September 6, 2005
THE TRAGEDY OF DELIBERATE NEGLECT
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From the RIGHT
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Mike Green
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I was born in New Orleans.
My mother is from New Orleans, as is most all her family. I have numerous aunts, uncles and cousins who live in that city-turned-morgue. Most were able to escape the devastation of Hurricane Katrina … and we continue to remain hopeful while awaiting word on others.
My mother moved to Houston soon after I was born at New Orleans' Charity Hospital a little more than 43 years ago, because she had no love for New Orleans and no intentions of raising her children there. She reminded us often of the seedy, menacing underbelly of that wonderfully eclectic mixture of cultures and peoples in a city most noted for its music and wild revelry.
The seedy side
I didn’t need much reminding, though. My cousin Devin was knifed to death in the streets of New Orleans. His sister Angel, temporarily moved to Houston soon after her four-year-old son watched his dad get his head blown off by drug dealers. The scandalous and corrupt New Orleans police were also involved.
There’s more, but you get the idea.
In the aftermath of this nation’s worst natural disaster, New Orleans went belly up and the seediness that had previously catapulted that below-sea-level metropolis to the top of violent crime and murder lists finally revealed itself to the nation. America was shocked.
Perception is reality
Even as my family members in Houston (where I was also residing this time last year) prepared their homes to take in refugees from New Orleans, the ugliness that surfaced in that city along with the floodwaters is what dominated the conversations. I spoke with my sister recently regarding both the courage and cowardice the nation has witnessed in the town we consider to be Houston’s Gulf Coast cousin. She is outraged at the ignorant and violent behavior of those who used the occasion of a crisis to openly prey upon the weak and the innocent.
So am I.
As a black man it angered me to see black faces looting businesses and attacking people while the city itself struggled to survive. Sure, I am incensed over such behavior exhibited by anyone of any race, but in particular my own race, which has been vilified, marginalized and stereotyped since slavery in this country began … and long after it ended. Those who perpetrate such acts and provide such imagery only help to establish a measure of validity in the minds of the ignorant that seek to denigrate entire demographics of people with a broad brush of stereotypical stupidity.
It seemed surreal to see pictures of folks toting televisions, loading car trunks with cases of beer and numerous other insignificant items symbolic of the rampant ignorance of which my mother once spoke. In the wake of a natural disaster, demonic destruction took place when weak-minded idiots armed themselves and terrorized those seeking solely to survive.
It was absolutely appalling.
And I am embarrassed that all of this nation was witness to so many black faces causing so much death and destruction, overshadowing many of the heroic acts of other black faces whose courage and honor will likely fail to make the indelible impact upon the soul of this country as those acts perpetrated by cowards that caused many to die unnecessarily through their interference with relief efforts.
Inmates running the asylum
But as appalled as I am with the behavior of the poor, uneducated, immoral thugs that sought to escalate problems within a sea of turmoil, the behavior of the wealthy, educated elite was beyond comparable measure.
Put in perspective, I can almost expect that those who lurked in the shadows of life in New Orleans and preyed upon the innocent and weak to do exactly that in the absence of lawful authority. But I did not expect the egregious behavior of the city, county and state leaders — as well as leaders in our federal government — to follow suit behind those who failed out of New Orleans’ failed government school system, resided in its forsaken ghettos and lived under the umbrella of expectations fueled by liberal political poverty pimps which sought only to benefit from the ignorance of the poor and down-trodden.
There is no excuse for Mayor Ray Nagin to order the evacuation of his city and yet fail to use the very resources over which city leaders have been given charge in order to ensure the evacuation of those who are elderly, sick, shut in and without means of transportation or financial ability to weather a storm for days in a distant hotel. School buses and other city vehicles sat stranded in large parking lots flooded with water as dead bodies floated around the city.
Darwin’s intelligent design at work
Weren’t thousands of people waiting in lines for buses that did not come for four days? Meanwhile, the city’s evacuation plans call for the use of city transportation for those without means. What was the reason the Mayor failed to use all means necessary to remove people from the city? Why weren’t those buses that remained in a flooded parking lot driven to the various parking lots where thousands gathered to escape the flood? Doesn’t it make sense to do that on the day one gives the order to evacuate the city? Now the buses sit useless in several feet of water.
It seems to me that every bus in the city should have been driven to an area where people would most certainly seek refuge. But, some believe the order to evacuate was merely a formality. The mayor had no intentions of ensuring the protection of the poor through proper preparation for a serious evacuation of the city.
And given the fact that the city is prone to flooding and devastation from hurricanes, why doesn’t the city have a considerable fleet of boats to be used for rescuing? Certainly this disaster was not the first for New Orleans.
I asked myself a very serious question as I read about the tragedy in New Orleans.
Who killed those people that were left to fend for themselves … Katrina, or the foolish ignorance and insidious apathy exhibited by the city’s leaders?
Some residents chose to stay. That is certain; as it is in any storm in any town, regardless of the socio-economic levels of the people involved. But most of the poor in New Orleans had no choice. How could they leave? Without transportation, should they have lined up at the bus stops and patiently waited?
The truth is that the mayor and other city leaders never expected to accommodate a mass evacuation of the city’s destitute.
The sad reality is that the order to evacuate New Orleans, which the mayor issued Sunday morning prior to the arrival of Katrina, was apparently an order he directed to solely those with the means to do so.
Negligence or premeditated?
The thugs were picking off stranded locals and tourists one by one, while the city’s leaders made decisions that led indirectly to the perilous detriment of many who likely could have been saved. Each put on display the character that resided within. The thugs are easily identifiable in the streets, but they’re not so easy to spot wearing suits inside their offices at City Hall.
I must admit I had to stop myself from thinking perhaps some measure of forethought went into the decisions that cost so many their lives. It is difficult for me to fathom such a lack of immediate response if such a calamity were to befall Washington D.C.’s political power sector, or perhaps a posh town in Massachusetts or any coastal city in Southern California’s Orange County. After all, economics plays a part in every decision our leaders make … because God forbid should any leader lay claim to having a moral conscience and deciding the course of leadership based upon a devout faith in God.
In this instance, any leader following his faith would have made decisions based upon a sense of urgency to protect the lives of all the inhabitants of New Orleans, as well as its visitors, regardless of race or socio-economic status.
From Monday to Thursday, many of the people of New Orleans were seeking refuge and safety on their own. The Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Michael Brown, said that he learned Thursday of the dead and dying assembled at the city’s convention center.
I can only assume that given the numerous channels required for communication to flow to FEMA’s director, the discovery of tens of thousands of desperate people at the convention center suffering without his organization’s attention must have come as a shock.
I’m shocked that the president didn’t fire him on the spot.
The war on terrible timing
But, of course, there is enough blame to go around. And president Bush himself has finally fully demonstrated what I have been saying for years … he is no conservative (in stark contrast to the media-created moniker).
No leader who puts his faith in God and makes decisions based upon a Christian directive regarding morals, values and principles would have stood idly by and allowed such devastation to occur without knowing what was being done and taking charge to ensure everything that could be done was in process. Bush did indeed cut his vacation shorter than he had planned, but it was on Wednesday that he high-tailed it back to Washington, via Louisiana in order to survey the damage.
Wednesday.
Of course, New Orleans was being evacuated the previous weekend. By the time the president was flying over it to take a gander, there were corpses floating around the city adding to the traumatizing of young and old alike.
Armchair quarterbacking
I think if I were president, I would have been on the phone with Louisiana’s governor, New Orleans’ mayor, FEMA and the Coast Guard the same day the signal of distress went up, inquiring about getting boats and helicopters into the area, life jackets, food, water, and protection for the victims in an effort to assist with the evacuation process. The National Guard, whose very purpose is for homeland security, has the ability to employ a number of life-saving measures, as well as deploy forces of protection.
The American Red Cross (links to timeline of events, including Red Cross shelters and activities in the Gulf States region) would have been high on my list of calls. I would have asked what was needed and interrupted all broadcasts on television and radio for a nationwide emergency broadcast. A call would have gone out for the heads of churches to appeal to the masses for immediate funds. Hotels, motels and anyone with room in their homes would have been notified that reimbursement would be available for their generosity.
In short, this nation would have been put on notice that our fellow Americans, as so many presidents pontificate in their address to the public, are in dire straits and we must all help in some way.
As president, I would have conferred with the mayor of New Orleans to understand why the city has no obviously necessary evacuation measures that were used to ensure the safety of all of its residents and tourists. I would have talked with the governor to ensure that the state itself was doing all it could to address the mounting problems.
That’s Monday. Then on Tuesday …
Murphy’s Political Law
The point I want to drive home is that those with the power and resources to prevent the catastrophic loss of life in the aftermath of the ravages of Katrina, failed on virtually every level conceivable. How is it that four days into this historic devastation victims were wondering where was the assistance? And it is beyond my imagination to believe that the simultaneous failure of all of the leaders, from city council members and Mayor, county officials and Governor, to FEMA officials and the president himself was all a mere coincidence! Did everything go wrong for everyone in charge during the days leading up to the arrival of hurricane Katrina and several days into its historic impact on New Orleans?
Lessons learned
There is far more to this sad sordid story than the ones of courage and cowardice coming from the center of the storm of controversy. Certainly, those impacted by hurricane Katrina will have harrowing tales of heroism, as well as gut-wrenching, heart-breaking stories of victims who succumbed to the floodwaters, as well as those preyed upon by purveyors of violence. In the final analysis, New Orleans will be a lesson for all of us who seek the truth regarding who we are as individuals, and as a nation of various peoples.
The immediate lesson we have learned is how easily everything around us can be washed away while those we have entrusted the means for our salvation decide how to divvy up billions of dollars in starting over … even in the very same instant cries for help could still be heard.
For me, this is no epiphany. I am not shocked, but rather dismayed. I have seen through the veil of indifference in our political structure long ago. I have witnessed the arbitrary breaches of constitutional law, moral laws and ethical principles by this government and its leaders, both elected and appointed. And depending upon who the leader is at the moment determines which supporters are willing to offer a pass when leaders cross the line into unethical and immoral behavior.
A moment of clarity
But for me, the moment I came to an understanding that this government had declared itself a secular entity, I understood that it had no moral compass, no unyielding ethical boundaries, and no concern outside of that which expands its power, its wealth and its ability to subvert the freedoms of the citizenry. I do not expect much from such a government; I am merely hopeful that we, the people, will someday opt to change its leadership and its direction.
Moral of the story
The lesson our nation is bound to learn from this historic disaster is that without a moral compass, ethical boundaries and a profound understanding that public servants should serve the public, our leaders simply occupy positions of power to serve themselves. It is evident in the establishment of 30+ years of deliberate inadequate curriculum and teaching in New Orleans public schools. It is evident in decades of enormous amounts of corruption throughout the city’s political construct. It is evident in the prejudiced and criminal judges that headed the region’s judicial system. It is evident in the area’s corrupt cops.
But even more important is the lesson revealing the fact that while all of this man-made devastation could continue in the south, the national leaders in congress and the White House said nothing. None endeavored to help the people of New Orleans prior to hurricane Katrina. None lifted a finger to notify the nation that the seedy underbelly of New Orleans actually controlled the city itself and much of the state of Louisiana. Yet, the people there knew.
The pot boils over
Last week, the nation was provided a glimpse of what many of our leaders have known for a long time. There is a cesspool of problems percolating beneath the surface of the music, Cajun cuisine, revelry and laughter that masked the pain of that place. It has remained that way for many years. And as long as those forgotten people, living in secret squalor, maintained their rancid way of life without disturbing the tourists, from time to time the city would toss a bone or two their way from the table of plenty.
But today, it is the nation that is now saddled with determining how best to accommodate thousands of the poor, who had little before and now have nothing. Today, the nation is reeling from the impact of massive devastation it has witnessed in epic proportions. Moreover, it is taken aback by the massive amount of dirt New Orleans had been sweeping under its streets that surfaced as the wealthy and elite found refuge from the rising tide of vengeful malevolence.
Silver lining
Will it rebuild? Despite statements to the contrary being made by many, I think there is far too much at stake to completely abandon such a tremendous city, despite its faults. But for sure, it will never be the same.
And perhaps there is some good that may come of that.
There are lessons for us all in New Orleans and the manner in which people that should have lived died.
Unfortunately, that lesson may very well be one of humility and shame. For what happened in New Orleans, as one survivor aptly said, “It shouldn’t have happened … I wouldn’t treat my dog like that.”