Spring Break
Katrina uncovers deeper social crisis
Nicole English
Issue date: 9/12/05 Section: Forum
Last Wednesday, 25,000 body bags were delivered to New Orleans as part of the clean-up effort.
Hurricane Katrina is indubitably one of the most monumental disasters in U.S. history, and a tragic loss of human life.
But I wonder if this tragedy has not blown aside a curtain of denial to reveal one of the most glaring yet actively ignored flaws in our country: that people considered poor (and particularly if they are minorities) are deemed "disposable"- whose lives are not worth saving.
Many of the things that could have been done to help were done too little, too late, or not done at all. Many people left behind in the evacuation were society's vulnerable: the elderly, the sick, the very young, the poor. They had no means to get out, or were dependent upon "officials" for help that never came.
At the risk of sounding political, this administration has been very focused on war and profits, but little else. In the classic Guns vs. Butter metaphor, the unfortunate emphasis has been more on the guns, such as war, and less on butter, like socially nurturing activities to sustain human growth.
This is quite evident when military forces tapped to help in New Orleans came geared more for war than for disaster relief.
In the Army Times, a Louisiana National Guard General talked about starting "combat operations" in New Orleans (not "rescue" operations), putting down "insurgents" (not picking up survivors). He stated that they anticipated New Orleans would look like "little Somalia" after they staged their mission.
This reporting, along with numerous eyewitness accounts, sound like these troops did not have the mindset or training for disaster relief efforts.
In fact, instead of armed forces rescuing the bands of people who gathered to wait for aid and buses (people not allowed to leave New Orleans by foot), these hurricane survivors were shot at, forcing them to disband and scatter so as not to be a media embarrassment to the president's photo op.
Hurricane Katrina is indubitably one of the most monumental disasters in U.S. history, and a tragic loss of human life.
But I wonder if this tragedy has not blown aside a curtain of denial to reveal one of the most glaring yet actively ignored flaws in our country: that people considered poor (and particularly if they are minorities) are deemed "disposable"- whose lives are not worth saving.
Many of the things that could have been done to help were done too little, too late, or not done at all. Many people left behind in the evacuation were society's vulnerable: the elderly, the sick, the very young, the poor. They had no means to get out, or were dependent upon "officials" for help that never came.
At the risk of sounding political, this administration has been very focused on war and profits, but little else. In the classic Guns vs. Butter metaphor, the unfortunate emphasis has been more on the guns, such as war, and less on butter, like socially nurturing activities to sustain human growth.
This is quite evident when military forces tapped to help in New Orleans came geared more for war than for disaster relief.
In the Army Times, a Louisiana National Guard General talked about starting "combat operations" in New Orleans (not "rescue" operations), putting down "insurgents" (not picking up survivors). He stated that they anticipated New Orleans would look like "little Somalia" after they staged their mission.
This reporting, along with numerous eyewitness accounts, sound like these troops did not have the mindset or training for disaster relief efforts.
In fact, instead of armed forces rescuing the bands of people who gathered to wait for aid and buses (people not allowed to leave New Orleans by foot), these hurricane survivors were shot at, forcing them to disband and scatter so as not to be a media embarrassment to the president's photo op.
