Hurricane Katrina

I think New Orleans is on everyone's mind today. It's been one year since the levees broke and the major city that was under sea level showed that it would withstand everything. We all heard horror stories about people stranded in the Saints arena and courthouse, of prisoners setting their own cells on fire to escape, of dead bodies floating through what was Jackson Square and the French Quarter. i remember watching television ,seeing people floating on old refrigerator doors and stranded on rooftops, desperately waiting for the help that would not even begin until 48 hours later. By far, this was the worst response in US History and I fully blame the government. One, for not repairing the levees several years ago when concerns of what a major storm would do to New Orleans came up, Two, for not responding any faster than they have.

For whatever reason, our government still seems to believe that the situation overseas deserves more time and attention than the one right here at home. I am sad every time I think of the Lower Ninth Ward residents, people who may have owned their home but were often way below poverty level. When Katrina hit, that was by far the highest death count, since something like eighty percent of the people who live there are unable to swim. More than ninety percent are barely literate, and hold down multiple jobs that don't pay much. They often have babies before they aren't considered babies. Crime and poverty rage around that area.

When Katrina hit, it just emphasized the racial divide. They were the last place helped, actually blocked off by the National Guard before they could get out of their neighborhood. There are stories of hte National Guard blocking off bridges and streets/canals, preventing people from escaping and causing them to starve to death on their rooftop or drown in the murky water. Bodies are still being found in that area, the latest one found in May in a home. Imagine, nine months later and we are still recovering bodies, still reuniting parents and children. People's families who are seperated are still away from each other, one parent having traveled North to work, the other in a FEMA trailer with children and other homeless family members, just waiting.

Waiting seems to be the name of the game here. Because that's all that people did when it happened, and are still doing one year later. One woman put it like this: When I told someone in charge what happened, they said I would need to call FEMA and tell them what had happened, where I would be. I said, 'I don't have a phone', 'I don't have a place to live', I don't know how to call you or where to tell you I've been or where I'll be.". She was exactly right. What phones were they supposed to use? These people had just lost their whole lives and President Bush is telling them to call FEMA and they'll be put on a list? What is most disappointing is that America is not set up for real disaster. That much is obvious. If we had been, we should have been in there within hours, pulling people out and transporting them to safer places.

Crime, particularly murder, has sharply increased. Thousands of people are crammed into FEMA trailer "cities" on the outskirts of New Orleans, living in swampy conditions with frequent power outages. Going in and out of the city is dangerous. Drug activity means there are often needles on the ground. Puddles that are too deep to dry out attract mosquitoes. People are crammed into singlewide trailers like sardines, often as many as 9 or 14 people to a single trailer meant to hold 3 or 4. Children sleep on sofas and dining room tables.

I can't help but wonder what would have happened if more places had been affected. If the hurricane had raged further up the coast, devestating the land and area around it. What would Bush have done then? Sure, it's hard to support a city of democrats who would rather lose their feet than vote for a Republican, but does that make it right, what was done? Does that make it okay to ignore an area of poor, minority souls who may not contribute back to Uncle Sam? I doubt it.