A relatively recent instance of injustice involved the United States of America (U.S.) and Puerto Rico which is an unincorporated territory of the United States. This means that Puerto Rico is under the control of the United States and is granted fundamental human rights, but not full rights granted by the U.S. Constitution. Therefore Puerto Rico is at the mercy of the U.S. for all of its needs and survival. The island was hit by a Category 4 named Hurricane Maria in 2017. Thousands of people died and there was at least 90 billion dollars worth of damage. For context, Puerto Rico’s GDP in 2016 was 103 billion dollars. The island of Puerto Rico now depends on the U.S. for economic aid. Congress has approved 20 billion dollars of aid but only 100 million has been spent since 2017 which is less than one percent. This is highly unusual. Individual states within the U.S. have suffered from weather-related national disasters in recent years and those states have received most of their allotted economic aid.
The unequal treatment of Puerto Rico can only be because of the relationship that it has with the U.S. and its constitutional ambiguity. A territory works as the Other in this relationship or slave in a master-slave dynamic. The systemic injustice is one of unequal treatment to territories in need of help compared to U.S. states. Identity also plays a role in this treatment. The people of Puerto Rico are native Spanish speakers and racially diverse. Two things that are different from most states and completely different from the people that oversee the release of this economic aid to Puerto Rico. This has had a devastating impact on Puerto Rico’s economy and has delayed economic recovery. There are two ways for this wrong to be righted. First, all of the economic aid needs to be dispersed to Puerto Rico. Second, the relationship between the U.S. and its territories needs to change. U.S. territories should be granted with voting members of Congress instead of the current non-voting members of Congress who do not have the right to vote on legislation that could affect funding for their territory.
https://www.citizensforethics.org/reports-investigations/crew-investigations/records-reveal-1-5-years-after-hurricane-maria-fema-had-sent-only-3-3-billion-to-puerto-rican-govt/
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/study-puerto-rico-received-slower-less-generous-federal-disaster-aid-than-texas-florida/
https://www.vox.com/2017/12/23/16795342/puerto-rico-maria-christmas