Poor, Old, and Needy Abandoned in New Orleans

The poor and needy were abandoned in New Orleans long before Hurricane Katrina hit. In an article written in the LA times by Emily Metzgar titled Louisiana Poverty politics (9/4/05) she makes it clear that the politicians failed its citizens, and I mean all its citizens because I think when the poor, old, and needy are neglected and allowed to be injured or to die by political indifference we all are diminished. According to Metzgar, the issue of transportation out of town before a bad hurricane could hit was raised and met with silent indifference by all those able to make a difference.

From everything I have heard or read, the State of Florida took the high road, preparing evacuation plans for all its citizenry.
There have been no complaints that I have seen regarding how Katrina was handled in Florida. Florida used city buses to evacuate its poor, disabled and elderly citizens out of the hurricanes path to safety. They also opened all freeway lanes on both sides on all freeways for drivers to escape the hurricane path. Lousiana seems to be a different story altogether. I keep hearing explanations for the failure to meet expectations from all kinds of officials from the Bush administration and others even Bill Clinton ( see Ariana Huffington's comments at http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10091.htm.) Gen. Honore, the John Wayne type character, who came into the City with all his helicopters and troops days into the crisis claims help came as soon as it was possible.

It is hard for people to really comprehend what has happened. For those of us who have just watched the unfolding of this most horrible of disasters through the media reports and television, one comes to the conclusion that something was terribly wrong in the planning and handling of people in the midst of the disaster. Below the surface, there seems to be years of neglect and indifference by politicians from both parties. One can't but help think those in power and the average voter in the Big Easy had come to accept the status quo and think the poor and most vulnerable among us have always been last in line for everything so why not in times of disaster too. The poor also were given promises that were not kept so those who voted kept voting for people who did not serve their best interests. The poor in New Orleans stay poor and compared to other places seem to be a large part of the overall population. (Metzgar, LA times,9/4/05)) As a consequence of primises not kept and an indifferent bureacracy, little changed. The racist implications seemed palpable at times during the height of the crises. Some of the rescuers, ambulance drivers, some of the police, and other in charge, seemed much more worried about the anger some of African Americans imprisoned at the Convention Center and other places, like under a bridge, or on an expressway, were expressing, than the fact that innocent lives were in danger.

We can blame the media for part of this perception but it was the racist way people actually viewed the looting and the few cases of shootings that the media showed on tv or in the written news that seemed to slow the rescue process down. As a tv news watcher one could not help form the opinion that the white people outside New Orleans were being helped and treated differently than the African Americans caught inside the flooded city of New Orleans. When Honore and his troops finally came into the city full force and with all their military gear and fire power, they were welcomed by a very relieved populace. Only the many dead scattered around were unable to express their gratitude.

Will there be repercussions to this colossal failure of preparedness and lack of will to take care of the vulnerable among us?
There is no doubt that criticism and anger has already been expressed by so many including reporters and journalists in large number. They strongly impressed this viewer as they took on an important advocacy role for those in danger of dying. The reporters and anchors who took on this advocacy role stepped out of their more often than not neutral role as news people and began to show themselves as decent human beings impelled to do something to save lives or just make someones life at the moment more bearable. The rescuers who spent almost every waking moment saving people stood out as heroes as they always do in these kinds of situations.

But where are the other voices in this moment of such great distress? Why is Bill Clinton standing with the Bushes? Where are the other Democrats? From what I have read, the Democrats don't need to help push Bush over the political precipice as he is going quickly down the political popularity slide all by himself. I wonder if there is more to it. As much as I can't stand Bush and his cronies, it seems both sides are at fault in many ways. The Democratic Party which seems to dominate in the city of New Orleans has also failed the people by years of neglect of the issue of preparedness and lack of commitment to a common sense approach to the problems of the poor, elderly, the disabled and all its citizens. In this case, talk was cheap. There were meetings, conferences and discussions about the need to deal with emergency preparedness. The problem was, no money was put into making it happen. The dikes were not brought up to modern standards, no thought was given to how to evacuate people with no money or transportation or if thought was given it wasn't implemented due to what? Who is responsible? Bush? HomeLand Security? FEMA? Congress? The States? The local Governments? They all should answer!