Heartbreaking
September 2nd, 2005Katrina’s aftermath has struck our house silent with emotion. With every news report and today’s posting of a heartbreaking radio interview with New Orleans mayor, Ray Nagin, it just seems to get worse. I’ve been afaid to post anything for fear of backlash about not saying something earlier or to ask why we haven’t pledged monetary support. Let me say it here: we’ll be donating whatever we can to the aid of residents and the rebuilding of the Gulf Coast and other areas hit by Katrina. It will likely span several charities and organizations and span months.
It’s all we can do from here for now. There is a big part of me that wants to fire up the truck and head down there to volunteer, but that is not possible or realistic on so many levels. Perhaps if we lived closer. I so want to help, but have no clue what to do in the short term. There is such a sense of hopelessness. If ever there was time for a strong, courageous leader in the White House, it is now.
The Bush response to this horrible disaster has been pathetic up to this point. I hope that he can find it within himself to get out of his bubble of cronies and roll up his sleeves. He has the power to affect great change. I hate to say this, but if we weren’t in Iraq, would we have the military resources to have devoted more people more quickly here at home? I can’t help but think about this as I watch people struggle to survive.
I fear that the death toll from Katrina will eclipse that of any other tragedy in my lifetime. What a horror. Such a paralyzing sight to see so many without any place to go, except where they are told. That constant vision from the television is almost as tragic as the storm itself.
We have a long way to go in this country. Such a long way to go. o
September 3rd, 2005 at 5:18 am
whats heartbreaking is that you can live in a bowl next to the ocean and ignore the warning to leave.
brainbreaking is more like it.
s.t.u.p.i.d.
September 3rd, 2005 at 5:47 am
holy.cow. most of the poor, uneducated folks who were too “stupid” to leave didn’t have the means to do so and/or weren’t educated enough to consider leaving what very little they’d worked forty-plus years to accumulate. “s.t.u.p.i.d” is actually those outsiders who have *no clue* what those on the edge of society live like down here and who then start throwing around horrible accusations about the state of their brains for not leaving a city they have probably never stepped out of in their 65+ years.
you really have no clue. and that’s precisely why those on the fringes of new orleans’ society are treated like they are - because outsiders look down their noses at them like trash, yet expect them to be as “perfect” as the rest of society.
September 3rd, 2005 at 7:16 am
I’ve read all the comments here, and I can’t believe how any comments there were that seem to be blaming the poor for being poor. For being unable to leave. I just came across a post all about being poor that I think says so much.
September 3rd, 2005 at 7:17 am
Sorry, the html didn’t work. The link is here: http://www.scalzi.com/whatever/003704.html
September 3rd, 2005 at 7:22 am
Can I make a suggestion to you all?
Stop the “s.t.u.p.i.d.” discussion. Stop the bitching about what political figure failed at the local, the state, and the federal level. It proves nothing. It gives no comfort to those folks on the Gulf coast, whether they were poor & stupid, unlucky & unprepared, or uneducated & completely misinformed by their leadership. It makes no difference if you are conservative or liberal. This is our country. this is our government. This is us.
Get your butts up and donate. Or, if you are webmasters and hosts, put some links on your sites to lead your readers to places where they can donate.
Jeez!
September 3rd, 2005 at 7:58 am
I HATE to bicker and I hope Blurbomat deletes 99% of this bickering back and forth but if we don’t question what HAPPENED during those four days what kind of ignorant citizens ARE we, Daman? Jon has put up links, I’VE put up links, many links have been put up in comments and in dozens of other blogs, and the majority of us HAVE donated. Be glad that as American citizens we are expressing our concerns for the Gulf Coast citizens and the delay that’s occurred! This is all that most of us CAN do. Don’t lecture us.
September 3rd, 2005 at 8:21 am
I read both of your blogs often, and I too am glad you guys are discussing this. My uncle lives in New Orleans, and while he got out of town safely (thank goodness), he lost everything he owns (his house is near the lake, in the neighborhood that flooded). He can’t even access his bank account right now. I’ve been frantically collecting donations for him, at least so he has something to buy a change of clothes and a plane ticket out of Houston. It’s all so surreal.
http://schmickle.blogspot.com/
September 3rd, 2005 at 8:24 am
Daman, I think you hit the point head on. We can sit around and complain all day. I’ve done my share of complaining. The fingerpointing is going to go on and on. Meanwhile, people (rich and poor) have lost EVERYTHING. So we should do something. I plan on donating. And then donating again and again. Every little bit helps.
Merkley, you said people ignored the warning to leave. You sound like the ignorant Head of FEMA. Hmm… you must think everybody is well off just like you, hunh? Sure there were people who wouldn’t leave. I’ll give you that much. What about those people who couldn’t leave? I lived in New Orleans for a couple of years so I know. First time in my life that I met whole LARGE families who didn’t have cars, credit cards, bank accounts, good jobs, or good educations. People who have never stepped foot out of New Orleans. They only had each other. No relatives in other states, nothing like that. Only each other.
When I first moved to New Orleans, I had just gotten my doctorate degree. I had 500 bucks in my pocket (to live on for 3 weeks until I got my first paycheck and bonus), an old beat-up Nova, and a room in a boarding house. I was poor and alone. And I met some wonderful New Orleanians who didn’t have much, but made me feel welcome and a part of their families.
I live in Atlanta now, and many of the refugees are here. I plan on donating time and money to the effort. This is our country. We came together during the 9/11 tragedy. We should come together for the Katrina tragedy.
Yeah, I know we’re all pissed at government incompetence. (I still am!) But I plan to turn my anger into something positive. Let’s just all take action and do our part.
September 3rd, 2005 at 9:06 am
I’m wondering if it would be wise to rebuild New Orleans in the exact spot. It seems to me (feel free to correct me if I’m wrong) that in its current place, NO is in a precarious position, as shown by the flooding now. Being in a bowl below sea level smack dab between a huge lake and the ocean depending on levees for safety seems iffy. Could they relocate NO? Move it more north? West? What? The history of NO will always remain. It’s heartbreaking to see the destruction, but I’d rather have people safe then try to hold onto the history. I even understand the importance of being on the Mississippi River for importing and exporting. I’ve never been to NO, the furthest south I got to was Baton Rouge. Are there any alternatives or will NO be safe if they rebuild the levees and make them stronger? Any ideas?
September 3rd, 2005 at 9:20 am
One thing that I’ve noticed in watching the news is that all the rescuers and national guard troops seem to be white. Now, I haven’t been scouring the screens, but just casually have noticed that I have not seen *one*, not a single one, African-American or other minority rescuer. This is really interesting to me when I compare the faces I see when our armed forces in Iraq are on TV. Much greater percentage of minority faces there.
September 3rd, 2005 at 9:46 am
In the moment, the critical thing is to help the people - the living and the dying - throughout Louisiana and Missippi and Alabama and on into the cities and towns where they have taken refuge, because those towns will need help also.
Failing to help these people is to deny their humanity, and to deny our own, and it is flat out indecent. It is wrong in all the ways that there are. These are human beings. Every single one of them has a beating heart and a thinking brain and a soul.
Simultaneously, we have to assess both the short and long term planning in the region and the response. No matter where we live, we have a responsibility to EACH OTHER, as voting citizens, to consider the past 6 years of denial of funding to levee fortification by the federal government. We have to decide whether or we can afford, as a nation, the current method for appointing the head of FEMA, given the following: http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/02/katrina.response/index.html
People fail. On an individual basis, people are capable of astonishing acts of grace and glory, and spectacular, brutal failure every single day, frequently simultaneously. It’s part of why we build systems of government - to mitigate and reduce the impact of the failures, to encourage the simple decencies. When the systems of government fail for so long, when the cost is individually and nationally so high, we have to evaluate the human failures within those systems, because they can succeed, they can be incredibly successful - I have had the ill-luck to be in the presence of disaster management done right twice, and what has gone on in New Orleans, in Missippi, in Alabama - it’s the opposite of that.
Disaster management in those situations is not typically provided by local government, especially not in a city as small as NO - it comes from the feds. I was in Miami after Andrew, and I was in NY after 9/11, and in neither of those situations , both of which were pretty scary, did anything like the convention center or the superdome happen - in both of those situations, the federal government made every single resource imaginable available pretty much instantly. Things may not have gone smoothly, but they went much much better than this.
We owe the people of NO, and the surrounding areas our help - both practical and immediate, and long term, in the form of holding the people who, whether consciously or through raw, accidental incompetence, withheld aid from them accountable for that choice. We owe them that because they are human, and so are we.
September 3rd, 2005 at 9:55 am
My 70 year old father said something interesting to me this morning: “What if say, after 9-11 we would have been invaded (he said by Saddam, for example, I know, sounds ridiculous but this is his story) in N.O…How long would it have taken the president to get troops in? Do you think it would have taken 5 days???”
And Richard: I would “freely” put my life on the line (or accept my children doing the same) for the country if I had to.
I sure as hell wouldn’t want it to happen for a PACK OF LIES which is the reason we are in Iraq in the first place.
Oh, and DAMON, my family donated $200.00 to hurricaine relief, OK?
Thanks Jon for your right-on-target words.
September 3rd, 2005 at 9:59 am
Said with such grace and dignity, as usual Jon.
I am having a fundraiser over on my blog for one of my blog friends who lost her house and job because of hurricane Katrina.
Please stop by. You can donate as little as $1.
http://www.iprettymuchhateeverything.blogspot.com
September 3rd, 2005 at 10:02 am
King Rat: the mayor of the city is african-american, and the governor of the state and the senator of the state are both women. and maybe you haven’t seen many minority faces in the rescuers on the gulf coast but you have in iraq because (1) they’re all in iraq, and (2) because new rescuers didn’t come to the gulf coast until late yesterday.
September 3rd, 2005 at 10:07 am
here’s a good example of what I mean. This news report
http://www.newschannel5.tv/2005/9/1/4255/Taking-refuge-in-the-Astrodome
calls this kid’s smart thinking and good-samaritanship “an extreme act of looting.” WTF? He found a bus that worked, rescued stranded strangers and hauled ass out of town, and now he might be charged with a crime? He’s a “looter?” Give me a frickin’ break.
September 3rd, 2005 at 10:33 am
King Rat: from the Washington Post, about a black family trying to get out of NO:
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“While Thomas was figuring his family’s fate that first night, little Ernest bolted to the rooftop.
He had fashioned a white flag on a piece of stick, and began waving. “That is one courageous boy,” Thomas said.
A helicopter passed them by. A National Guard unit passed them by.
“Black National Guard unit, too,” piped in Warren Carter, Washington’s brother-in-law…
In the South, the issue of race — black, white — always seems as ready to come rolling off the tongue as a summer whistle. A black Guard unit, passing them by. Something Carter won’t soon forget…Then, somehow, a bus, and then Baton Rouge. At that moment, a lady — white — came by the rest stop and handed her some baby items.
“Bless you,” Washington said.
That exchange forced something from Warren Carter: “White man came up to me little while ago and offered me some money. I said thank you, but no thanks. I got money to hold us over. But it does go to show you that racism ain’t everywhere.”
*******************
There are black AND white rescuers. And as for the ‘more blacks in Iraq’ issue: If all the black soldiers are in Iraq, why are most of the US deaths there non-black? What I find offensive, however, is that most of the NO victims are black, and I blame Welfare…welfare is a trap that keeps people from ‘moving up’. And yes, I HAVE been on welfare. In order to continue qualifying for welfare (I had two children under the age of four) I would have had to give up all my assests (which at that point was only a mini-van, on which I was still paying). Thus, I would not have been able to drive to a job, and would not have been able to drive ANYWHERE. Thanks to the Democratic platform that wants to ‘help’ everyone by KEEPING THEM IN THEIR PLACE!!! There is aid that helps people and there is aid that cripples them. Welfare cripples people. Welfare is a program DEMANDED by the Democratic party. So if there is any finger pointing to be done, point it at the Democratic politicians who ‘buy’ people’s votes with promises of welfare. They are to blame for these people’s tragic situation.
September 3rd, 2005 at 10:35 am
I’m from the area of Mississippi that was hit, though living in San Antonio now, and up until last night, i still hadn’t talked to my parents except for what I heard through my brother who spoke with them just before Katrina severed the fiber links going in and out of the area. All I knew was my parents survived, and my sister was in a town called Waveland that was completely. wiped. out. when katrina came through. I finally did manage to reach them through the rather heroic machinations of a friend at the phone company there, and everyone was ok, but talk about your pins and needles…
Anyway, the main thing I was going to say was everyone down there knows how much the rest of the country wants to help, even if the governmental response has been ineffective at best, but really, until the roads are clear and the gas pipelines are back up, the influx of people trying to help would be more hindrance–and there’s no guarantee that you’d even be able to get back out if you DID get into the area, with gas being what it is there. So the best thing to do for everyone to do is send money to the red cross. And know that we all appreciate it.
September 3rd, 2005 at 10:42 am
it’s sad to see your president’s reaction to this, he did make the big step of cutting his vacation short - wow, really laying it on the line there. the prime minister of canada came to western canada a day after the flooding here this spring, and really it was more wet basements and soggy yards than a real emergency like the folks down there are going through.
it’s a shame so many military resources are wasting their time in iraq, they look as though they are desparately needed in the US.
September 3rd, 2005 at 10:43 am
Welfare is not responsible for keeping relief from arriving in N.O. and along the Mississippi coast.
September 3rd, 2005 at 10:47 am
superfunkomatic: President Bush isn’t always slow to react to natural disasters. For instance, he was on the ground in Florida two days after Hurricane Charley hit, brother Jeb at his side.
Of course, that happened in August 2004 while he was campaigning fo re-election…
September 3rd, 2005 at 11:13 am
Speaking of the Bush Administration’s reaction… Although I’m not Michael Moore fan, I’m on his mailing list. Here is a repost of a letter he sent out:
http://www.donnysramblings.com/2005/09/michael-moores-letter-to-gwb-re.html
He makes some damned good points!
September 3rd, 2005 at 11:13 am
Our family friends are from NO, and have sent out an amazing email about what’s going on down there. The Mr. is a former army officer, and so he has a very intresting insight on the situation in terms of infrastructure etc. While we can all state our outrage at whatever we think went wrong down in NO, I think it is also equally important to think about the people who lucky enough to evacuate, and what they are going to be returning home to.
http://thetribalbitches2.blogspot.com/2005/09/words-from-new-orleans.html
September 3rd, 2005 at 11:25 am
Can’t say much that has not already been said. But what sits the hardest so far:
My Thoughts:
Did any of you see the photos of the full school busyards in NO? I saw a picture on yahoo that showed 500+ bus’s sitting there that could have been put into action by the Mayor before, during, after — to get the people away.
We are the most powerful nation in the world — we can organize 500 million people raising a billion dollars in pennies during telethons. etc., getting them rolled put in the bank and presented
on camera in front of 2000 reporters and cameras with the starving and dying in the background, but we cannot get these people food and water for 5+ days?
It made me sick to my stomach to think that we could have every news orginization on the ground and deliverying footage — but we could not get food and water to 30000+ starving and dying people that we were watching on our tv sets in the dome and along the freeway. (Help is coming now — but why would it take 5 days? — hell we could mobolize 50000 troops and send them halfway around the world in less time than it takes to get fresh water and food to starving people 50 miles away?)
This is a sad time — and I hope if nothing else it forces the administration to turn their eyes inward and realize that we need to focus on our own instead of blowing our load across the world in Iraq……and places like that.
September 3rd, 2005 at 11:53 am
I don’t think that the relief efforts merit all of the intense criticism we’ve been seeing. Yes, the horrible conditions at the superdome and the slow rescues are painful to watch but this is a a catastrophe, a worst case scenario. Hate for this natural disaster has been misplaced and morphed into blame resulting in this disgusting political and racial battle. Those who think we shouldn’t have refugees in “21st century America” or “my America” have a case of childish invincibility. Dust off those history books and see what happens to the super powers. And be nice.
September 3rd, 2005 at 11:58 am
After hearing on the radio about schools waiving typical entrance requirements, and it being so close to the first of the school year, myself and my wife decided to open our home to a couple of displaced children. Delta has also promised to pay for the airfair from Atlanta to here. I am now just waiting for the phonecall (some people from my company are organizing the logistics and people).
I believe for the kids, getting back to some sense of normalcy in this awful time will be an important thing.