It's hard not knowing what to do, hard feeling disconnected and helpless as you funnel invisible money to the Red Cross via the miracle of the net. It's hard that it isn't less hard; that we can shake our heads in disbelief while watching the news from our comfortable chairs and beds and lives.
I know that I complain about Law School too much and about how it can be so competitive and cutthroat and soulless. It's not always these things. This afternoon an email was sent out to all of the law students that said:
While registration problems are critical, they pale in comparison to what our neighbors are experiencing after Katrina. I'm sure that you are deeply concerned about their situation and wondering what we as a law school community can do. Rest assured that our administration is working with Tulane Law School and offering assistance in several ways. One of those is our Admissions Office admitting Tulane upper-division students as visitors. So expect to see some new faces next week. Your helping them get adjusted to Austin and UT and catching up in classes will be greatly appreciated. Additionally, some of our students are from the affected area. If you need to go home to be with your family but can't due to financial reasons, please see Dean Powers or me. Please let us know what you need.
As evidence of the fact that I'm a hidden sap, I actually got a little teary-eyed reading the email. It's amazing to see how willing everyone is to help out, and to feel like you're part of an organization or program that's willing to do what they can.
I think I'll be wearing my UT Law t-shirt tomorrow.
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CNN anchors break down
I'm watching Anderson Cooper lose it right now. He just went bananas on Mary L. Landrieu, the Senator from Louisiana - she was talking a lot of wishy-washy policy and Andy just totally faced her by telling a ...
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I got a little emotional reading this too, because I absolutely cannot face all the news about the lawlessness and crime going on in New Orleans right now, it seems so counter everything I thought to be true about people in disasters in this country.
This gave me back just a little bit of faith back.
I agree with Krissa's sentiment because I want to think the best of America too, but you know what? If the evacuation had been taken more seriously by the feds to begin with and by that I mean bringing in troops to get people, especially sick poor people, out we wouldn't be in this situation. It's fucked up that people are going crazy with the guns, the guns they got by looting Walmart by the way, but poor people didn't know what to do or where to go to get out. How are you supposed to evacuate when you don't have a car or money? On BBC World service they had a woman on crying saying "They ain't told us shit" as in where to go or what to do. I heard on the radio yesterday that the average income of the black population in New Orleans is $11,000 a year. These people obviously needed help getting out a week ago. Now everyone is going crazy because they're in the middle of God-damned Armageddon.
When 9-11 happened everyone was so impressed with how New Yorkers handled themselves. That was in Manhattan, you know, where all the rich people are, people with resources and options. Now we see the effects of real poverty in this country, this is what happens when you don't prioritize and don't take care of less fortunate members of society, when oppressed, uneducated people gain control. What are the lessons we should learn from this tragedy?
I totally agree with Nikki. I also want to point out, before we rush to judge people who are seemingly losing their minds in NOLA, shooting at rescue teams, etc., we should remember that we cannot even begin to fathom the kind of hell these people have been living in for the last 5 days. Regardless of class, I can't honestly say that I could make it through 5 days of relentless heat, no food, no water, living in human excrement, dead bodies everywhere around me, completely mentally intact.
Rach - I have worked in the past with communities along the gulf coast with refinery reform issues. I do less of it now that I had hoped, but this message was posted today on a listserve from the a member of the Louisiana Bucket Brigade...I have folded it up and will be carrying it with me in my prayer book:
"Hello Everyone! I am safe. But so many people are not. It is obvious to everyone that the sick, the poor, the old and the young - nearly all of them African American - are the ones who have been left to die in the waters of Hurricane Katrina. A crucial part of the Louisiana Bucket Brigade's response wil be to face this injustice. These are the same forces that find people of color and low income communities sucking down pollution every day of their lives. Now we have abandoned people even more starkly. Where are the air lifts, the air craft carriers? I dont' understand...
and it goes on.
nobody's hands are clean in this mess, all parties are complicit... the local government for not being better prepared for at least the evacuation, which should have been possible, the state and the feds for the evacuation and the disaster response... all of the above for the infrastructure/levee army corp of engineer issues... and the folks there going "lord of the flies" on one another, that's an old story, but it's one you keep hoping won't get played out again... the stupid headlines of surprised bystanders talking about how it's like a third-world country... we remain the only developed nation without universal health care, it should come as no surprise that this policy anomally is actually an indicator of our governments' attitude to the poor, or that our citizens can behave just like bosnians or somalians or sudanese or rwandans or afganis or iraqis when the rule of law is absent and anarchy reigns... but there's no excuse for the evil, everyone has a choice on how to behave, clearly most of these folks were being held in check by the fear of the state, and the moment that fear was lifted they ran amok... not until all people recognize each other as brothers will this kind of craziness be forgotten... 'cause until then the us against them mindset will be used to rationalize all manner of ill-will and malfeasance, be it from the church or the state or the haters or the demagogues or the mobs ...
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