Katrina Aftermath
My thoughts today (and for the last week) are on Katrina and the aftermath. I've noticed it is always the ones who screwed up who say "now is not the time for finger-pointing."
So perhaps the City of New Orleans should have done more beforehand to get the people out; but once that didn't happen, where was FEMA? And why were they turning away water and buses at the Superdome after anarchy broke out? And how does this buck NOT stop squarely on Bush's desk? Why is it we can help those needy on the other side of the world, but not right here at home? And why are the right-wingers blaming the victims?
Here in Memphis we hear the stories of the evacuees; most I have met here in the white suburbs are other white suburbanites; they had the means and motivation to pack their things in their SUV's and get while the gettin' was good. All is lost. Many will find a job here, have put their kids in school, and will wait for their insurance checks to come in.
But what about the poor? Those who had nothing to begin with, and even less now? I can't believe Bush's mama had the nerve to say they are better off in the Houston Astrodome! Is she kidding? It is obvious that no one in her family even knows one actual poor person (let alone experienced poverty in any generation.) How could one think that being herded like cattle in one room with 15,000 other people could be better that having your own family and your own things around you in your own space, even if it is rented, or even public housing?
Why is it the Christian Conservatives think God is rewarding them by making them rich and punishing the poor people by making them poor? Since when was Christ a proponent of the rich? It seems to me that Christianity teaches exactly the opposite! Anyway, that's a topic for another blog. Type atcha later.
So perhaps the City of New Orleans should have done more beforehand to get the people out; but once that didn't happen, where was FEMA? And why were they turning away water and buses at the Superdome after anarchy broke out? And how does this buck NOT stop squarely on Bush's desk? Why is it we can help those needy on the other side of the world, but not right here at home? And why are the right-wingers blaming the victims?
Here in Memphis we hear the stories of the evacuees; most I have met here in the white suburbs are other white suburbanites; they had the means and motivation to pack their things in their SUV's and get while the gettin' was good. All is lost. Many will find a job here, have put their kids in school, and will wait for their insurance checks to come in.
But what about the poor? Those who had nothing to begin with, and even less now? I can't believe Bush's mama had the nerve to say they are better off in the Houston Astrodome! Is she kidding? It is obvious that no one in her family even knows one actual poor person (let alone experienced poverty in any generation.) How could one think that being herded like cattle in one room with 15,000 other people could be better that having your own family and your own things around you in your own space, even if it is rented, or even public housing?
Why is it the Christian Conservatives think God is rewarding them by making them rich and punishing the poor people by making them poor? Since when was Christ a proponent of the rich? It seems to me that Christianity teaches exactly the opposite! Anyway, that's a topic for another blog. Type atcha later.
posted by Cheryl at
9:37 AM
2 Comments:
Cheryl,
You left out the part where they emptied the aripourt when Bush visited so he would not have anycontact with the refugees. They wanted to make sure that he would not encounter any one whou might be really hungry, wet, or dying.
cln
By
Anonymous, at 2:37 PM
I did see the "photo op" in MS where Bush hugged the only two black people in the whole area; I guess he didn't think we'd notice the rest of the people standing in line were white.
By
Cheryl, at 5:20 PM
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