Here comes the story of the Hurricane…

Scenes of dehydrated children, displaced families, crying mothers. People are madly looting abandoned grocery stores, searching for milk, bread, and water. The terrible poverty and segregation of New Orleans is sadly exposed – as thousands of impoverished Americans struggle for survival in a country that has never been convivial. The death toll is expected to be in the thousands. Is this my country?It’s been four days, and FEMA is nowhere in sight. The President flew over the disaster area once, released a generic, listless statement and retreated back into safety. If the victims of this calamity were rich and white the situation would be entirely different.
The Constitution mandates that defense and national security are fundamental responsibilities of the federal government. Is disaster preparedness not an issue of security? Are health and disease not concerns of defense? Apparently not for the indigent.
Katrina is the story of the Hurricane all over again. A discomforting reminder that racism and classism are alive and well in the “land of the free.”