My heart aches. This year I’m about to graduate a class @ University of Puerto Rico that has seen:
1. Since they were 8 yo, they have seen the economy shrinking every single year with no end on sight.
1. Since they were 8 yo, they have seen the economy shrinking every single year with no end on sight.
2. Their Island emptying out, more than 1/4 of the population left.
3. The creation of PROMESA by Obama and Paul Ryan, which came to undermine what we have built. To make sure Wall Street will get paid even if that meant destroying our economy.
5. the cut imposed by PROMESa of literally half of the budget of the only public university that we have. UPR
6. These students In order to defend our University they went on strike for 72 Looong days. We lost grants, internships, etc. but they also lost the battle.
They had to come back from the strike to take classes the whole summer. Without knowing if they could afford next semester’s tuition, tired from fighting, feeling defeated.
7. They barely had time off during the summer when they had to start the dreaded fall semester. A semester of tuition hikes and budget cuts. Within a week of starting, they were gonna face the worst tragedy. Two Cat. 5 hurricanes.
8. They lost houses, family, friends. But they came back to study. Without power, electricity, water, they continue attending classes. Hustling for every space with WiFi, working from poor cell signals. That semester was extended til February.
9. They worked hard, but saw an ineficiente government responding to the disaster. fema workers stealing money, American companies profiting from our tragedy.
10. Then they learned that our corrupt and inefficient government dare to laugh at our expense. So they went to the streets to fight for the resignation of governor Rossello. They were beat, pepper sprayed, and shot by the police. They didn’t stop. They won. We all celebrated.
11. Just a few months later they had to face a series of never seen before earthquakes. It will destroy again their houses and their communities. #TemblorPR
12. And now, I have to prepare them to face a wave of Coronavirus infectious. #COVD19
My students have nothing to be optimistic about, but they keep pushing. They refuse to be defeated. I’m a proud professor of a strong and resilient #2020class. I know that in the future we will be in great hands.
