Requem For an American Dream (2/2)
What happened to New Orleans is a disaster unlike anything our country has ever endured. Worse then the San Fran earthquakes, worse then Camille in 1969, worse then any blizzard or tornado, and yes worse even then September 11th. My question then, is WHY has the response of our country not been the greatest relief effort the United States has ever seen? Why are the people in New Orleans, and the Gulf Coast area, who are now homeless, jobless and in some case completely alone, 'refugees' as the media insists on calling them? As if they came here from some other country asking for our help, or fleeing some civil war, rather then being heroic survivors of one of the greatest natural disasters in human history. Why has our government's response been so slow and woefully ineffective? Beyond the fact that no one could have REALLY anticipated the incredible damage that this storm did, I believe that the plight of these people has a great deal to do with the fact that they are part of the unrepresented and uncounted portion of the American population. They are the the lower class, the poor, the homeless, the elderly and all the rest who are somehow abandoned by society. Every major city has this portion in it's population; it's a simple fact. The unfortunate truth is, in our country of social and economical Darwinism, it has become an almost natural law that a certain percentage of the population be left behind as the rest move ahead, almost as if we were making some sort of crude sacrifice to the great gods of capitalism.
The sacrifice never comes all at once though - at least not until now. Typically these sacrificial lambs fall behind a little at a time, starting for lots of them in school, where budgets are often woefully small and poorly distributed. For example, inner city schools in New York, which have concentrations of minority students approaching 70% generally operate on a budget as much as 1/4 less then their primarily white, suburban counterparts. From here, most face an uphill battle to equality which is often just to steep a climb. That is of course, assuming they can also avoid the vicious traps of crime, drugs and other violence that are also associated with this portion of society. Most of them just give up, resign themselves to their fate, and muddle on as best they can. Other may lose their job, or become sick or disabled. Without the insurance that so much of America takes for granted, any of these things can ruin a life. And our country as a whole has been content to merely watch, and make excuses like, these people didn't work hard enough, that they somehow deserved to live as less then third rate citizens in this, the country of universal equality. And finally, when Katrina came these were the people in New Orleans who paid the price. The people that America as a county had abandoned.
Given any sort of real option, I think that most of the people who were left in New Orleans would have gladly fled from Katrina. But for many, there was no option. The people who did not leave were the people who could not leave; the poor, the homeless, the sick and elderly, and when the call came to evacuate, they stayed and clung desperately to whatever they could. Then most of them watched, as what little they had was literally washed away before their eyes. And when the rain and wind finally stopped, these desperate people looked around for the help. They looked for the help they KNEW was coming...the help that should have been coming...and instead America failed to respond in the manner in which it's capable. I'll stop short of saying that it was racism, because deep down I still have more faith in the American spirit then that, but 30,000 white, middle and upper class Americans would NEVER have been stuck in a city because they had no means to leave, with a lethal storm bearing down on them. Take that however you like, but if the American Dream is essentially equality, ask yourself how this could have ever happened. Now consider that the income-gap between lower class and middle class, and middle class and upper class is larger then it's ever been. Finally, consider who our President has given the most tax cuts to since he has been in office. Here's a hint: it's not the middle or lower class.
Despite all this though, the American spirit is alive and well. Now that the country understands the extent of the destruction, donations and relief are pouring in. Average citizens are doing extraordinary things every single day in an effort to help, however they can. And they will continue to help, and to give of themselves, because we are all still Americans, and when times are at their worst, our country has an unrivaled capacity to pull together towards a common goal. New Orleans will rebuild and life will go on, as it always does...but how many more natural disasters, and catastrophes will it take before we as country realize that the greatest disaster is in fact our fading equality - our fading American Dream.
The sacrifice never comes all at once though - at least not until now. Typically these sacrificial lambs fall behind a little at a time, starting for lots of them in school, where budgets are often woefully small and poorly distributed. For example, inner city schools in New York, which have concentrations of minority students approaching 70% generally operate on a budget as much as 1/4 less then their primarily white, suburban counterparts. From here, most face an uphill battle to equality which is often just to steep a climb. That is of course, assuming they can also avoid the vicious traps of crime, drugs and other violence that are also associated with this portion of society. Most of them just give up, resign themselves to their fate, and muddle on as best they can. Other may lose their job, or become sick or disabled. Without the insurance that so much of America takes for granted, any of these things can ruin a life. And our country as a whole has been content to merely watch, and make excuses like, these people didn't work hard enough, that they somehow deserved to live as less then third rate citizens in this, the country of universal equality. And finally, when Katrina came these were the people in New Orleans who paid the price. The people that America as a county had abandoned.
Given any sort of real option, I think that most of the people who were left in New Orleans would have gladly fled from Katrina. But for many, there was no option. The people who did not leave were the people who could not leave; the poor, the homeless, the sick and elderly, and when the call came to evacuate, they stayed and clung desperately to whatever they could. Then most of them watched, as what little they had was literally washed away before their eyes. And when the rain and wind finally stopped, these desperate people looked around for the help. They looked for the help they KNEW was coming...the help that should have been coming...and instead America failed to respond in the manner in which it's capable. I'll stop short of saying that it was racism, because deep down I still have more faith in the American spirit then that, but 30,000 white, middle and upper class Americans would NEVER have been stuck in a city because they had no means to leave, with a lethal storm bearing down on them. Take that however you like, but if the American Dream is essentially equality, ask yourself how this could have ever happened. Now consider that the income-gap between lower class and middle class, and middle class and upper class is larger then it's ever been. Finally, consider who our President has given the most tax cuts to since he has been in office. Here's a hint: it's not the middle or lower class.
Despite all this though, the American spirit is alive and well. Now that the country understands the extent of the destruction, donations and relief are pouring in. Average citizens are doing extraordinary things every single day in an effort to help, however they can. And they will continue to help, and to give of themselves, because we are all still Americans, and when times are at their worst, our country has an unrivaled capacity to pull together towards a common goal. New Orleans will rebuild and life will go on, as it always does...but how many more natural disasters, and catastrophes will it take before we as country realize that the greatest disaster is in fact our fading equality - our fading American Dream.
posted by CarpeDM | 7:34 PM
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