I don't really know what I want to say. In a rare moment of channel surfing I happened upon the Discovery Channel's "Surviving Katrina." I don't care for their re-enactments and what I find too great an element of sensationalism, but, having been in New Orleans this past spring, when you could once again drive down Canal Street, the live footage of Katrina captured my attention.
Last year, during the first week of September I changed the course I was scheduled to teach in January from "Applied Sociology in an Urban Environment" to "Applied Sociology: The Social Dimensions of Disaster." My goal was to examine [what was then] the Katrina disaster through the lenses of, at a minimum, race, class, and gender. I also hoped to find the means to have the class do relief work in the Gulf. In January we traveled to the Gulf and spent a week working in Mississippi. We also spent a day in New Orleans learning firsthand about the disaster. I returned in April. A lot had changed. But not a lot had changed.
As I've suggested in other postings, I'm just not a strong enough writer to begin to characterize what it was like, on both trips... Watching this program I am, again, shocked, appalled, disgusted. I just can't fathom what the "leadership" in this country allowed to happen.
When we returned to Minnesota last January people here were surprised that there was still so much work to be done. After four and a half months people couldn't believe that there might not have been significant improvements. I can only imagine that, a year later, many people around the country imagine that things are pretty much back to normal. That is so very wrong. So very wrong. I don't have a particular relief program or volunteer opportunity to pitch. There are tons of opportunities for those who can help. I just had to write something. It's just beyond my comprehension what this country allowed to happen.
10 months ago
3 comments:
Hi, we were talking about this yesterday with John, and talked about the fact that New Orleans might become the city used to be some long time ago, with its original population, half or less as it used to be before the hurricane hit. And later we read an article on the New York Times about how much work left there is. The truht is everything is happening in slow motion for those people... and I just wish bushy had other priorities on his agenda. I feel for them, as I once experience what is like to be swept away by a storm. Good post!
Your post is right on target, mseh!
"It's just beyond my comprehension what this country allowed to happen."
It is amazing to me that our national leaders have no problem spending - as of this morning - over $310 billion, that's BILLION with a "B", on a senseless war in Iraq and we can't fix our own backyard. If that's "Compassionate Conservatism" we don't need anymore of it.
And I heard on the radio this morning that Bush is "satisfied" with the $110 billion allocated for rebuilding the Gulf Coast. Talk about screwed up priorities...
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