take care of the island better. Many of us [Puerto Ricans] fought for the United States, and it hurts, it hurts that we are treated differently and don’t get the same attention as the states get.
‘But it’s OK. Not all Americans are that stupid. Many care. Many know what we did for them. And the American Dream still belongs to us,’ she remembers him saying.
Rosie said that despite the problems she’s faced, she tries to keep them in perspective — and characterizes them as ‘small potatoes’ compared to what other Puerto Ricans have come up against over the past century.
For over 50 years, from 1948 to 2001, the US Navy tested bombs on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques. They test those bombs for about 180 days a year, with 23,000 bombs going off in 1998 alone.
Besides the obvious inconveniences, this testing has contributing to much higher rates of sickness in Vieques than elsewhere in the Caribbean.
Did you know? She also detailed some of the other hardships that Puerto Ricans have faced over the past century, like military bomb testing that has contributed to high rates of illness
Priorities: She said her father was likely rolling in his grave as the President tweeted ‘nonsense’ while Puerto Ricans suffered
Presidential? Trump criticized the mayor of San Juan and characterized Puerto Ricans as lazy, saying they ‘want everything to be done for them’
Close to home: Rosie recalls having to battle stereotypes that Puerto Ricans are lazy
According to 2016 article in The Atlantic, Vieques residents are eight times more likely to die of heart disease, seven times more likely to die of diabetes, and more likely to have cancer.
Then there’s the cost of living and the country’s debt — that $70 billion that Trump mentioned. Rosie said that this is due to the the Jones Act, which puts high tariffs (paid by the Puerto Ricans themselves) on anything shipped there.
Now, they’ve been hit with a devastating hurricane that has left most people without food, drinking water, medicine, power, or even the ability to call 911.
This latest tragedy, though, may have hit the hearts of Puerto Ricans the most — particularly, says Rosie, because of the way Trump is handling it.
‘My father is probably turning in his grave right now,’ she wrote. ‘If he were alive, he’d be heartbroken by the delayed response from that man who was voted our president. It would’ve killed him to know that the same attention given to Texas and Florida has not been given to the people of Puerto Rico.
Inequality: She is upset that Trump has not given the same attention to Puerto Rico that was given to Texas and Florida
Getting her hands dirty: He also slammed San Juan mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz (pictured in water) for ‘poor leadership ability’
Fighting back: Cruz said she didn’t say anything ‘nasty’ about the president, as he claimed, but was just asking for help
‘While that man in the White House was busy tweeting nonsense about professional athletes and blaming Puerto Rico for its economic woes, Puerto Ricans continued to suffer.’
Rosie really takes issue with one of Trump’s tweets in particular: ‘Such poor leadership ability by the Mayor of San Juan, and others in Puerto Rico, who are not able to get their workers to help.
‘They want everything to be done for them when it should be a community effort,’ he went on, echoing the criticism Rosie heard as a kid that Puerto Ricans are lazy.
Despite Trump’s words, the actress still has faith that there are enough good Americans out there who want to help.
‘I still believe in my father’s love for this great nation that I call home,’ she said. ‘I refuse to allow the lack of action from this administration to force me to let go of the American Dream. I still believe that many of my fellow Americans are good people.’
She asked readers to help through United for Puerto Rico, Empire State Relief, and the Hispanic Federation.
Star power: Jennifer Lopez and Lin-Manuel Miranda have also spoken out about the effects of Hurricane Maria
Other celebrities with Puerto Rican heritage have also spoken out about relief efforts and encouraged people to donate.
Jennifer Lopez, whose parents are Puerto Rican, donated $1 million to the relief effort.
‘Hurricane Maria has devastated our island,’ she said in a press conference this weekend. ‘Given the loss and devastation, we need to pay attention and to urgently support Puerto Rico and the Caribbean through donations and contributions.’
Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda said he is working on a new song to help raise money, and was one of many stars to roundly criticized Trump for his tweets.
‘You’re going straight to hell, @realDonaldTrump. No long lines for you. Someone will say, “Right this way, sir.” They’ll clear a path,’ he wrote. ‘[San Juan mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz] has been working 24/7. You have been GOLFING.
‘You’re going straight to hell. Fastest golf cart you ever took. Did you tweet this one from the first hole, 18th hole, or the club? Anyway, it’s a lie. You’re a congenital liar.’