- There is nothing "unnatural" about the disaster
of New Orleans. When politicians smirk at global warming, when developers
look at our wetlands and dream of mini malls, when billions are flushed
in the name of war and tax-cuts, when issues of poverty and racism don't
even register in Presidential debates, all it takes is wind, albeit 145
mph wind, to expose a sturdy super power as a house of cards.
-
- Nowhere is this personified more painfully than in a
monument to corporate greed that has rapidly become the earth's most damnable
homeless shelter, the Louisiana Superdome.
-
- The Superdome is perhaps the most unintentionally appropriate
name since Mr. and Mrs. Cheney looked at their newborn son and said, "Dick."
It was birthed in 1975 with pomp and bombast, as the largest domed facility
in the world. It was also funded entirely on the public dime. In a case
of brutal foreshadowing that would shame a B horror flick, the dome was
constructed on an old cemetery for the poor. The burial grounds were dug
up and discarded with a promise that the Superdome would the centerpiece
of a New Orleans "Central Business District" that would benefit
all. The results are certainly now in plain, ugly view. This past week,
25,000 people, walked through its doors, many for the first time. They
entered a stadium where tickets go for 90 bucks a pop, season passes cost
$1,300 and luxury boxes can run for as much as $109,000. The arena boasts
of having a capacity that can comfortably seat 72,000 people, with 9,000
tons of air conditioning, and 88 massive restrooms. But for the 25,000
that can't afford the oxygen, there has been no air conditioning and bathrooms
without electricity, running water, or working toilets. Feces and garbage
now pack the upper decks. The traumatized people finally emerging tell
of dead bodies on the 50 yard line. One man even committed suicide, throwing
himself off the upper deck. Democratic Governor Kathleen Blanco called
the Superdome shelter strategy an "experiment", when asked if
it could hold the storm or the flood. Chuck D's line about Housing Projects
comes to mind when he said, "What is a project but another word for
experiment?"
-
- Saints' receiver Joe Horn has looked at the place where
he has set receiving records and said that football couldn't be farther
from his mind. "It's devastating to us. I've cried three or four times.
Seeing kids without any food, elderly people dying and the government saying
that help is on the way - that's the most shocking part."
-
- He's right. That is the most shocking part. Leading this
carnival of disgrace is "Mr. Shock and Awe" himself, George W.
Bush. Everyday, President Bush doles out comments that signal his removal
from any basic notion of humanity. Perhaps the most galling, "The
good news is -- and it's hard for some to see it now -- that out of this
chaos is going to come a fantastic Gulf Coast, like it was before. Out
of the rubbles of Trent Lott's house -- he's lost his entire house -- there's
going to be a fantastic house. And I'm looking forward to sitting on the
porch."
-
- But happy visions of mint juleps with Trent, while Mamie
and Prissy tighten Scarlett's corset, just will not sell. The discussion
instead, from right wing editorial pages in New Hampshire and Mississippi
to an vocal, angry, Civil Rights community, is about the racism, profiteering
and vile hypocrisy at the heart of this system.
-
- As Norman Solomon wrote, "The policies are matters
of priorities. And the priorities of the Bush White House are clear. For
killing in Iraq, they spare no expense. For protecting and sustaining life,
the cupboards go bare The problem is not incompetence. It's inhumanity,
cruelty and greed."
-
- Frederick Douglass said it even better a century ago
in his speech, "What to the Slave is the 4th of July,"
-
- "[Y]our national greatness, swelling vanity; your
denunciation of tyrants, brass-fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty
and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and
thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are, to Him,
mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy - a thin veil to
cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages."
-
- I would amend the great Mr. Douglass just to say that
we are not at present a nation of savages. The unreal outpouring of both
aid and the furious call for answers are not the actions of beasts. But
it is now clear that savages rule our lives. The echoing cry from the Gulf
Coast is that we deserve better than living under a system that weeps over
spilled oil, and rolls its eyes at our spilled blood. _____
-
- PLACES WHERE YOU CAN HELP
- NAACP Disaster Relief Efforts
-
- The NAACP is setting up command centers in Louisiana,
Mississippi, and Alabama as part of its disaster relief efforts. NAACP
units across the nation have begun collecting resources that will be placed
on trucks and sent directly into the disaster areas. Also, the NAACP has
established a disaster relief fund to accept monetary donations to aid
in the relief effort.
-
- Checks can be sent to the NAACP payable to
-
- NAACP Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund
- 4805 Mt. Hope Drive
- Baltimore, MD 21215
-
- Donations can also be made online at
- www.naacp.org/disaster/contribute.php
- FYI, the NAACP, founded in 1909, is America's oldest
- civil rights organization
-
- www.teamrescueone.com
- Set up by native New Orleans rapper Master P and his
- wife Sonya Miller
-
- You can mail or ship non perishable items to these
- following locations, which we have confirmed are
- REALLY delivering services to folks in need....
-
- Center for LIFE Outreach Center
- 121 Saint Landry Street
- Lafayette, LA 70506
- atten.: Minister Pamela Robinson
- 337-504-5374
-
- Mohammad Mosque 65
- 2600 Plank Road
- Baton Rouge, LA 70805
- atten.: Minister Andrew Muhammad
- 225-923-1400
- 225-357-3079
-
- Lewis Temple CME Church
- 272 Medgar Evers Street
- Grambling, LA 71245
- atten.: Rev. Dr. Ricky Helton
- 318-247-3793
-
- St. Luke Community United Methodist Church
- c/o Hurricane Katrina Victims
- 5710 East R.L. Thornton Freeway
- Dallas, TX 75223
- atten.: Pastor Tom Waitschies
- 214-821-2970
-
- S.H.A.P.E. Community Center
- 3815 Live Oak
- Houston, Texas 77004
- atten.: Deloyd Parker
- 713-521-0641
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