Katrina 1 year later

By Angelo Prieto
Nearly a year has passed since the devastating Hurricane known as Katrina destroyed much of the gulf coast including Mississippi and New Orleans. When I first became aware of the hurricane I paid it as much attention as I had the last one. Besides this was late August the middle of hurricane season. We are the United States and we can handle anything right? We have the Coast Guard, FEMA and the Justice League!
As Americans we are used to Hurricane season and the fact that we cannot change the weather much less predict it, should not weight too heavy on the collective conscience, one hurricane is as good as the next.
If we were battered by terrorists four years earlier, the contention being that the attacks came without warning, then a mere category 4-5 hurricane with plenty of advanced warning should be no problem. The truly immoral and unjust tragedy of this whole situation was of course the impotence of the Bush Administration and glaringly racist attitudes that still affect this great Democracy of ours.
In recent days the one year later anniversary specials are popping up everywhere and they sound something like this: Many businesses are opening in New Orleans, the Gulf coast as a whole is slowly rebuilding, insurance fraud is rampant, people are still living in trailers, Michael “brownie” Brown is doing Playboy interviews, Ray Nagin is still Mayor, FEMA is still fucked, the Justice league is a comic book and the Bush Mob still has their heads up their asses! I’m saving many of you the time of watching FOX, CNN MSNBC etc.

The media are proud of their efforts during the Katrina crisis and they should be, many reported on the appalling conditions on the ground and in the Superdome! Not even the Bush Administration’s public relations super spin machine FOX news could save the day. The truth was evident in full color for all to see. However the quest for truth should not lie with CNN but with our own outrage at seeing fellow Americans dying not in the streets of Falluja or downtown Baghdad but in downtown New Orleans.
The question of blame can be sorted out between nature and man's incompetence; it is true that we are dealing with a natural disaster that cannot be prevented. What could have been prevented was the loss of life in the aftermath of Katrina. I’ve personally worked with FEMA on a natural disaster and I was impressed with their dedication and professionalism. I was surprised as anyone when criticism was targeted at FEMA. That changed when more info on the mishandling of emergency services was coming to light; in fact I look forward to Michael Brown’s book: “How to turn down jobs you’re clearly not qualified for” comes to bookstores.
CNN had a show on last night where they highlighted the heroes of Katrina; while I agree that the Coast Guard did a fine job trying to repair the levies and rescue people, the heroes in my opinion were the cops on the streets of New Orleans who did not abandon their posts despite horrific conditions. They maintained law and order while sleeping in patrol cars and at times resorting to scavenging for supplies to ensure their own survival.
We could go on placing the blame however the true blame should rest on our shoulders. Ultimately we place these people in power by voting for them or worse not voting at all. In a society as free as ours with the freedom of information accessible to all, there should be no reason to be lulled into a catatonic state of ignorance. We have the power to change this country into what our forefathers envisioned many years ago. Let’s all become better informed and take that first step of change in November.