Katrina 5 years Later
August 27th 2010 21:21
Well, I must say it's been a while since I've written anything on this blog. I figured today would be just as good as any to do so, so here it goes...
It's amazing that 5 years have passed since hurricane Katrina touched down in New Orleans, Louisiana, parts of Mississippi, and Alabama, with the worst of the carnage in just New Orleans alone. It's been 5 years since this country essentially showed the world that we are capable of sending aid and money quickly to every corner of this earth, except here at home. It's been 5 years since FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) showed this country just how inept it is at doing it's job along with the Federal government within the state that failed Louisiana.
Granted, it's not often that whole cities are required to evacuate in a matter of hours and days. It's not often that a city below sea level is threatened by a category 4 or 5 hurricane And it's definitely not often that levees built by the Army Corps of Engineers is breached flooding neighborhood after neighborhood and leaving people trapped where they sat by what the waters had to bring. But it is often that the world needs the USA's assistance with natural disasters, and this country answers that need mostly all the time, but when Katrina left and returned to whence she came, the USA and its citizens sat stunned watching on our television sets fellow Americans stranded on their rooftops, left on abandoned bridges, and waiting inside a dome and outside a civic center for transportation that never came in time.
I want to say that we were slow to react because we were shocked at the force of which Katrina destroyed everything in her path. I want to say that we were slow to react because we didn't know exactly what to do to rescue a whole city, over a million people attempting to get out by roads blocked or under water or gone. I would like to say that we just didn't know what to do and instead of admitting it right off the bat, we just sat idly by for days waiting for the water to reside so that our already thinned National Guard could get supplies and rescue attempts to people. I would like to say a lot of things, but I can't because honestly I think Katrina had her way with the people of New Orleans simply because of a failed infrastructure. One based totally on the age old fable of the haves vs. the have nots.
Anyone who knows about New Orleans knows about Mardi Gras and the days of debauchery and celebration that take over Bourbon Street. But people didn't want to or just didn't care at all about the somewhat sorry state that New Orleans, Louisiana was in before Katrina. With corrupt police forces, a faltering education system, and the list goes on, Katrina brought to light what New Orleans had been suffering. When the levees broke, the water took the lives of those either left behind because they had no means of getting out, the water took those who refused to leave their homes because they had no where else to go, and the water took homes, some of which still bear the battle scars 5 years later.
As much as people hate the mention of race and class, Katrina was definitely and eye opener to just how much race and class still matter in modern day times such as 2005. On television screens across the nation, it was not mostly middle class, white, well to do people sweltering in the heat of Louisiana on their rooftops, outside the dome, or at the convention center. It was predominately poor black, some poor white, and some poor Cajun faces of people dying of dehydration and heat stroke. I truly hope that we didn't take our time getting aid and help to those who were fortunate to survive because of what they looked like or where on the socio-economic ladder they may have come from. I like to hope that was not the reason why, but when you take a look at how much has and hasn't been done to re-build New Orleans, to bring back those who were bused and flown to surrounding states, or even to help those who stayed and are still awaiting their fair share of help from FEMA and other agencies, it makes my soul ponder just how much humanity can stave off the urge to succumb to race and class.
Mind you, this is just the rambling on of a concerned citizen who watched people suffer insurmountable death and destruction on her television, who had friends and relatives fortunately survive Katrina, who donated money to the Red Cross along with supplies to churches sending care packages to various parishes, and continues to meet people who were able to start their lives over. I just hope and pray that if this country were to see another major disaster such as Katrina, that we've taken notes and learned a lesson or two on what NOT to do and what DEFINITELY to do to ensure that more lives are not lost needlessly.
If you haven't done so already and have the opportunity to, please check out Spike Lee's first Katrina documentary, "When the Levees Broke Parts I & II" and now his sequel documenting the time since Katrina "If God is Willing and Da Creek Don't Rise" from HBO documentary series collection. Both series give a true glimpse and non-sugar coated insight to what worked, what failed, and how those who survived are coping with what they've lost. And it not only deals with the black experience of loss and anger, but also the white experience from government officials to everyday Cajun fishermen.
It's amazing that 5 years have passed since hurricane Katrina touched down in New Orleans, Louisiana, parts of Mississippi, and Alabama, with the worst of the carnage in just New Orleans alone. It's been 5 years since this country essentially showed the world that we are capable of sending aid and money quickly to every corner of this earth, except here at home. It's been 5 years since FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) showed this country just how inept it is at doing it's job along with the Federal government within the state that failed Louisiana.
I want to say that we were slow to react because we were shocked at the force of which Katrina destroyed everything in her path. I want to say that we were slow to react because we didn't know exactly what to do to rescue a whole city, over a million people attempting to get out by roads blocked or under water or gone. I would like to say that we just didn't know what to do and instead of admitting it right off the bat, we just sat idly by for days waiting for the water to reside so that our already thinned National Guard could get supplies and rescue attempts to people. I would like to say a lot of things, but I can't because honestly I think Katrina had her way with the people of New Orleans simply because of a failed infrastructure. One based totally on the age old fable of the haves vs. the have nots.
Anyone who knows about New Orleans knows about Mardi Gras and the days of debauchery and celebration that take over Bourbon Street. But people didn't want to or just didn't care at all about the somewhat sorry state that New Orleans, Louisiana was in before Katrina. With corrupt police forces, a faltering education system, and the list goes on, Katrina brought to light what New Orleans had been suffering. When the levees broke, the water took the lives of those either left behind because they had no means of getting out, the water took those who refused to leave their homes because they had no where else to go, and the water took homes, some of which still bear the battle scars 5 years later.
As much as people hate the mention of race and class, Katrina was definitely and eye opener to just how much race and class still matter in modern day times such as 2005. On television screens across the nation, it was not mostly middle class, white, well to do people sweltering in the heat of Louisiana on their rooftops, outside the dome, or at the convention center. It was predominately poor black, some poor white, and some poor Cajun faces of people dying of dehydration and heat stroke. I truly hope that we didn't take our time getting aid and help to those who were fortunate to survive because of what they looked like or where on the socio-economic ladder they may have come from. I like to hope that was not the reason why, but when you take a look at how much has and hasn't been done to re-build New Orleans, to bring back those who were bused and flown to surrounding states, or even to help those who stayed and are still awaiting their fair share of help from FEMA and other agencies, it makes my soul ponder just how much humanity can stave off the urge to succumb to race and class.
Mind you, this is just the rambling on of a concerned citizen who watched people suffer insurmountable death and destruction on her television, who had friends and relatives fortunately survive Katrina, who donated money to the Red Cross along with supplies to churches sending care packages to various parishes, and continues to meet people who were able to start their lives over. I just hope and pray that if this country were to see another major disaster such as Katrina, that we've taken notes and learned a lesson or two on what NOT to do and what DEFINITELY to do to ensure that more lives are not lost needlessly.
If you haven't done so already and have the opportunity to, please check out Spike Lee's first Katrina documentary, "When the Levees Broke Parts I & II" and now his sequel documenting the time since Katrina "If God is Willing and Da Creek Don't Rise" from HBO documentary series collection. Both series give a true glimpse and non-sugar coated insight to what worked, what failed, and how those who survived are coping with what they've lost. And it not only deals with the black experience of loss and anger, but also the white experience from government officials to everyday Cajun fishermen.
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