heartbreaking and sickening
my heart goes out to all those suffering from and affected by hurricane katrina. i just can’t imagine the turmoil that is occurring all over the new orleans and southern mississippi areas. people dying left and right, starvation, dehydration, the lawlessness - guns firing, looting, raping… everyone is in need, every man for himself, and there’s no order at all. and these images are from the united states, these people are american citizens. i just can’t believe it. it’s almost impossible to go on with my own life normally, knowing that right now, so many people, not that far away, are suffering.
what has happened to one of our beloved cities, that it could fall to such a state in such a short period of time? where is all the help? where is the support? was there no planning at all? and then you look at who was left behind, and it makes you ill. it may not have been done at a concious level, but i do believe that if the demographics of the people left behind were different, things would be different. CNN managed to get on the phone with a woman, who, along with 300 others, was stuck at the ritz-carlton hotel. these people were “colleagues”, probably there for a conference of some sort, educated, probably middle-to-upper class. she said that within minutes after the phone conversation was broadcast on TV, helicopters were surrounding the ritz-carlton and FEMA was giving them evacuation and rescue instructions. they were out of there within 12 hours.
the FEMA head stated on TV several times that he didn’t know about the 15-20K people at the convention center until late thursday. but TV crews had been all over there since tuesday. it doesn’t make any sense. if FEMA can respond to 300 at the ritz-carlton within minutes, why can’t they respond to tens of thousands within 4-5 days? and it’s not just the people at the convention center. it’s all those other families and crowds stuck on rooftops, stuck in the streets - all those other people we have seen images of. i don’t think it’s just a coincidence that the poor and black have been left behind. there was no proper evacuation plan for them to begin with, and there’s no proper rescue effort for them. what the hell is going on with this country?