Posted by Dinah on December 4, 2005, at 20:28:45
In reply to New Orleans, posted by Dinah on December 4, 2005, at 20:23:45
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/otheropinions/index.ssf?/base/news-0/1132989135136740.xml
Also from Times Picayune
New Orleans left behind again
Saturday, November 26, 2005
Anne BoydThe suffering of those who were left to fend for themselves after the storm shocked the nation. But where is the widespread outrage now, as the federal government once again abandons New Orleans?
Just when you think you can't be any more furious at how our government has failed us, another story appears about FEMA chief Michael Brown's mind-boggling lack of competence and compassion, the Army Corps of Engineers' failures to build adequate levees and now the president's and Congress' unwillingness to commit to rebuilding New Orleans.
The citizens of this entire region are in despair. You see it everywhere you go. We are still in shock over the destruction that laid waste to 80 percent of the city. To see the miles of now-blighted neighborhoods without a single living occupant is to know the meaning of hopelessness. I keep reminding myself that after every act of destruction follows inevitable rebirth and renewal. But despite the small signs here and there of recovery, those of us who have lost our homes and communities have yet to feel optimistic that our lives will ever return to normal here.We feel powerless in the face of so much devastation. Some of us comb through our flood-ravaged homes searching for any salvageable memento of our former lives. Others go a step further and haul out the entire water-logged contents of their homes and strip the walls down to the studs. But it is impossible to go much further than that. Where are we to begin when so much of the city is still without power and we can receive no assurances that our homes, should we rebuild them, will be safe from the next storm?
I, like most New Orleanians, have been focused on putting my own life back together. But now that our family is reunited, we are settled in a new apartment (although without furniture) and the insurance check has arrived in the mail, where do we go from here?
People ask us what we will do -- and not just family members. Strangers in the grocery store or at the playground want to know. Will you stay or will you go? Most of us don't know yet. It has become clear, however, that we can no longer just think about ourselves. For our individual futures are inextricably tied to the future of New Orleans.
The failures of the government to react to the aftermath of Katrina left most of this country feeling that we cannot count on the government in times of crisis. For decades now we have accepted the fact that we cannot rely on it for much of anything. But in times like this we need to overcome our impression that the government is a remote, inaccessible force. We need to remember that ours is supposed to be a government "by the people, for the people." The time is coming for us ordinary citizens to move beyond fighting with FEMA and our insurance companies and to begin an organized fight for this city.
Ours is a government that only acts when the world is watching. We cannot count on the president's or Congress' compassion. For as unbelievable as it seems that they would allow such a vital part of their own country to wither and die, it is becoming clear that is precisely what will happen if we do not act to keep the spotlight on New Orleans.
The suggestion by Rep. Charlie Melancon that residents march on Washington to make themselves heard is a sign that we are reaching a crisis point. Will the federal government take responsibility for the destruction that it caused here? (For the evidence is in that Katrina was not the "Big One" for which the city was unprepared, but a Category 3 storm the government had promised to protect us against.) Or will the citizens use the strongest weapon they have and organize civil protests?
If this happens, I hope that New Orleanians will not stand alone. I hope that the rest of the country will see our plight as their own.
For what has happened here can happen anywhere in America. The government has promised to protect all of us and has a responsibility to make reparations when it does not. Instead of only preparing our own individual survival plans (as citizens of the most vulnerable urban areas such as Washington, D.C., and San Francisco are being urged to do), we need to hold officials accountable to their promise.
A nation that cannot protect its own citizens is no longer a civil society.
. . . . . . .
Anne Boyd is an associate professor of English at the University of New Orleans. Her e-mail address is aeboyd@uno.edu.
poster:Dinah
thread:585532
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/poli/20051121/msgs/585539.html