When the Levees Broke

As you may know, we are quickly approaching the two year anniversary of the tragedy and national embarrassment that was wrought by Hurricane Katrina. I am currently watching “When the Levees Broke,” and HBO documentary by Spike Lee about the tragedy. It’s a four part series, and I have just finished the second part.

Our human brains work in interesting ways. They somehow find a way to bury bad memories, and make us forget the anger, pain, and dispair that we previously felt. Like they say, time heals all wounds. Watching “When the Levees Broke,” I am reminded of how I felt at the time - just the bitter, helpless feelings that the whole situation brought on. Seeing the footage that was not broadcast by the mainstream media, and hearing the stories of what really happened makes it that much worse, and makes me that much more angry.

Seriously, how this could happen in our country is beyond me. How could our government fail to respond to this disaster in an effective way? This is the United States of Fucking America, for piss sake. Land of the unfree, home of the war profiteers. Yup, that’s us.

Our government responded worse than any third world government, let alone a dictatorship, would respond. Those who were fortunate ended up in the Superdome without any kind of communication, no way to find their lost friends and family, no food, no water, no plumbing, and people in various stages of dying all over the place. The unfortunate ones were stuck in their homes without any of the previously mentioned benefits, but they were even worse off.

The fact that no one has been taken to task over the American government’s utter failure is truly embarrassing. I have been embarrassed to be an American many times over that past six years, but this is by far the worst. People’s lives have been literally destroyed, families have been ripped apart, and it’s still happening. Two years later, these people’s lives are not the same as they were before the storm, and they never will be because of the utter failure of that American government to respond.

Like one of the interviewees in the film said, this is a rich country. We find the money to do what we want to do. We found the money to put a man on the moon (well, maybe), and we are currently spending billions on the Iraq occupation. But for some reason, we couldn’t find the money to help out our own citizens.

If you haven’t yet seen this documentary, you really need to. It’s not a pleasant experience, and it won’t leave you with a warm feeling. But as an American citizen and patriot, it is essential viewing to truly understand what we are up against.