On Natural Disasters, Home and Abroad
I realized the other day that I had not yet expressed any of my thoughts or feelings about a lot of the things happening in the country and around the world lately. It's not that I've been so self-absorbed in the craziness that has been my life lately. I just haven't had the time or energy to really sit here and write about it.
I'm at work. The boss is at a conference today and tomorrow. Hence, I find myself with little to do and 2 1/2 hours left for the day.
I ususally don't have a lot to do at work. So I've been reading the New York Times online. A lot. While it's been refreshing to read a real newspaper regularly again, I also now bear the burden of knowing all that's going on in the world. Well, it's time to unload. You've been warned.
I remember talking to my friends the night before Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast about how massive and strangely beautiful the storm was on the radar. It was a force to be reckoned with, but how could you not get amped over the perfection of a Cat 5 hurricane? Yes, the damage was going to be bad, but everyone had evacuated already, right? And the crazy people who stayed behind...well, there would be a few who had to be rescued from their roofs as always, but they'd be fine too. Right? And we all slept that night, feeling fortunate that we didn't live down there, praying for the few people still down there, and knowing everything would be all right once the storm passed.
The scenes I saw on CNN by the 2nd or 3rd day after the storm broke my heart. From the Superdome to the Ninth Ward and everything else, an entire city was destroyed and the people were still there. These people couldn't get out. I sat there watching for an hour, and then I called home. I knew we didn't have family down that way, but I still felt the need to confirm it. The numb feeling I had was faintly reminicent of something that I couldn't put my finger on. But I'll get to that later.
Fast forward to one month later.
(Not My) President Bush has now done all these things that he claims will help the Gulf Coast get back on its feet. He suspended a law that forces federally funded construction projects to pay their workers the local average. He suspended laws that force federal contractors to file affirmative action plans.
In other words, the projects that he's claiming will help revitalize the Gulf won't really help all that much. He's going to allow these contractors to sneak past important affirmative action laws and allow these same contractors to pay their employees slave wages (since there's now no regulated minimum besides the federal minimum wage). Think about it: the government will be under a lot of pressure to produce results in an area in which they have already royally fucked up with their disaster response. They need to build stuff fast and cheap. There are thousands of people who need jobs. Any job. Something that will pay money. Put it together - the goverment will get away with underpaying people who really can't afford to be underpaid but have no choice. And that's just sick.
The feeling that I have been dealing with the most is anger. I'm angry with the government for its response to all of this. It takes 5 days to get the National Guard to New Orleans but it only takes 2 days to get 8 Army helicopters to Pakistan. Thousands of people were left stranded in that Superdome while the government did nothing. People died in their homes, waiting for help, while the goverment did nothing. People died in the streets, and the government did nothing.
5 days.
It's been over a month and I'm still angry. If Katrina had destroyed South Beach or Key West, those people would have been rescued right away. If Katrina had destroyed Kennebunkport or Boston, those people would have been rescued right away. All those people in Houston and Galveston weren't given a choice to leave for Rita. They were forced to go.
Where was the evacuation plan for New Orleans? Where were the buses all lined up ready to take people away? Where was the funding for repairing and reinforcing those levees?
The answer is simple: Kanye was right.
The anger that I feel is most similar to the way I felt after 9/11. I was angry that someone had attacked us, and later on I was angry that the government knew it could have happened. But Katrina hurts more.
A part of our own country was destroyed. American lives were destroyed. It might not have been a bomb that did it, and it wasn't at the hands of some mysterious people far away who hate us, but our own citizens are suffering. They will suffer more than the victims of September 11th. You're not going to see these people get million dollar settlements and life insurance payouts. You're not going to see them whining about how to and where to put their precious memorial and what can or can't be built around it. We won't have ceremonies or days of mourning or moments of silence during star-spangled television montages. We won't be considered un-American if we don't donate to the relief effort.
They're trying to let us think it's ok to not care about what happened down there. Remember, we're still at war with the people who tried to kill Bush's daddy.
And long after the fundraisers end, people will forget. They'll still have their "9/11: Never Forget" stickers, but no one's going to ask if you remember where you were when you realized what had happened in the Gulf Coast. Of America.
I'm not going to forget. Add this to my list of Reasons Why I'll Probably Live In Canada Someday.
War costs $5 billion a week, but we can't even protect our own people.
P.S. My thoughts are also with the victims of Rita as well as the victims of the earthquake in Pakistan and the typhoon in China (I think that's where it happened) and the people still struggling after last year's tsunami. I care about all of those horrible natural disasters, but Katrina weighs the most on my mind and my heart.
I'm at work. The boss is at a conference today and tomorrow. Hence, I find myself with little to do and 2 1/2 hours left for the day.
I ususally don't have a lot to do at work. So I've been reading the New York Times online. A lot. While it's been refreshing to read a real newspaper regularly again, I also now bear the burden of knowing all that's going on in the world. Well, it's time to unload. You've been warned.
I remember talking to my friends the night before Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast about how massive and strangely beautiful the storm was on the radar. It was a force to be reckoned with, but how could you not get amped over the perfection of a Cat 5 hurricane? Yes, the damage was going to be bad, but everyone had evacuated already, right? And the crazy people who stayed behind...well, there would be a few who had to be rescued from their roofs as always, but they'd be fine too. Right? And we all slept that night, feeling fortunate that we didn't live down there, praying for the few people still down there, and knowing everything would be all right once the storm passed.
The scenes I saw on CNN by the 2nd or 3rd day after the storm broke my heart. From the Superdome to the Ninth Ward and everything else, an entire city was destroyed and the people were still there. These people couldn't get out. I sat there watching for an hour, and then I called home. I knew we didn't have family down that way, but I still felt the need to confirm it. The numb feeling I had was faintly reminicent of something that I couldn't put my finger on. But I'll get to that later.
Fast forward to one month later.
(Not My) President Bush has now done all these things that he claims will help the Gulf Coast get back on its feet. He suspended a law that forces federally funded construction projects to pay their workers the local average. He suspended laws that force federal contractors to file affirmative action plans.
In other words, the projects that he's claiming will help revitalize the Gulf won't really help all that much. He's going to allow these contractors to sneak past important affirmative action laws and allow these same contractors to pay their employees slave wages (since there's now no regulated minimum besides the federal minimum wage). Think about it: the government will be under a lot of pressure to produce results in an area in which they have already royally fucked up with their disaster response. They need to build stuff fast and cheap. There are thousands of people who need jobs. Any job. Something that will pay money. Put it together - the goverment will get away with underpaying people who really can't afford to be underpaid but have no choice. And that's just sick.
The feeling that I have been dealing with the most is anger. I'm angry with the government for its response to all of this. It takes 5 days to get the National Guard to New Orleans but it only takes 2 days to get 8 Army helicopters to Pakistan. Thousands of people were left stranded in that Superdome while the government did nothing. People died in their homes, waiting for help, while the goverment did nothing. People died in the streets, and the government did nothing.
5 days.
It's been over a month and I'm still angry. If Katrina had destroyed South Beach or Key West, those people would have been rescued right away. If Katrina had destroyed Kennebunkport or Boston, those people would have been rescued right away. All those people in Houston and Galveston weren't given a choice to leave for Rita. They were forced to go.
Where was the evacuation plan for New Orleans? Where were the buses all lined up ready to take people away? Where was the funding for repairing and reinforcing those levees?
The answer is simple: Kanye was right.
The anger that I feel is most similar to the way I felt after 9/11. I was angry that someone had attacked us, and later on I was angry that the government knew it could have happened. But Katrina hurts more.
A part of our own country was destroyed. American lives were destroyed. It might not have been a bomb that did it, and it wasn't at the hands of some mysterious people far away who hate us, but our own citizens are suffering. They will suffer more than the victims of September 11th. You're not going to see these people get million dollar settlements and life insurance payouts. You're not going to see them whining about how to and where to put their precious memorial and what can or can't be built around it. We won't have ceremonies or days of mourning or moments of silence during star-spangled television montages. We won't be considered un-American if we don't donate to the relief effort.
They're trying to let us think it's ok to not care about what happened down there. Remember, we're still at war with the people who tried to kill Bush's daddy.
And long after the fundraisers end, people will forget. They'll still have their "9/11: Never Forget" stickers, but no one's going to ask if you remember where you were when you realized what had happened in the Gulf Coast. Of America.
I'm not going to forget. Add this to my list of Reasons Why I'll Probably Live In Canada Someday.
War costs $5 billion a week, but we can't even protect our own people.
P.S. My thoughts are also with the victims of Rita as well as the victims of the earthquake in Pakistan and the typhoon in China (I think that's where it happened) and the people still struggling after last year's tsunami. I care about all of those horrible natural disasters, but Katrina weighs the most on my mind and my heart.
Comments
That's racism sister.