We Are Not Ok

[markus]

What was it like to be a college student volunteering to spend Spring break cleaning out houses in New Orleans only to find the remains of a very young girl and a woman perhaps her grandmother huddled together in a ruined house, seven months after?

The newspapers don't tell us, because it was not an exceptional occurrence. As the headline moved by the Reuters News Agency summaries, Grim Find Shows Normalcy Still Eludes New Orleans.

We are not OK....

New Orleans author and blogger Poppy Z. Brite took up this same theme this week in an online community, offering her own summary of why .

Occasionally I'm asked by friends Not From Here, "New Orleans is better now, right? You had Mardi Gras!" or "Are you doing OK?" or some variation. Sometimes, particularly if they're contemplating a visit, I even try to reassure them: it's very possible to have a good, safe time here; the French Quarter is fine; lots of restaurants and bars are open. In truth, though, New Orleans and most of its inhabitants are very much Not OK...

No, we are not OK. New Orleans is not OK. It is a disaster zone after seven months. The current 200,000 residents are the walking wounded, many with a dangerously glassy-eyed disconnection, others erupting routinely in anger. Those not crammed into tiny apartments or several families to a house on the Island--the sliver by the river of high land--are camping in the ruins of gutted homes without electricity or potable water. Another several hundred thousands remained scattered around the country with their lives in tatters. In Calcasieu parish there are still people living in tents. Mississippi along the coast is not much different from the pictures the world saw of the tsunami of Xmas 2004...


The rest here on Wet Bank Guide.

[Redstone]

1. Thank you for the reminder. We all forget too soon. Recommended.

Redstone

[helderheid]

2. K & R - remember NOLA

[marmar]

3. I agree that there's media-aided glassy-eyed disconnect...

A guy who I work with goes down to NO every few months to do relief work and he says that beyond the French Quarter, it's a bomb site.

[markus]

11. The glassy-eyed disconnect is shell shock

or what we now call post traumatic stress disorder. I think half the city are on meds, the other half drink too much. There is some cross over in those two sets.

[JitterbugPerfume]

4. so sad

recommended



no words--no words

[annabanana]

5. It is a National Shame

that so little has been done to keep this before the public eye. We have been reduced to this so quickly. Where is America?

[GreenPartyVoter]

6. It's so horrible. I can hardly believe this is our country

[glitch]

9. It's not. It hasn't been since 12/12/2000.

The only way it can be our country again is if we take it back.
:hug:

[Media_Lies_Daily]

16. Bingo on all counts.

[stillcool]

7. New Orleans... is the epicenter...

of the crime scene that is our country.

[acmejack]

8. KNR

I feel nothing but shame. It is but a distant memory now, the day when I was proud to be an American.

[me b zola]

18. That is exactly how I feel

I was changed forever as I watched the aftermath of Katrina unfold on national telivision and reading online more detail of what was done to American citizens on American soil by the American government. I will never forget, I will never be the same :(

[frustrated_lefty]

10. Thanks for posting that link.

As one of the survivors who doesn't have the option of going back anytime soon, it was good to hear the words of someone who gets it.

-fl

[Kurovski]

12. K&R. And for those who would like to help relieve the suffering...

Please read about this excellent organization, the Southern Mutual Help Association:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x809373

The "40 Days in 40 Ways" series provides info on the situation in the Gulf Coast every day, please check into it, it is sometimes quite an education. You can also see all the information from past threads in the series gathered in DUer Plaid Adder's journal.

[Kurovski]

17. And here is todays thread about New Orleans

don't let the April Fools title throw you!:-)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=815934

[earth mom]

13. It keeps getting worse...SHAME SHAME SHAME on the government!

And I'm talking * and FEMA and Congress and State and Local!!!

:grr:

[eppur_se_muova]

14. No electricity, no water, living in tents...what HAS been done ???

At some point, doesn't FEMA (or SOMEONE, anyway) have to stand up and give an accounting of what they have done to help out the victims of this disaster? It sounds like a very short list at this point. What is Halliburton doing to earn its money in NOLA ? (I know the caustic answer, but I'd like to know, SERIOUSLY, have they done ANYTHING but "organize" the relief effort from the safety and comfort of their offices ?)

[markus]

24. Well, there's been some money spent

but no where near enough. The Kos-quality analysis of Da Po Blog shows its not enough, and they're lying about how much it is by double counting and including insurance payments they are bound by law to make under "aid".

[Dr. Jones]

15. But...but...our wonderful leader Bush says things are just peachy there..

and that much progess has been made. He promised MILLIONS in aid and told New Orleans that the city will rise again. He promised one of the largest cleanup and reconstruction efforts in history! And he said he has not forgotten the people along the Gulf Coast.

Things are peachy. Half a world away, we're spending BILLIONS more on another reconstruction effort. That's a little more exciting and worthy according to Bush though...so he figures, heck with the people "in that part of the world (the U.S. Gulf Coast)" - I'm gonna focus in on what can gain me more favor politically - and what can make my business partners more money.

If you can sense the
:sarcasm:
in my voice, you are certainly not mistaken...

[savemefromdumbya]

19. OMG this should be headline news! not runaway brides!

This is horrific. This is what needs to be shown in the media. People have moved on in general and that shouldn't happen. They need to remind the public things are NOT Ok

[snappyturtle]

20. K&R.....

Where in the Hell is Anderson Cooper? I, for one, am going to e-mail him and ask him to start raising some consciousness again!!!! This story is surreal.....in AMERICA!!??? I want to :puke:

[markus]

28. AK was there for Mardi Gras

I hear he had a lovely time. It's possible on the Island to assume life is getting back to normal, given that dealings with government and entities like the utility Entergy always had a third-world quality to it of slowness and dysfunction.

I think he did some obligatory coverage of Lakeview, the Ninth Ward and St. Bernard Parish while he was there. But it's beeen a month and he's not been seen since.

[snappyturtle]

33. But do you remember.......

how Anderson was one of the outstanding "voices" immediately after the hurricane? He had the American people's attention......he or his handlers dropped the ball, or were told to go sit on the sidelines. I don't see the commitment of anyone, anymore, for our devastated citizens of the Gulf coast. Couldn't agree more with your use of the word, "obligatory"! I kept waiting for him to really score again when he was there at Mardi Gras, but he fizzled. So sad.

[newspeak]

21. did you hear the man on the Randi Rhodes show today?

he has family in Mississippi who are Katrina Victims--he was so emotional--said the people are still living in tents and many are fearful because of law enforcement (private contractors) who are bullying the people and some are stealing. Get this? He said that those who are supposed to maintain order, some are stealing. Anyway, the people are afraid of getting shot if they complain or raise their voice. I don't know--does anyone else know if private contractors are being hired for law enforcement and what's going on?

[markus]

25. Yes, FEMA is using Blackwater for security

and governor-in-waiting Blanco cheerfully issues them state commissions making them peace officers in Louisiana. The people who live on Audubon Place had, in the immediate aftermath of the storm, Israeli mercenaries guarding their private street accross from Audubon Park.

I routline read annectodal reports of them beating the living s--t out of people for no apparent reason, except perhaps disrepecting them.

Also, the entire police force is in a deep state of post traumatic stress disorder, and were not the nicest bunch to begin with.

[Hekate]

22. That's an amazing, wonderful, eloquent rant

I watched the Drowning of New Orleans happen live and in color, aghast at the callous abandonment of an American city and its people. The message I took away was stark: we are on our own now.

FEMA was drowned in Grover Norquist's bathtub, held under by Karl Rove; and Dubya pulled the plug and let it drain into New Orleans.

I live in earthquake country, where we won't have a minute's notice that The Big One is coming, much less a week. But no matter, we are all on our own now anyway.

Like some godforsaken Third World nation that can't take care of its own when things go wrong. Citizens of the USA picking through the rubble of their homes... why isn't everyone in our government writhing in shame?

I'm glad you're going home to redeem the soul of your city. Like you, I worry about the soul of our nation, because nations have souls, and ours has been in deadly peril since the year 2000.

Good luck to you and your family, Markus, and may the multitudinous gods and goddesses of your city sustain you. :grouphug:

Hekate

[markus]

26. Thank you

If you live anywhere near a faultzone and you are expecting the government to come to your aid when it happens and afterward, it ain't gonna happen. Whatever part of the coast takes it will effectively be over as part of the first world.

[Maraya1969]

23. WHERE do you donate? I don't trust any agency anymore. I want

to help some more but damn it seems like the money gets swallowed up in red tape.

Any one know of a group that is actually helping?

[markus]

27. The long standing belief on the Gulf Coast is

if you want to give money to a large agency, it would go to the Salvation Army. Whatever you think of their views on religion or gay rights, they are the one effective agency. But they're largely gone from NOLA. At this point, it's hard to say. If they were still active in SW Louisiana and Mississippi, that's where I would send money.

I'd stop putting money in kettles the last several holidays because of the whole gay employee things. I reversed that decision this year.

If you gave any money to the American Red Cross, you might as well have burned it for all the good it does.

[HeeBGBz]

37. Yes, Salvation Army was one of the first kitchens set up

In low income area of Gulfport, MS. after the storm. When I left town to come to Missouri to regroup, the Salvation Army was here helping evacuees get theirselves together.

[noamnety]

31. I strongly recommend SOS

http://www.savinourself.org/donate.htm

They were on the ground before red cross, before FEMA, delivering supplies, and they were delivering them specifically to the poorest communities, often in the face of police threatening to arrest them for delivering food and water to "those people" - you can read about that in my DU journal - see the first half of Day 4 there. Vivian Felts and Paul Robinson are running it, and I know them both personally from the Walk to New Orleans, which they were instrumental in organizing. It was the communities they helped which hosted us throughout our walk. (I know their website is slightly incomplete, they are working with volunteers on that and don't have the resources to do a marketing campaign like the Red Cross.)

They are partnered with Veterans for Peace as well as IVAW (Iraq Veterans Against the War).

They've delivered over 300 tons of supplies to the area - and they aren't delivering generators to people making $60,000 a year who lost power for three days. No money being swallowed up by red tape, no sucking up to corporate interests, they aren't afraid to speak their minds about how the war in Iraq is directly affecting our ability to respond to disasters at home.

[frustrated_lefty]

32. Here are a couple.

You should check out Plaid Adder's "40 Ways in 40 Days" threads. She's put a lot of effort into identifying reputable organizations and groups which are helping.

You may also want to look at Tipitina's Foundation or New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts

[markus]

36. I would second those recommendations

with the disclaimer that my 14-year old daughter was just accepted in dance into NOCCA. (And Ben Franklin. Ok, I'm braggin'. I'll cut it out).

[in_cog_ni_to]

38. RANDI RHODES ONLY! Habitat for Humanity and Randi have joined

forces and Randi set up her "Change for Change" campaign and ALL PROCEEDS go to KATRINA VICTIMS. Here's her email addy: [e-mail]

and her web site:www.therandirhodesshow.com/

If you donate to Habitat for Humanity, make sure you say "ATTENTION RANDI RHODES" on your check and ALL funds will go to Katrina victims. Otherwise it would go in their general fund and go to wherever they wish to use it. This is a SPECIAL fund Habitat has set up for Randi Rhodes.

[cassiepriam]

29. The pics of dead Americans floating in water is burned in my brain.nt

[markus]

30. K&R - A meme I missed?

I will admit that I've been to DU perhaps once a month for the last several months, and then often drop directly into the Louisiana forum. Did I miss a meme popping up somewhere?

I'm also working with a group of about a dozen NOLA bloggers on the meme "We Are Not OK", trying to get others to post and tag. Please google up we-are-not-ok and katrina. If you have a blog or a web site, please try to link to a post like mine, or the one that inspired it by novelist Poppy Z. Brite here to help spread this.

We want everyone in American to know: We Are Not Ok.

[stephinrome]

34. Reports: 6 and 7 months later

I think Bill Quigley's reports also give a good idea of how little has changed in NOLA, and why.

Six Months After Katrina: Who Was Left Behind - Then and Now
by Bill Quigley
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0221-36.htm

Seven Months After Katrina: Sleeping in Your Car in Front of Your Trailer in Front of Your Devastated Home, Tales of Lunacy and Hope from New Orleans
by Bill Quigley
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0329-20.htm

[stephinrome]

35. more on nola

And we were lucky to have someone who had voluteered in New Orleans visit Rome and give our group a presentation on her experience. You can read about it here and at the bottom were some organizations she recommended for donations. She volunteered with the National Trust and her husband with Common Ground.

http://www.peaceandjustice.it/nola.php

[Swamp Rat]

39. Yeah you rite!

Many of my friends lost their homes or are still missing, I lost a dog, my ceiling has holes and roaches just fall in by the dozens every hour, spiders and other bugs are everywhere (I got bit last week by a spider in my bed!), mold on my floor... where I sleep, my professors live in trailers with no hook-ups, everyone is stressed out, traffic is horrendous - people just go through red lights while holding cell phones and/or cans of beer, hardly any doctors around, hardly any jobs, potholes everywhere that could swallow you, electricity goes out regularly yet Entergy is ripping everyone off with extra fees and and higher prices, the water, air, and soil is polluted, the ecosystem here is FUCKED! AND THE GODDAMN LEVEES ARE NOT FIXED!!! :mad:

:grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr:

[stepnw1f]

40. Ahh... Shit Man

This is fucked up. I gotta do something...

[Lost4words]

41. This shows *'s arrogant incompetency more than Iraq.

I am waiting for the devastation this hurricane season, and NOLA area will still be in tents. This is what might bring the non-effected to revolt over the total inability to of this mis-administration to do anything but screw us in favor of their rich buddies!

[countryjake]

42. Our government is a disgrace to humanity.

That is one powerful essay.