Lifestyles of the poor and nameless

As I sat at my desk, thoroughly hating my job and the fact that I have to be at work late today of all days (a Friday before the start of a 3-day weekend), a message popped up about the Hurricane Katrina disaster relief program by the local Red Cross. That quickly put things in perspective: no matter how late I stay today, at least there's a house waiting for me when work is done.

Watching the news for the past few days I've had a conflict of emotions. The anguish and despair is apparent on the faces of people whose worldly possessions can now fit in a garbage bag. My heart truly goes out to them. Then I hear these reports of my people raping others in the Astrodome, or looting electronics and other non-necessary items and it pisses me off. It makes me want to take off my belt and go beat some sense into them because if the reports are true, then we are only proving ourselves to be uncivilized, as has often been said.

When the tsunami hit last year, the afflicted were described as devastated and grief-stricken, but not looting and pillaging. The pictures showed them helping each other through the crisis, not laying on the ground spread-eagle after cops foiled their attempt to steal a postal truck. If store owners in Indonesia camped out with guns to prevent looters from taking over their stores, it sure didn't make any newspaper that I read. Many people say that it's because the N.O. afflicted are poor and lack resources...since when is that an excuse to behave like a savage? Last time I checked, the tsunami victims were mostly poor people as well.

I will be the first to admit that I have NEVER in life been through any kind of disaster like what's going on out there. I don't even know anyone who's lived through anything like it...aside from the few family friends who escaped the 2004 and 2005 storms in my parents' home country of Grenada.

But with that said, I really can't understand the violence that results from all this. Everyone complained that N.O. didn't get enough assistance....and when the government finally sends people out there, instead of the personnel being focused on feeding and transporting the people, now they have to worry about looters, rapists and angry mobs.

On the other hand, this could all be the result of biased journalism. As reported in this NYTimes article, storms are perfect breeding grounds for prejudice. After an 1889 flood in PA, Hungarians (the 19th century social outcasts) were accused of cutting off dead women's fingers to steal their wedding rings. The newspaper headline read "Drunken Hungarians, Dancing, Singing, Cursing, Fighting Amid the Ruins".

And now begins the blame game. According to a pre-9/11 Fed'l Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) report, the 3 most likely catastrophic disasters facing the U.S. were: 1- a terrorist attack on NY; 2- a major earthquake in San Francisco and 3-a hurricane strike on New Orleans. We've already seen 2 of 3, and weren't prepared for either; are we following the "3rd time's a charm" rule here?

I read this morning that aid for N.O. is coming from Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Columbia, Venezuela and Honduras among other places. Isn't it ironic that these poor countries who are struggling for themselves, still found a way to reach out to the U.S. before our own government did?

As my parents used to say: "all who can't hear must feel". And the U.S. government WILL feel when the waters recede. Don't be surprised if there's a class action suit against the government because of their inaction and apathy before and during this crisis. Just as the families of 9/11 victims made their claims, so too shall the people of N.O...and what a hefty bill it will be.

But rather than continue to run my mouth about the ills of the system, I'm going to take advantage of the 3 day weekend to go help out the relief efforts at the local Red Cross. I hope you will too. Godspeed.