Rage can be helpful, shock and shame can be helpful...they catalyze change


Real change, not inner change. Change in actions, and right now actions matter.

I have some good blog friends who probably aren't liking the posts I'm writing here about Katrina. Sure, they like the ones which point to how you can help with relief efforts, but they don't like the ones that talk about who's to blame and whether racism and classism come into play. They probably don't like the ones where I say there should have been less worrying about separating people from their pets and more worrying about saving people's lives!

I respect their opinions, especially Evelyn, who lived through the tsunami herself, but I also respectfully and completely disagree.

I've now given hundreds of dollars to multiple organizations, human and animal-oriented. I may find a way to give more, as the heartbreaking images continue to unfold, perhaps when my next check comes in, but I feel like for now I've given what I can give. I've also posted links at each of my blogs...and y'all know I have a bunch of blogs. Links to where you can donate. Links to which companies are offering matching donations to their employees, links to a couple of message boards for survivors.

And when all is said and done, and I've given money, and I've given links, and I've tried to increase awareness about how to help...the other thing I can do is raise my voice.

But for all that Homeland Security Director Chertoff would like us to look forward not backward I gotta remind him and everyone else...hurricane season ain't even over yet! You better start looking backward QUICKLY. Now, I KNOW not everyone in Chertoff's Washington office in on the ground in LA and MS rolling up their sleeves and passing out water bottles. I KNOW there are a bunch of 'em sitting in their offices in Washington. And they damn well better be looking at what happened and how to prevent it from happening again.

And I'm sorry. I'm sorry if it seems all to crass, but you cannot understand what went wrong, and then fix it, if you are not willing to lay some blame. If no one is at fault then no one can fix it. If no one made a mistake, then no one can learn from it; if nothing could have been done differently, then prepare yourself for another round of misery and suffering right here in the U.S.

Are you willing to consign some population somewhere in our borders to that fate?

And to do this properly, this determination of what went wrong and who is accountable, we need to be detail-oriented and think big-picture. Yes, yes, again I know it seems crass, but the failure in New Orleans has roots. Roots in our foreign policy; roots in the way we pass legislation; roots in our nation's character.

People don't want to connect the somewhat sterile activity of pulling levers (or punching chads) in the voting booth to events that subsequently unfold, but it is connected. Just as the decision not to vote is connected. Politics results in Government. Government has a job to do. They did not do the job here.

So if talking about how this happened, why it happened, how it could have been prevented fills people with rage and shame; and if it takes rage and shame to get people motivated to pay closer attention; motivated to raise their voice to their local, state and federal representatives; motivated to raise their voice when they hear casual stereotyping; motivated to ___ (fill in the blank)...then I'm all for it.

Give your money.

Publicize all the helpful links you can find.

But talk about the hard stuff too.

Like Steve Gilliard does here. (Must-read post, rage-filled though it may be.)
Like Ingrid Newkirk does here. (Mus-read post, heart-breaking though it may be.)
Like Maureen Dowd does here.
Like the NY Times Editorial Board does here.

You think it's painful to read this stuff? It would be more painful to watch something lie this disaster occur in our lifetimes. I'm not talking about the hurricane itself. We can't prevent hurricanes, or tornadoes or earthquakes. I'm talking about the shameful shameful aftermath.

And then make sure your elected officials, who enact policies and regulations and laws every day that impact our lives somewhere down the road, make sure they know how you feel. However you feel.


Posted: Sun - September 4, 2005 at 12:21 PM       EmailFeedback

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