We are taking a moment to fully support what Puerto Rican journalist Andrea González-Ramírez of Refinery 29 tweeted out on Wednesday afternoon:
Since the news cycle and Twitter dot com apparently already forgot about the 5,000+ people who died in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria, I’m going to spotlight the stories of our dead. #4645boricuas
— Andrea González-Ramírez (@andreagonram) May 30, 2018
The response, to say the least, has been real and raw and honest. Here are just few of the tweets:
Liz lost her grandmother. #4645boricuas https://t.co/mJIHzGvAf4
— Andrea González-Ramírez (@andreagonram) May 30, 2018
Elidio lost his dad. #4645boricuas https://t.co/Hp2TwblBMc
— Andrea González-Ramírez (@andreagonram) May 30, 2018
Manuel lost his uncle. #4645boricuas https://t.co/21vtIx5vTS
— Andrea González-Ramírez (@andreagonram) May 30, 2018
Paulita died in Yauco. #4645boricuas https://t.co/udyCBWvjz7
— Andrea González-Ramírez (@andreagonram) May 30, 2018
Natalie died in Maunabo. #4645boricuas https://t.co/sCcXlPtQ76
— Andrea González-Ramírez (@andreagonram) May 30, 2018
#4645boricuas refers to the social media hashtag calling attention to the estimated 4,645 lives lost in Puerto Rico from September 20, 2017 through December 31, 2017, according to a Harvard study about the hurricane’s impact.
My grandmother died during the hurricane and her house was badly damaged. She was 78 years old. My brother took his own life after being diagnosed with cancer in the hell of medical care in PR. He was 31 years old. My heart aches. #4645boricuas pic.twitter.com/QvuAa9ceVl
— Carlos Rodriguez (@mycoldskies) May 31, 2018
You all know if almost 5000 dogs had died in the United States there would be more outrage #4645boricuas
— Rosa A. Clemente (@rosaclemente) May 30, 2018
All this social media activity comes at a time when it was pretty clear that news of the Harvard study didn’t really dominate the cable news cycle, when compared with the coverage of Roseanne Barr’s racist tweet.
As a Media Matters analysis noted:
Cable news barely covered the report. The May 29 broadcasts of MSNBC combined with the network’s flagship morning show the next day spent 21 minutes discussing the findings. CNN followed with just under 10 minutes of coverage, and Fox covered the report for just 48 seconds.
By contrast, cable news spent over 8 and a half hours discussing a tweet from Barr describing Jarrett, a Black woman, as the offspring of the Muslim Brotherhood and Planet of the Apes and the subsequent cancellation of her show.
We are not surprised.
