Belated Katrina Anniversary Post
I forgot to do a Katrina anniversary post yesterday.
There's an interesting post and discussion over at poplicks.com. In short, everyone is still screwed.
Two years ago I was absolutely horrified and shaken to the core while watching scenes of the aftermath. I could not believe how badly America was failing.
I was able to help some evacuees in a small way. Many of them poured into Atlanta. Some had friends or relatives in Georgia, others just kept driving until their gas and money ran out. We held a donation drive at work. I volunteered with the Red Cross over the weekend to "process" evacuees and get them food, shelter and $300 debit cards. I vividly remember the faces as I sat across the table interviewing them and filling in their applications. They had to wait for a long time, but we didn't deny anyone. A couple scam artists must have made off with a card, but so what... the elderly, gaunt-looking people with nothing in their pockets except change and a few scraps of paper got the immediate help they needed with the minimum of humiliation and heartache.
The levees still aren't fixed. The whole thing could happen all over again next month.
Foster Care System Perspectives
1 comment:
And though the media may do a few stories about it on the anniversary I am amazed that so few people feel the shame that I do. How can we continue to allow these people to lose so much when our country has so many resources? Why are the poorest people who lived in NO finding the fewest supports? I can't help but feel that some of this is directly related to racism and the habit of blaming poverty on the poor as if it is a choice. I was ashamed in the immediate aftermath when Brit tv was showing NO like a third world country but even more so now, 2 years later and still not fixed.
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