Upworthy's book GOOD PEOPLE, now available - take a look!

Shop
 Explore 

puerto rico

1 chart shows what's wrong with how the media covered the week's 2 big news stories.

Puerto Rico might not drive ratings, but it deserves our attention.

Hey! Remember Puerto Rico?

There was a big hurricane back in September 2017 that knocked out the power to the whole island leaving a bunch of U.S. citizens in the literal dark and without safe drinking water. President Donald Trump even went there to throw some paper towels. It was a whole thing.

Ring a bell?

This week, we learned that the government's estimate of 64 hurricane-related deaths was off by, oh, 4,600 or so. Unfortunately, you might not have heard about it.

You might be thinking, "Wait, how? I keep up with the news. How did I miss this story?"

The answer: Most cable news outlets barely covered it. For the most part, the story was overshadowed by coverage of ABC's decision to cancel "Roseanne" following a racist Twitter post by the show's star.

Media Matters, a liberal-leaning media watchdog group, looked at how the three major cable news outlets — Fox News, CNN, MSNBC — covered the new report on Puerto Rico compared to Roseanne Barr's tweet and subsequent firing.

Using data from May 29 and the morning of May 30, Media Matters found that Roseanne's story got more than 20 times as much coverage as the Puerto Rico report.

Here's another way to look at that data. Clearly, we're not seeing the full picture.

Photos by Valerie Macon/AFP/Getty Images, Mario Tama/Getty Images.

We cannot forget the people of Puerto Rico. The tragedy was horrible, and for many, it's not over. There are still ways we can and should help.

Organizations like All Hands and Hearts, Direct Relief, Americares, Hispanic Federation, and Habitat for Humanity are still on the ground helping people rebuild their lives. We owe it to our fellow Americans to help, to never forget the tragedy that hit them, and to no longer let the rapid-fire pace of the news cycle bump these types of stories from the front of our minds.

Our news media owes it to us to give as much attention to the thousands of lost American lives as it gives to whatever the daily bit of Hollywood drama happens to be. (Admittedly, we wrote about the Roseanne drama earlier this week, as well.)

I don't know if there's something we, as a whole, could have done differently to help the people of Puerto Rico in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Maria.

But I do know that it's on us to honor those lost as the result of the storm and apply whatever lessons are to be taken from this horrific event to reduce the damage of future disasters.

In the wake of Hurricane Maria, he was looking for ways to help out.

Dallas Mavericks point guard J.J. Barea recently asked his boss, Mark Cuban, for a huge favor. He needed to borrow the team plane.

Without hesitation, Cuban gave Barea the go ahead and with good reason: Barrea needed to get to Puerto Rico to help his family and bring supplies for others stranded on the hurricane-ravaged island.

Barea celebrates a basket during a 2015 game. Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images.

Carrying along 32 generators, 7 tons of water, 5 tons of food, and 1.5 tons of medical supplies, Barea set off for his home of Puerto Rico the morning of Sept. 26, 2017.

Surveying the damage from the air and on the ground, Barea was shocked by the level of devastation left by Hurricane Maria.

"It's like a bomb exploded," he told the CBS affiliate in Dallas with tears welled up in his eyes.

[rebelmouse-image 19529465 dam="1" original_size="450x253" caption="GIF from CBSDFW/YouTube." expand=1]GIF from CBSDFW/YouTube.

Originally, Barea and his wife, Viviana, set out to crowdfund assistance for people on the ground in Puerto Rico — something people who want to do can still donate to. However, when the opportunity to make the trip down there himself came up, he jumped at the chance. His mother and grandmother, both on the island when Maria hit, rode back in the plane with Barea as did some friends and even a few complete strangers in need.

He's planning on making another trip in the next few days to drop off more supplies and offer on-the-ground assistance of his own.

[rebelmouse-image 19529466 dam="1" original_size="750x355" caption="Barea lands in Puerto Rico. Photo via CBSDFW/YouTube." expand=1]Barea lands in Puerto Rico. Photo via CBSDFW/YouTube.

Puerto Ricans are our fellow Americans, and they need our help.

The majority of the island's 3.4 million residents were still without power as of Sept. 26, and many still don't even have access to clean drinking water. Our president doesn't seem entirely invested in getting them the help they need, and a number of bureaucratic hurdles — such as the Jones Act — exist that prevent those of us itching to help out from doing so.

Some, like Barea (via Cuban, of course) and Pitbull, have access to private planes they can use to help out during the crisis, but most of us don't. Thankfully, Melissa Locker over at Fast Company put together a quick list of things you, personally, can do and organizations you can support if you want to help those whose lives have been devastated by the storm.

[rebelmouse-image 19529467 dam="1" original_size="450x253" caption=""Puerto Rico, for me, is everything." GIF from CBSDFW/YouTube." expand=1]"Puerto Rico, for me, is everything." GIF from CBSDFW/YouTube.

Watch the Dallas-Fort Worth CBS news affiliate's report on Barea's trip below.

From Your Site Articles

Mark Cuban revealed the Dallas Mavericks haven't played the national anthem this season - Upworthy ›

Heroes

Trump tweeted 80 times since Maria hit Puerto Rico. Guess how many were about the storm?

Since the outer bands of Hurricane Maria began whipping Puerto Rico on the evening of Sept. 19, President Trump has published 80(!) original tweets. The vast, vast majority of them — as you may have guessed — were not about the deadly storm or his administration's response to it.

To get a better sense of the president's priorities, I've collected every original tweet he's published since Maria hit the island (for the sake of simplicity, I'm not including retweets). The storm wreaked havoc on Puerto Rico, leaving over 3 million people without power and wiping out nearly its entire agriculture industry.

As the hurricane hit, he shared a fairly appropriate presidential message of solidarity.

But his attention there didn't last long.

Eight minutes later, he was tweeting about U.N. business.

Two minutes after that, he thanked a random follower.

Another eight minutes went by as he typed out a message slamming the Emmys.

(It sounds like he's still bitter about never winning one.)

The next morning, Maria continued racing toward Puerto Rico. From Trump's tweets, you wouldn't know it.

He was back to the U.N., blasting Hillary Clinton, and praising Fox News.

At the same time Trump began these early morning tweets, Maria's center was a mere 50 miles southeast of Puerto Rico's populous capital, San Juan.

Later that day, Trump tweeted about the GOP's latest harmful, unpopular piece of health care legislation and dissed Rand Paul.

He took time to tweet a plug for his stop in Alabama to stump for Senate candidate Luther Strange.

At about that time, experts estimated it would take several hours for the hurricane to pass over all of Puerto Rico, given how slowly the storm is moving (10 mph) — which was not a good sign.

He also updated followers on his recent chats with foreign leaders.

Shortly after Trump tweeted that, the whole island of Puerto Rico lost power.

He tweeted photos from a luncheon with African leaders, conveniently leaving out the fact that he made up an African country to praise its health care.

Even after Puerto Rico went dark, Maria's wind speeds remained dangerously fast, topping out at 115 mph. Still no word from the president, though he did take time to wish Jewish Americans a happy new year.

Around the time the National Hurricane Center reported there was "catastrophic flash flooding" across Puerto Rico, he went on an Alabama health care bender (again).

About 16 hours after Maria made landfall, Trump's attention finally returned to the natural disaster and he again expressed solidarity with Puerto Rico.

Two minutes later, he went back to sharing more self-congratulatory videos and pics from his U.N. meetings.

He bragged about polls.

He published another vague teaser tweet about the U.N.

He blasted Rand Paul (again).

He called Kim Jong-un a "madman."

He accepted a compliment.

He ranted about "fake news," Russia, and Clinton.

He promoted his Alabama rally. Again.

He shared a U.N. video that seemed more like a movie trailer.

He thanked American Airlines for helping Hurricane Maria victims...

...but failed to specify how the federal government would increase efforts to do so and said nothing about helping Puerto Rico.

He went on and on about Alabama and Arizona.

He put more pressure on Paul (again) and went on and on about Alabama and Alaska.

Four days after Maria hit, Trump was busy attacking Stephen Curry and the NFL.

He boasted about Melania Trump, criticized Iran, and roasted John McCain.

By the time he was attacking NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell for not condemning the #TakeAKnee protests, more and more aerial footage from Puerto Rico was being released showing complete disaster across the island.

Still, no formal statement from Trump himself addressing the destruction.

He called Kim Jong-un "Little Rocket Man."

He turned his attention back to pro sports.

He then segued to health care...

...before going back to the NFL.

He talked about making America scared — er, safe.

While Trump was randomly praising NASCAR fans, the complete devastation Maria brought to Puerto Rico came into full view.

But the president still hadn't publicly addressed how his administration would help. He went back to attacking the NFL again.

He talked about tax cuts.

He talked about the NFL.

Finally, six days after Maria first made landfall, he — wait, sound the alarm — tweeted about Puerto Rico! Except...

He didn't so much update Americans on what's being done to help those in need, as much as he seemingly blamed hurricane victims for their poor infrastructure and mounting debt.

Because time is a flat circle, he then went back to blasting McCain.

And talking about Alabama.

And attacking athletes.

And more Alabama.

And more Fox News.

He thanked San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz for essentially thanking him...

NFL. Alabama.

Added a few pics from inside the White House...

...and gave a shoutout to Nikki Haley to cap it off.

All in all, just six of Trump's 80 tweets since Hurricane Maria began pummeling Puerto Rico had to do with the crisis itself. Six.

As The Washington Post reported, it's really not complicated: Trump is more interested in the NFL than saving Puerto Ricans.

The president has a lot of responsibilities, of course. But saving American lives in the wake of natural disaster should be a top priority.

Maria was the third-strongest hurricane ever to plow into a U.S. territory. It's killed at least 16 people in Puerto Rico thus far (but officials fear that number will likely rise). Nearly the entire island still has no electricity or cellphone service. Hospitals are barely functioning.

After facing a barrage of criticism pointing to his lack of response (or, evidently, interest), Trump confirmed on Tuesday that food, water, and other supplies were being shipped to the island and that he plans on visiting next week to assess the damage. One reason his administration was slow to respond? Puerto Rico "is in the middle of an ocean," he explained. "It's a big ocean. It's a very big ocean."

Puerto Rico needs us now. Here's how you can help supply aid to Puerto Rico.

Monica Puig is the perfect example of why our human brains love underdogs.

Few people probably expected Monica Puig to get the Olympic gold.

Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images.

Puig represented Puerto Rico in women's tennis at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Before Rio, Puerto Rico hadn't won a gold medal in, well, any Olympic sport in more than 60 years. Puig was an unlikely bet to get one this year too. In the ranks of the top tennis champs in the world, Puig wasn't even in the top 20. Going into the Olympics, she was ranked 37th.

Ahead of her? A number of seriously intimidating opponents, including Garbine Muguruza, who won the 2016 French Open just a few months earlier.

Puig was, in short, the classic underdog.

Puig had to defeat Germany's Angelique Kerber in order to win gold. Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images.

Nevertheless, she entered the court and held her own. And she didn't just hold her own. She won, and kept on winning. Eventually, she ended up matched against Germany's Angelique Kerber — the tennis champ ranked second best in the world.

It'd be hard to look at that lineup and not feel a little spark of support for Puig starting to flare in your heart. The first game swung in Puig's favor, 6-4. In the second, Kerber came back 4-6.

It was down to the last game. The final game. Thousands of Puerto Ricans gathered together to watch. Even Catholic Masses were delayed as the entire island rooted for their underdog champion.

And what happened? Puig took it 6-1 and, with it, Puerto Rico's first gold medal.

Rooting for the underdogs is something humans love to do.

Maybe there's an alien species out there somewhere who hates "The Karate Kid." But if that's the case, they can stay on their own planet ... because here on Earth, we root for the little guy. It's what we do.

A lot of studies have confirmed this too. In their incredibly comprehensive 2007 paper, three researchers from the University of South Florida, led by professor Joseph Vandello, found that we truly do love underdogs, whether that's in sports, politics, or other areas.

Why? Maybe it's because we feel like underdogs have more heart.

Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images.

Vandello and his colleagues found that when people sat down to watch a competition between a favored-winner and an underdog, they felt like the underdog tried harder.

Watching Puig go up against the odds-on favorite, we can't help but attribute some sort of Disney-esque, Oh-Captain-My-Captain pluck to her. And we can't help but like the person who tries harder and fights for what she thinks she deserves.

Plus, there's the fact that we just fundamentally want to live in a fair world.

Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images.

We want the person we think is trying harder to win. If they don't, it feels unfair, and human beings naturally just hate it when the world isn't fair. Heck, even monkeys hate it when the world isn't fair.

So what do we do? We root for the underdog. Vandello suggests we might do this because it subconsciously feels like our support could level the odds, but it might also simply be our desire for an affirmation that the world really is fair, just, and true.

And then there's the emotional payoff.

Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images.

We get more bang for our emotional buck by rooting for the underdog. After all, if we root for the favorite and they win, well, we kind of expected that, didn't we? Even if they had a huge chance of winning, Cobra Kai winning the tournament would have felt kind of ... boring, wouldn't it? (Also, what are you doing rooting for Cobra Kai?!)

On the other hand, it's a huge deal when the underdog wins. It's surprising! It's amazing! There'll be books about it! Public radio hosts will argue about how it happened! And in the middle of all that will be us — the true, die-hard fans, basking in the feeling of "I always knew they could do it."

And if we compare the two, it turns out that the emotional high of the underdog outweighs the higher odds of the top dogs. So, from an emotional perspective, investing in the underdog is just smart betting. And if they lose, well, it was a long shot anyway, so we can console ourselves with that.

Whatever the case, there's one thing that's undeniable: Seeing Puig claim gold this year was amazing.

Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images.

Her opponents played well and they deserve accolades of their own — after all, you don't get to the Olympics without exceptional training and hard work. But there's still something amazing about seeing the little guy win.

Puig wasn't the only underdog to claim victory this year in Rio. Singapore's Joseph Schooling beat out world favorite Michael Phelps in the 100-meter butterfly. Hoang Xuan Vinh took Vietnam's first ever gold in the air pistol. Kosovo's Majlinda Kelmendi dominated in judo.

Maybe that spark of underdog support is a weird quirk of human nature. Maybe. But my brain can't help but smile when I see Puig up there with that giant gold medal. Because really, truly, I believe she deserves it.

Here's two things you might not know: One, there's a primary in Puerto Rico. Two, Marco Rubio won it. By a lot.

Yep, that's right. Last night, Marco Rubio won Puerto Rico's GOP primary in a landslide.

It's Rubio's first major victory and his second outright victory in the race so far. It earned him 23 delegates and put him marginally closer to potentially someday maybe posing some sort of actual threat to GOP powerhouse Donald Trump and hot-on-his-heels Ted Cruz.

Marco Rubio campaigning in South Carolina. Photo by Richard Ellis/Getty Images.

Why such a huge win for Rubio in Puerto Rico?

Rubio is the only GOP candidate to visit Puerto Rico so far, as well as the only one to openly support statehood for the U.S. territory.

For Puerto Ricans, this is a significant position to take. The island is over $70 billion in debt and has defaulted on debt payments twice. As Puerto Rico Gov. Alejandro García Padilla told CNN, "We're out of cash."

People protest outside Wall Street in New York against cutbacks and austerity measures forced on severely indebted Puerto Rico. Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images.

The tanking economy is causing a mass population exodus from the island to the mainland. Fewer Puerto Rican residents to pay taxes means more debt, and the whole crisis has been ominously referred to as a "death spiral."

If Puerto Rico gains statehood, it will be able to file for Chapter 9 bankruptcy with federal protection, meaning the island could restructure its debts, negotiate in court with bondholders, and cover about a third of its debt.

If not, Puerto Rico and its citizens will remain in the economic crisis indefinitely.

Primaries are the only chance citizens of Puerto Rico get to make their voices heard — they aren't allowed to vote in the general election.

A 115-year-old Supreme Court decision (blasted by John Oliver last year) ensures that no U.S. territories are allowed to vote in the general election.

While Republicans in Puerto Rico voted clearly in favor of Rubio, assigning their delegates last night (as they will for the Democrats in June), this is really the only chance Puerto Rican citizens have to let politicians running for president know what's important to them.

A vacant building in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Photo by Christopher Gregory/Getty Images.

Why would Rubio care about Puerto Rico if it can't help him win the general election?

Well, Florida has a population of over 1 million Puerto Ricans. Courting Puerto Rico helps Rubio secure the swing state's 99 delegates.

But frankly, Rubio doesn't have to worry too much about Florida. It's his home state, and pending another meltdown of epic proportions at the GOP debate on Wednesday, his win in Florida is all but clinched.

Rubio campaigning in Florida in 2010. Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images.

It's pretty easy to make campaign promises to a population that doesn't vote in the general election.

Hillary Clinton promised Puerto Rico voting rights in 2008 and got 68% of the Democratic primary vote there. Mitt Romney promised statehood in 2012 and got 83% of the GOP primary vote that year.

Presidential candidate Mitt Romney shakes hands with Puerto Rico Gov. Luis Fortuño at Isla Grande Airport in San Juan in 2012 ahead of the Republican primary. Photo by Christopher Gregory/Getty Images.

We never got to see whether either of their promises would come true, but Puerto Rico has consistently and overwhelmingly supported candidates who promise more representation, regardless of their political affiliation.

In this election cycle, candidates including Hillary Clinton have supported giving Puerto Rico bankruptcy protection, but only Rubio (and, formerly, Jeb! Bush) have campaigned in favor of full representation for Puerto Rico with a 51st star on the flag.

Will the next president be the one who finally recognizes Puerto Rico's primary votes for what they truly mean?

Or will the territory remain a stepping stone for politicians to use on their journey to more "important" political contests? Will 2016 be the year that Puerto Rico is rescued by the U.S. government? Or will our collective memory once again forget about the territory and its citizens until another candidate needs delegates in the next election cycle?

Last night, Puerto Rico was granted five minutes in a room with a nation that has a thousand other things on its to-do list. Its citizens spoke clearly once again — whether they're heard remains to be seen.

See how a group of photographers is responding to the media's nonstop negativity about their home.

Maybe you've heard Puerto Rico is in a little bit of trouble.

The latest scare has been about the island's "unpayable" $72 billion debt.

"¿Más sacrificios? Bummer." Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images.

But who wants talk about that, right?

We get it. They're in a debt crisis. That drum's been beaten so loudly that Greece is like, "Uhh, guys, can you keep it down? We're trying to focus over here."

The crisis may be out of the ordinary citizens' hands, but a group of Instagrammers is stepping up with a solution.

"Puerto Rico was getting a bad reputation ... for our current economic crisis," said artist Fernando Samalot in an interview with Upworthy. "And there was no effort from the government to mitigate the situation and keep people interested in visiting."

Image by The Real Puerto Rico/Instagram, used with permission.

Samalot is one of 10 ecotourism Instagrammers who helped launch an online initiative dubbed #CrisisIsland, the goal of which was explained in a statement by Synapse Social, the social media consulting group behind the campaign:

Their hope with #CrisisIsland is that the world will see all the things that make Puerto Rico immeasurably rich.

Samalot hopes more locals will feel empowered to act as representatives of Puerto Rico because, as he says, "nobody can tell the story better than the people who are actually living it."

With thousands of photos and videos posted to #CrisisIsland, it seems Samalot's wish is beginning to come true. And as you scroll through the images, debt doom gets swallowed by wonder and longing.

They show a Puerto Rico that's just rolling in green...

Photo by Fernando Samalot/Instagram (@simonebirch), used with permission.

...riddled with hidden gems...

Photo by Harold Camilo/Instagram (@haroldcamilo), used with permission.

...and bathed in turquoise.

Photo by Isaac Reyes/Instagram (@sakography), used with permission.

They show people who are proud of their home...

Photo by Gabriel Ocando/Instagram (@krekro), used with permission.

...who see the bigger picture...

Photo by Harold Camilo/Instagram (@haroldcamilo), used with permission.

...and who know the financial crisis, huge as it may seem, is mere chump change next to Puerto Rico's natural wonders.

"Tus problemas no son mas grandes que estas montañas. La vida es un pestañeo, compártela, disfrútala, siembra la semilla del amor. Puerto Rico necesita gente como tú, con determinación. Has tu parte." Photo by Gabriel Ocando/Instagram (@krekro), used with permission.

For some, it may be hard to imagine a collection of photos leading to real change, but isn't it as good an idea as any?

They won't erase the the island's debt or solve their broader economic struggles. But they can remind locals to stay optimistic while also showcasing Puerto Rico's vast offerings beyond the walls of resorts and strip malls.

"Tucked between mountains, through the veins of our land, the source of life flows." Photo by Fernando Samalot/Instagram (@simonebirch), used with permission.

"The power of social networks is undeniable," said Carmen Portela, founder of Synapse Social. "This group ... has decided to use that power to seize the crisis and improve the image of the country, which has so much to offer the world."

See more on the #CrisisIsland Instagram feed and in this video by The Real Puerto Rico: