Requiem.

"When the Levees Broke: a Requiem in Four Acts", currently in HBO programming for September, is simultaneously an indictment, a a funeral for a friend, a celebration (of culture), and ultimately heart-breaking.

An interesting tie to Big Oil in this story I did not know. I'm betting you don't, either, unless you are from there or you've watched this documentary. This could easily have been entitled, "The Rape of a People"...not just African-Americans (but as 70% of the pop. of NO, mostly), but of the citizens of the state of LA. That Big Oil tie may have you seeing this whole tragedy in a new light.

A couple of weeks ago, I was curious, and went searching for public accounts of how Katrina affected them. I was stunned. Sickened. Many of us watched terrible things unfold on our tv screens, helpless, even more helpless when accounts of rapes, of killings and other atrocities were reported. Then, about a week or so later, the Damage control team set in, reassured the Public at Large these were grossly inflated accounts. That the Superdome experience was not the horror reported, only one meal a day and babies dehydrating- myth, legend. These public accounts tell a very different story.

I'd try and go back, link some of these sites for you, but I'm heartsick at the moment and don't think I could handle the exercise. That does not mean I don't think you should take a bit of time to search these recants out yourself. You will know them by the anger, the grief, the loss of faith. Some pretty big names out there reporting these stories, with the same tales.

Why bother? Why, to make it better, of course. To not be the person to glibly decry that these people are 'making out pretty good'. To support the cause of rebuilding.

To vote with this in mind. Every Time.

Comments

[Sean]

Very well stated, Tamsen.