Some thoughts about New Orleans
This was originally written several years ago shortly after the New Orleans "disaster." Perhaps with the passage of time we have had an opportunity to reflect on what went right and wrong and who was really to blame.
We're all Americans. Americans are the most resourceful, independent, toughest folks in the world. Lets try to remember that. Let's try to treat each other in that spirit. Lets be enablers - not rescuers!
I’m a little confused about our response to the New Orleans disaster. News reports state that there are, four days after the event, xxx people left in New Orleans. Our response? Send yyy National Guard troops, zzz Red Cross volunteers, and hundreds of search & rescue, law enforcement, medical, and aid workers.
Here is my conundrum. There are thousands of people in New Orleans with out food and water. They crowd highway overpasses and the Super Dome. Why are we sending MORE people?
Why don’t the people that are already there take care of the problems: Rescue people, care for them, set up shelters, fix the dikes, and clean up the city. After all, it’s THEIR city.
Oh, I hear the answers, “These are poor minority folks. They don’t have the resources.”
So, let’s send RESOURCES. Let’s not send people. There are plenty of people there already.
But, the enablers cry, “These are poor minority folks.”
What a condescending, racist viewpoint.
Yes these folks are poor. “Poor” is defined by a lack of money and/or resources.
So we send them resources. We pay them to use the resources. They are no longer poor – they have incomes and resources.
Why should I pay salaries of National Guard members who must leave jobs to be in the Guard when I could be paying salaries of “poor folk” who don’t have jobs?
Oh, the enablers cry, “These are poor minority folks. They aren’t police or search and rescue or food servers or boat drivers or nurses or engineers.”
What a condescending, racist viewpoint!
Are the enablers saying that poor folks can’t work?
Give them a chance. “Poor folks” built this country.
Are they saying that minorities can’t be police or save people or prepare food or serve food or drive boats or care for people or be engineers?
Look around. Minorities fill all these jobs and fill them quite well.
Don’t look down on the people of New Orleans. Don’t treat them as if they are helpless. Don’t accept a racist plantation mentality.
Provide them resources. Pay them for their work. Support them with training and leadership. And, let them stand-up to the challenges they have been presented.
They will be stronger for it. Our nation will be stronger for it. And, we will all be proud of them.
We're all Americans. Americans are the most resourceful, independent, toughest folks in the world. Lets try to remember that. Let's try to treat each other in that spirit. Lets be enablers - not rescuers!
I’m a little confused about our response to the New Orleans disaster. News reports state that there are, four days after the event, xxx people left in New Orleans. Our response? Send yyy National Guard troops, zzz Red Cross volunteers, and hundreds of search & rescue, law enforcement, medical, and aid workers.
Here is my conundrum. There are thousands of people in New Orleans with out food and water. They crowd highway overpasses and the Super Dome. Why are we sending MORE people?
Why don’t the people that are already there take care of the problems: Rescue people, care for them, set up shelters, fix the dikes, and clean up the city. After all, it’s THEIR city.
Oh, I hear the answers, “These are poor minority folks. They don’t have the resources.”
So, let’s send RESOURCES. Let’s not send people. There are plenty of people there already.
But, the enablers cry, “These are poor minority folks.”
What a condescending, racist viewpoint.
Yes these folks are poor. “Poor” is defined by a lack of money and/or resources.
So we send them resources. We pay them to use the resources. They are no longer poor – they have incomes and resources.
Why should I pay salaries of National Guard members who must leave jobs to be in the Guard when I could be paying salaries of “poor folk” who don’t have jobs?
Oh, the enablers cry, “These are poor minority folks. They aren’t police or search and rescue or food servers or boat drivers or nurses or engineers.”
What a condescending, racist viewpoint!
Are the enablers saying that poor folks can’t work?
Give them a chance. “Poor folks” built this country.
Are they saying that minorities can’t be police or save people or prepare food or serve food or drive boats or care for people or be engineers?
Look around. Minorities fill all these jobs and fill them quite well.
Don’t look down on the people of New Orleans. Don’t treat them as if they are helpless. Don’t accept a racist plantation mentality.
Provide them resources. Pay them for their work. Support them with training and leadership. And, let them stand-up to the challenges they have been presented.
They will be stronger for it. Our nation will be stronger for it. And, we will all be proud of them.
Labels: hurricane, Katrina, minorities, minority, National Guard, New Orleans, rescue
posted by PsySciGuy at 12:37 PM
1 Comments:
well, I agree.
tho, a lil to unrealistic, however it stands on its own.
i give ya credit, i expected a lot more bashing and a lot less positive reinforcement when i started reading this.
but then again, i always have that "negative" first expectation it seems like, haha.
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