Midwest Monday News 09.05.05
Posted by Steven Bellah on 09.05.2005
Where do I begin?
Honestly, this has been one of the most amazing weeks in American history, and I’m not using the word amazing as a positive. It is simply mind boggling to see not only the effects of Hurricane Katrina, but also the complete incompetence of our government to respond to it. Here we are, a week after the fact, and they are STILL finding people on rooftops. That shows me that not only was this hurricane a overwhelming disaster, but our leaders in Washington were not prepared for this if they are still plucking people off of buildings 7 days after the fact.
It’s also amazing to see everything that we as Americans have always feared, what we have always brushed off as never happening here, actually happening. When the tsunami happened last year, I remember the general feeling being “Wow, that’s terrible—but it didn’t happen here in America, so ho hum.” Now, I know there was an outpouring of grief on Asia’s behalf, but it wasn’t one fourth of what we have seen this week.
I truly feel that we as Americans have become so comfortable and secure in our little nation, that we felt, well, a little TOO secure. Sure, Bush and company have been telling us for the last four years about how terrorists want us dead, and sure, everyone’s scared of THAT—but I don’t think anyone was truly expecting a NATURAL disaster of this magnitude. We hear about massive earthquakes in Japan and floods in Asia. Thousands of people are killed. Yet, it gets a 15 second blurb on the evening news and we all briefly shake our heads before going back to our air conditioned, 500 Direct-TV channel lifestyles.
But that all changed when suddenly it was New Orleans, not Asia, that was the victim. Suddenly, we all saw the Superdome with it’s roof torn off and realized that this was REAL, and it was happening HERE.
I remember watching CNN on Sunday afternoon, as the storm was approaching, and of course they have a field reporter out there commenting on how the winds were picking up. The reporter walked up to a man (who, by the way, was white) who was calmly walking his dog as if it was a regular sunny day. “Why are you still here? Why haven’t you left? The storm will be hitting anytime now!”
“It’s none of YOUR fucking business!” The man spat back.
At that very moment, I knew that this would be a very different scenario that I had originally thought. I knew that this would be a very serious, and deadly, storm. All because of that one man and his reaction. To him, it wasn’t a big deal—just ANOTHER hurricane. Life goes on.
Well, it didn’t. Who knows what happened to that guy and his dog, but I truly feel that he wasn’t the only one not concerned about the impending disaster. How many stories have we heard about people refusing to leave their homes, even though they were told days in advance? How many interviews have we seen with children of stubborn elderly parents who didn’t want to leave the home they had lived in for 50 years behind? And how many of those parents are missing at this very moment?
I truly (and sadly) feel that the citizens of New Orleans, Biloxi, Gulfport, and all the surrounding suburbs—along with the rest of America—didn’t take this hurricane seriously, and paid dearly for it. Now, yes, 80% of the people got the hell out of there, and I’m sure a good portion of the people still stranded at least ATTEMPTED to leave, but I think that America has become so desensitized to everything that it made Katrina seem like a brief shower.
There have been so many hurricanes and tropical storms in the last 10 years or so that I dare say that everyone had become jaded at the whole idea. I mean, whenever hurricane Joe, Frank, Bob, Sally, or whatever they name it hits, causes some damage, and blows away, people who weren’t affected just move on. All right, hurricane over, back to Wheel of Fortune. Also, I truly feel that some citizens of the gulf region were in denial. Surely, no storm will destroy the great city of New Orleans! Right? It’s survived for 200 years or so, there’s no way this Katrina will wipe out the city!?! Sure, it might blow some roofs off, but nothing too bad. Well, we were wrong.
Here in Missouri/Kansas (I’m from the Kansas City area, for those of you who don’t read on a regular basis), we hear about tornados at least 10 times each spring and summer. Do they exist? Yes. Do they cause damage? Yes. But they never hit anything major, and we, do I say it?—have become used to it. Now, is it possible for Kansas City to be wiped out by a tornado? Definitely. The area around Ruskin High School was completely destroyed in 1957, but that was NINETEEN FIFTY SEVEN, not 2005. I can remember as a kid being told to head to the basement because it was possible that a tornado was coming. The first time, I was terrified, and sprinted down the stairs in my pajamas. But by the 10th time, I was spending an hour getting enough toys and unhooking my Nintendo so I would have something to play down there through the night.
Now, don’t get the wrong idea. We weren’t threatened by tornados 35 times every summer, but the media—not to go off on a rant here—made it seem like it was the apocalypse was approaching every time a thunderstorm approached—and they still do. I feel like my actions as a kid were just like that man walking his dog—“Ho hum. How long before I can go back outside?”
Well, New Orleans cannot go back outside because well, they are outside permanently. Biloxi and Gulfport cannot either. And I, along with (hopefully) all of America wish it were different.
Looting, both Black, and White
Ten years ago, the O.J Simpson trial divided America’s racial lines. When the verdict was read, all African-Americans cheered wildly, as a black man had finally beaten the system. All Caucasians cried out in anger, as a black man had used racism as a tool to be acquitted of a double murder that he surely committed, no doubt about it. Or so the media led you to believe.
I was in seventh grade when the verdict was read, and I can remember my school not allowing us to watch it, in case of some sort of revolt (the student body was about 60% black, 30% white). I can remember being happy at O.J’s acquittal, since at the time I thought he was innocent. Well, now I believe he is guilty, and it’s not because he is black and I am white. It’s because of the overwhelming evidence. Was Mark Fuhrman a racist cop? Yes. Did the LAPD mishandle almost every bit of evidence? Yes. But the fact of the matter is that O.J did everything but videotape himself committing the crime, leaving gloves, socks, and his car stained with blood, and THAT’s why he’s guilty—not because he is black.
During my senior year in high school 5 years afterward, I took a criminal law class, and one of the topics was the O.J case. My teacher was nervous about teaching it, until everyone in the class, which was over half black, overwhelmingly expressed their belief in his guilt. I can only hope that in 5 years, we Americans will look at the black citizens of New Orleans and think the exact opposite of what we do now.
Why is it that everyone the media shows taking items from stores is black?
Why is everyone the news is showing being arrested for “looting” an African-American?
Why is it that when a black person takes something from a Wal-Mart, it’s stealing, but when white people are mentioned in the looting, they are simply taking what they need to survive?
This all comes back to Race. I have been to several message boards and read dozens of topics over the looting issue, and I can’t believe how blatantly racist we have become. To slightly quote Trey Parker in “BASEketball”, If I had a nickel for every time someone said the looting was a result of black people not knowing anything else and just following their instincts—then I’d have a shit load of nickels.
Now, I will concede that YES—some of the looting/finding/whatever is absurd. People do not need to steal 10 pairs of shoes, 25 football jerseys, and 4 DVD players to survive, no matter what color your skin is. If the citizens of New Orleans need to break into a 7-Eleven to take water, food, or fuel, then that is perfectly fine. But you do not need a plasma TV when you have no electricity. But really, have we seen a bunch of WHITE people running out of K-Mart? Not that many—and if we did, how many of them would be shown “doing what they could to survive”?
So many message boards have been filled with racist filled rhetoric that it is amazing, and like I said earlier, not in a positive way. It’s like the underbelly of White America now feels like they can get away with talking about how they think how lazy and selfish the Black community is, since it’s being shown on TV and all. Well, as a member of White America, I am ashamed and angry at it. Are black people looting? Yes. But so are White people, Asian people, and every other kind of people. It bothers me that people are posting such racial comments while they sit in their dry, climate controlled home. Let’s see how they would react when their home is filled with water and all of their possessions and food are destroyed, huh?
Kanye West
Well, when racial tension is created, we get this. Rapper Kanye West went on NBC’s telethon fundraiser for Katrina’s victims Thursday night, and said this:
I hate the way they portray us in the media. You see a black family it says they are looting. You see a white family it says they are looking for food. And you know there’s been five days because most of the people are black and even for me to complain about it, I would be a hypocrite because I try to turn away from the teacher… TV because it is too hard to watch. I’ve even been shopping before even giving a donation, so now I’m calling my business manager right now to see what is the biggest amount I can give.
And just to imagine if I was down there, those are my people down there, so if anybody out there that’s wants to do anything, we can help, with the setup, the way America is setup, the poor, the black people, the less well off, as SLOW as possible, I mean, this is, Red Cross is doing everything they can--we already realize a lot of the people that could help are at war right now fighting another way, they given them permission to go down and SHOOT US. George Bush doesn’t care about black people.
Many people just know about the last sentence, but there’s the whole shindig for you. What do I think? Man, what a sad thing to say, on so many levels. Everyone has an opinion, but there is a time to speak out against the President, and there is a time not to. A prime time fundraising benefit is not the time to do it. Neither are the Oscars. You just won an award for being in a MOVIE, talk about THAT. If Kanye West wants to bash Dubya, that’s fine—and I encourage it! Just do it somewhere else. You were supposed to ask for help. Instead you took your 30 seconds and spoke about something completely different than the people you want to help. How many people changed the channel after seeing/hearing that? Probably more than a few. How did your comments help the hurricane victims, Mr. West?
Kanye West is supposed to be a different kind of hip-hop artist. He’s supposed to be someone who talks about issues and wanting to change things, unlike most rappers, who talk about their bitches, blunts, and ho’s. But with his ignorance last Thursday, he changed my whole opinion of him. I’m surprised he didn’t plug his album while he was out there.
Would it be different if everyone was white? Possibly. I can’t see The Kennedy family and their neighbors in the Hampton’s being stranded on their roofs for a week, can you? Black or white, we need to take care of each other, which leads me to……
The Government
After 9/11, you would think our government would get their shit together, but I guess not. It’s painfully obvious that there was a massive failure on both the state and national levels to prepare for this disaster. Everyone is talking about how there was a THREE day warning before Katrina hit. True, but there should have been a plan YEARS ago, in case this happened like, before it was too late.
Well, it’s too late, and now it’s like a fire drill down there. Dubya talked about how New Orleans will rise again, and how we will prevail. God dammit. Why is it that the Bush administration always has to treat every crisis like a war? What are we going to do, fight the fucking water? Stop talking about prevailing. We have already failed, George. Now let’s focus on helping the survivors down there, not trying to save face. Thank God you ended your vacation a whopping TWO days early. Thank goodness you asked your pilot to drop below the clouds over New Orleans, so you could see the devastation. I’m sure you could see people on their rooftops, with “HELP” spray painted next to them. Of course you couldn’t stop at that point, since well, you know.
Don’t visit the devastation 5 days after it happened. Do it as soon as you can enter the city without being washed away. Don’t give a pep talk, give orders. And most importantly, have a plan in place when this sort of thing happens. Don’t open a football stadium without being prepared first. And when the power goes out, have a backup plan immediately in place instead of waiting until all the toilets, trashcans and field are full of shit. All of this was so ill conceived, it makes me sick. Oops, the field is full of urine, what do we do? Uh, drive them to ANOTHER stadium?
The worst thing I have seen was Friday night, when one of the local reporters was standing on a bridge in New Orleans, and below were THOUSANDS of stranded people, waiting to be taken by bus to a shelter. Who were they and how did they get there? They were all people rescued from their homes and rooftops. Now yes, they should have already been gone, but that’s not the point. These people we taken from their homes and simply dropped off along the highway, to WAIT. The reporter pointed it out, right there on camera, that there were only FOUR Port-A-Johns for the entire crowd. I’m sure you can figure out the rest.
You know that scene in “Titanic”, right after the boat sinks, when the camera pulls back to show thousands of people screaming and flailing in the water? That’s exactly what it looked like, except replace the ocean with highway. What kind of disaster plan is THIS? Oh, that’s right, there was no plan, was there? My faith in our government diminishes with each passing day.
Alright, enough on the hurricane. What else happened? Oh yeah, some judge died too……
Quick! Prepare a 2 minute loop of him walking with a cane!
Chief Justice William Rehnquist died of cancer Saturday night. Not to sound morbid, but it wasn’t that big of a surprise to me. I mean, he was going downhill in Johnny Cash like proportions. Apparently, he was still going into work as late as Friday morning, the day before his death. Say what you want about his views, but that’s dedication.
Well, this isn’t as big of a deal as Sandra Day O’Connor, since Rehnquist was 100% conservative, so Bush can nominate Ted Olson or whoever and he (or she, if Bush is brave enough) can be confirmed in about a half hour. What I am interested to see is when fellow Bush hunting buddy Anton Scalia gets nominated for Chief Justice. I can hear John Kerry writing his dissent right now. I can hear the pen scratching as I type this.
Thank God it’s over
With Dubya’s vacation over, so is Cindy Sheehan’s sorry excuse for a protest. Now, I know I said I would never talk about her again, but I had to mention this one footnote. Sheehan said she was actually GLAD that Bush didn’t meet with her, which means that she is either:
A: Trying to save face because, as I said two weeks ago, in the same situation Forrest Gump’s running buddies were when he decided to go home. There’s nothing left to do, and you didn’t accomplish what you intended to do, so change your story, and say that you never really wanted to talk to him? O….kay.
B: A liar who just wanted to exploit her son’s death to deal with her grief.
Talk amongst yourselves.
On another positive, FOX News (and Greta Van Susteren) were forced to abandon their Natalee Holloway coverage because of the hurricane. I wish there was another reason, like say, the fact that there wasn’t ANYTHING TO REPORT, but oh well.
Plugs
Michael Moore has written an open letter to President Bush. This should get the MoveOn.org base excited. I agree with most of it, though.
Joe Rivett wrote one of the best pieces I have ever read here at 411, and no, he didn’t pay me to say that. Go read the latest The Individualist.
I know this week we were a little hurricane heavy, but dammit, I’m pissed off. Above it all, today is Labor Day, and most of you (not me) are off work. After finishing this column, do a favor to those in need and make some sort of donation, either to the Red Cross, or whichever Hurricane Katrina relief fund that you think is best. Remember, you just have today off, and probably with pay. Those people down there will probably have the next 3 months off, and have nothing.
Thanks for reading to this point. See you next week.
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