Wednesday, September 07, 2005

thoughts about the hurricane

There are just a few things that I need to get off my chest about the whole Hurricane Katrina situation.
First and foremost... I am so sick and tired of certain people turning everything that happens in the world into something racial. What happened to those poor folks in New Orleans had to do with them being plain ole poor not black. Because they were poor they had to depend on the government for assistance in evacuating. And depending on the government for anything is not a great idea. I don't think that there was any intentional delays in relief. I just think that there is some serious incompetence going on. And I think that it would have been just as bad if it had been a democrat in office. The government is just not known for handling anything quickly or effeciently.
Second.... The rapper that made the comments about Bush has me a little confused. Both of the pictures and captions he refered to were written by separate newspapers....not George Bush. I think that the media should be ashamed. I think they like to stir the pot, so to speak. So that they can get great headlines. And I think they like to make it look like everyone is racist. Well its just not so. They should be careful about using the word "looting" with any situation that happened after this hurricane. Looting is running down the street with tv's and car stereos, not taking bread and diapers from a flooded grocery store when your family is literally starving... no matter what color you are.
Maybe I am niave and sheltered but I think that the response nationwide shows that Americans care about other Americans and that race does not come into play. People of all colors have come out in droves to donate money, blood, and supplies. Lots of people of all races have donated their time and services to help those people and I think that is the real story.
I hope that everyone continues to pray for the survivors and to donate whatever they can to help them out.

4 comments:

Cheryl said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Cheryl said...

You know, I've had a lot of emergency response training due to my past work. One of the things we were taught was that what happened in New Orleans re. response time, too many bodies to pick up, too many people who needed medical attention, and the inability to get supplies in, etc. would all likely happen here in L.A. in the event of "the big one". They even taught us that we should keep lots of large trash bags- TO BAG BODIES! We think we can control so much, we think we have come so far. We have unrealistic expectations about our ability to control everything. But in the face of something this huge, we are indeed very very small, aren't we?

Mountaingirl said...

I have watched alot of the news coverage and it is just so sad. It really makes your realize just how precious life is and how quickly your whole life can change in an instant. I can't imagine facing that amount of incertainty. The whole experience for those folks must be like some kind of unbelievable nightmare.
Its also hard to think about how long it will take for their lives to get back to any kind of normalcy.

Antique Mommy said...

Amen to all that mountaingirl. You put words to everything I've thought this past week.