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 The City That Care Forgot: Spike Lee and the ‘New’ New Orleans BluesPosted on Aug 19, 2006
By Sheerly Avni President Bush can kiss my ass — Cheryl Livaudais In one of several remarkable scenes from Spike Lees new four-hour documentary, When the Levees Broke: A Requiem for New Orleans in Four Acts, a young man who sat out the flood in the hot and stenching Superdome surprises us with a recollection of grace. During a particularly desperate moment in the sewer—no water, no food, no help in sight—someone took charge. There was this brother named Radio, he tells us, and he started clapping it up, like in a basketball game . It was a big, big spirit; people just started singing praises. Our storyteller continues in voiceover as the camera cuts to archived footage from the Superdome—a line of men and women dancing and singing, sweat visible through dirty T-shirts. It was a proud moment for us. We marched around the dome, and that time I felt back to the Movement, the civil rights movement, when it was real powerful. Advertisement
To write that chapter, Lee asked for and was granted four hours of airtime—twice the amount HBO had originally allotted for the documentary. Lee and a small crew visited New Orleans nine times and interviewed more than 80 people, including climatologists, politicians, engineers and on-site journalists, all of whom provide informative, though sometimes conflicting, accounts of many different facets of the hurricane. The story that emerges is one of colossal and criminal government failure on local, state and federal levels. Its many narrators cast an equally scornful eye on President Bush, FEMA, the insurance companies, Gov. Kathleen Blanco and the oil business. One might expect that all this anger would amount to a tiresome polemic, especially at such a long running time, and moreover because Lee himself has never been known as a subtle filmmaker. At his best, however, he is a gifted one, with an exceptional sense of craft. Even his worst films have always showcased his inventive and remarkable ear for the profane poetry of American speech. Here Lee wisely turns that ear to the voices of the ravaged city as they spin colorful and dramatic accounts of their experiences before, during and after the storm: the salty and delightful Phyllis Montana LeBlanc, a wife and mother who compares the storm to the 50-foot woman of B-movies ripping the skin off her home, and then delights us with an account of her near throw-down with a cold U.S. servicewoman; Gina Montana, who describes the agony of seeing people treated like cattle, and reminds us that before it was called The Big Easy, New Orleans was known as The Town That Care Forgot; and finally, Fred Johnson, obscene and on-point, with a snorted dismissal of George Bush and his advisers: These fools, they dont even know four dogs got four assholes! Lee does not neglect the landmark moments in Katrinas media coverage, from Soledad OBriens surreal interrogation with an apparently brain-dead Mike Brown, to the tape of Bush being warned about the possibility of levees breaking, to Barbara Bushs infamous assurance in Houston that since many of the victims were underprivileged anyway, displacement was working out well for them (to which the indomitable Montana LeBlanc responds by offering Mrs. Bush her cellphone number and saying, You tell her to call me and say that shit.) Nor does he neglect Kanye Wests impromptu televised announcement that George Bush doesnt care about black people, along with caustic reminders that Bush was not the only object of scorn: Michael Eric Dyson, professor and author of Come Hell or High Water: Hurricane Katrina and the Color of Disaster, reminds us that Condoleezza Rices preoccupations during the period of peak suffering included shoe-shopping, theater and a game of tennis with Monica Seles—Blahniks, Broadway and balls are more important than black people who look like her—for this woman from Birmingham? But the real question is, whats next? In Act IV, an Army engineer promises to bring the levees back to pre-Katrina security levels before the next hurricane season. The promise, made several months ago, has not been kept—and even if it had been, it would be completely nonsensical to restore security levels that have proved so fatally deficient. The wetlands, in the words of one expert, are strangled like a hand cut off by a rubber band, and have been eroded to the point of similar impotence. New Orleans itself was already one of the most dangerous cities in the nation in terms of crime, and its seen a spike in violent crime in recent months. Worse still, more than 200,000 of its residents are still scattered across 46 states. Their bitter longing for home is understandable and legitimate, but the recent and documented worldwide rise in hurricane severity makes it highly unlikely that bringing people home would be doing them a service. Indeed, Mike Tidwell, author of the recently published The Ravaging Tide: Strange Weather, Future Katrinas, and the Coming Death of Americas Coastal Cities, calls Bushs exhortations to return to New Orleans an act of mass homicide. The victims want to rebuild, and it is easy to see why. Much of the films third act is devoted to the citys musical history. Some of the same people weve already watched curse and weep through stories of loss now become cheerful, as they speak of their hometowns heritage. We learn that it was a place where slaves where permitted to play music on Sundays, where, because of a peculiarly French relationship to human bondage, you could buy black people, but marry em too, and where one could be a slave and still go to the opera. One wishes that this portion of the documentary would go on forever, as Lee samples liberally from decades of music and street scenes: Mardi Gras, Indian dances, drum circles and, of course, funeral marches. The jazz funeral is a particular child of this city; it begins with sorrowful hymns, a giving way to grief, but traditionally ends on a note of celebration. The idea, we are told, is that Yeah, Im sad youre gone, but it was sure was nice to know you. America has not known New Orleans well enough. If we did, wed have done more to save and protect her. When the Levees Broke is a jazz funeral, a chorus of voices, some angry, some informed, some specialized, all trying to make sense of a death, not just of one of our loveliest cities but of an illusion: the illusion that our government cares about its citizens. Previous item: Andy Borowitz: Bush Lowers Expectations on Iraq to Moderate Fiasco Next item: Truthdigger of the Week: Ann Beeson Elsewhere: . CommentsAre you a Truthdig member yet? Login now, or register with Truthdig. Add Your Comment
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How the Anti-Semites of Hezbollah Have Sent Anne Frank Back Into Hiding
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By GREG, August 30, 2006 at 8:43 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
HOW COME IT HAS TAKEN 6 YEARS FOR PEOPLE TO UNDERSTAND, G.W.AND HIS CREW ARE LIARS.
Report thisBy Gail Louviere, August 27, 2006 at 11:03 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
I was born in Biloxi, MS and lived there until 2001. One of my grandfathers was a moonshiner and the other was a sharecropper. My grandmother washed wealthy folks clothes on a washboard every day until her fingers would bleed. Down South you do what you have to in order to survive. Most times you don’t have a whole lot of choice in what your line of work is. Poverty is a cycle and it’s hard as hell to break. If you’ve never been that poor it’s exquisitely easy to play armchair quarterback, because you can’t possibly fully understand what you’re talking about. It’s about being so poor you’re too busy surviving, literally, to consider luxuries like a college education or even high school. Say all you want to about the “land of opportunity”, when you are hanging on by your fingernails, you can’t grab for the rope that’s just out of your reach. At one point I lived in a house with a hole in the kitchen floor so big I could stand in it and rest my elbows on the floor surrounding me. From personal experience I can tell you it’s not only about race. I’m white as the day is long.
Report thisJackie Denney is dead on about Bush not caring about white people either. He doesn’t care about anybody but his fratboy circle of friends. When the cameras are rolling he tells us what he thinks we want to hear, says he’ll handle it and forgets about us. He and his skanky partners in crime are the modern American version of Marie Antoinette and they deserve the same fate for their extraordinary betrayals of the people of the US.
I just have to rant on one more thing.
Suffering is suffering, but it really, really pisses me off that New Orleans gets all the attention and the MS Gulf Coast gets almost none. New Orleans was flooded. It still has many of its buildings. East Biloxi was essentially WASHED OFF THE MAP. There is nothing left for most people but a slab of concrete. Black, Vietnamese, White, Latin and many other races and cultures live there. The one unifying characteristic is that nearly all of them are POOR.
Imagine it. Look inside and outside your house at all the things you love, your family, friends and pets. Now, imagine it all swept away and you will never, ever see it again. It’s gone and you know not where. Why is that not noteworthy to the media? Is it because most media types don’t have fond memories of walking down the streets of Biloxi in an alcoholic stupor?
By jon, August 27, 2006 at 5:26 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
Tea in the Arrival Lounge
Big up from England the garden of casino royal.
Come and watch land lords, build cattle sheds on poisoned soil…
And work hard all your life, to get a deflated pension..
Where your moneys going to run out quick time, like a pay phone
Big up from England the heart of casino royal
Grown from the blood of warfare, slavery and North Sea fossils
And all the veins of our ancestors aimless toil
Destroying whole ecosystems - while they conquered our soil
Big up from England the gland of casino royal..
Where a ‘gentle mans’ home, is supposed to be a castle
And we make half of the arms, that are causing world battles
As cattle trough bank counters, repeat need for chattels
Big up from England the pulpit of casino royal
Before the TV things were run from Cathedrals
They dress differently, to appear, like they guide us from evil
While the programmed rays ark from their digital steeples
Big up from England the Bank of Casino Royal.
Where what matters… is your affluent surface portrayal
With a better car sir - prettier girls suck your tail
And when we all buy enough, we make a Molotov Cocktail
Big up from England the (Amster)dam of casino royal .
Coming from Shottingham where I see it starting to boil..
Because the greed soaked ridges all point to the middle
And weve done turkey like a smack heads, from your media riddles
Big up from England the team of casino royal .
Where we buy flags strapped to plastic to prove were loyal
And then we drive around hooting and burning oil..
As the trawlers scrape for tea, and the oceans are spoilt
Big up from England the farm of casino royal
Where we re-program genes, and do experiments, on animals..
And have warfare with weeds, using coppers and chemicals
While the screens spread disease through their binary in-spirals..
Big up from England the court of casino royal
Where they can lock you away - if 12 think your not normal!
Or no - that was before they just re-wrote the rule book -
I think now, they can lock you up, based upon how islamic you look
Big up from England the bitch for casino US
The continent, we went and colonized, to cause the world stress
And ensure ground explodes in a creationist mess
Defining proof to some master race, that they were blessed
Were bending over and having it, then letting it rest
Not thinking… (maybe) we are faced with a gigantic test
(I think that if Im on one… its to see if I can always turn left
When they say the answers right, that ways unlikely the best )
Big up from England, the seat of casino extinction
It is from here that the bombs will depart on their mission
To create new world order through volcanic eruption
Big up from England, the original home of Corruption
Report thisPeace folks… (but someone kill George…)
By G. Dorsey, August 25, 2006 at 10:09 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
Are you familiar with the phrase “Out of sight…out of mind”? The government wants us to forget about Katrina and the residents of New Orleans and the Gulf coast. Thank you Spike Lee for this awesome documentary. Thank you for bringing the devastation of Katrina back to the news. Something has to be done… & soon! It’s storm season again.
The Bush family should be ashamed of themselves as well as Ms. Rice, Michael Brown and the rest of the government that allowed this situation to go on for a year without more being done. Michael Brown should have to repay whatever salary he received from FEMA. He did absolutely nothing! The same goes for g.bush. It’s obvious the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree! The comment his mom made was a disgrace. They should all have to spend just one night in a FEMA trailer w/o their boose!
It breaks my heart to meet former residents of New Orleans. You can see the hurt in their faces. The tears cannot be held back. It’s so sad. When I look at my possessions and my home and try to imagine not having them after a storm…it’s just gut-wrenching!
Report thisBy denk, August 25, 2006 at 5:24 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
A tale of two crises
http://www.workers.org/2006/world/two-crises-0831/
Report thisBy M. Lewis, August 25, 2006 at 4:52 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
let’s face it. if they roll on us tonight we’re done. Onlyt faith we have is the drivers of the tanks that they have waiting for us have conscious and compassion. Sad thing is they may be white.
Report thisBy Harlem Pundit, August 23, 2006 at 5:22 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
I didn’t see the movie since I don’t have HBO. I did spend a week in New Orleans in May 06.
I also spent a few days at Ground Zero in Septmeber 01.
I also ran for US Congress in 1994 once, against a democrat in the primary.
Unfortunately, I don’t feel that voting is the answer. Revitalizing the democratic process is closer to the root of what ails America right now in my opinion.
Report thisBy kevin99999, August 23, 2006 at 11:26 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
Our government—of the rich, for the rich, and by the ich—has never cared about people. They are seen mostly expendable. They are part of the corporate scam.
Report thisBy Joanie600, August 23, 2006 at 11:22 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
Bravo Spike Lee! I watched all four acts of his new HBO documentary about Hurricane Katrina. I was so moved that I found myself crying through most of film.
It is time that American citizens begin to understand that the Federal Government, State Government, and local Government are not interested in helping their citizens. We are called the richest country in the world but we do less for our citizens than any other wealthy country and some developing nations!
Why don’t we have access to national health care? Why don’t we enact laws to protect Americans against the shocking actions of the corporations? Why don’t we have generous vacation and sick time standards? Why don’t we have national education standards that are not tied to housing taxes? Why don’t we provide national day care facilities that must follow specific standards?
Seeing this film reinforced my belief that our government is not interested in helping to ease the lives of ordinary Americans but is interested in doing whatever it can to further aid the corporations and the rich!
Report thisBy JACKIE DENNEY, August 23, 2006 at 5:10 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
Bush doesn’t care about black people….sugar…Bush dosen’t care about white people either…we are truly truly fucked…and don’t have to be a resident of New Orleans to know that..
Report thisBy chaseme, August 22, 2006 at 9:40 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
It’s truly sad when a film-maker, with Spike Lee’s talent and creativity, is labeled unworthy. If you are able to make a film (period) you are a worthy film-maker. If you can make a film with an extremly limited budget, as Spike has done so many times, you are not only worthy, you are a brilliant film-maker.
Spike doesn’t need to prove himself as a worthy filmaker, he simply has to continue to use his brillance to expose racism in all facets of the American society. Unfortunately, even to those who think of him as unworthy, simply because of his race.
Report thisBy Eleanore Kjellberg, August 22, 2006 at 8:57 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
ONE YEAR LATER, FEMA STILL DOESNT LOVE KATRINA
Katrina exposed what a mess FEMA is and became the impetus for the subsequent investigation revealing their dysfunctional operational systems.
One of the key factors in explaining the ineffective response to Katrina was uncovered in an audit of the IT systems that DHS’ Emergency Preparedness and Response (EP&R) Directorate uses to support incident management.
According to the report, the EP&R’s IT systems could not share information with one another; federal, state and local first responders; or the National Incident Management System, which coordinates those systems. The systems couldnt allocate essential services and commodities or generate useful and timely reports about ongoing operationsI wonder if this serious problem has been corrected.
FEMA’s biggest problem is that it is an unwieldy bureaucracy. There are many administrative officials, overlapping state and federal agencies and political agendas. Requests are denied or sent back because the right forms are not filled out properly, or a signature was missing. Sometimes officials send requests back through the mail, delaying FEMA’s disaster response by days.
FEMA’s organizational problems could be , related to the agency’s absorption into the Department of Homeland Security—previously state and federal officials would meet, plan and react to disasters together.
The Bush administration has worked to shift responsibility for disaster management from federal agencies to state and local agencies. The government has drastically cut funding for FEMA as well. In Louisiana, funding for studies and flood prevention efforts in the Lake Pontchartrain area was cut by more than $40 million and the Army Corps of Engineers had its budget cut by $71 million.
HOW INCOMPETENT CAN YOU GET?
As we now know Michael Brown, the former head of FEMA, had no experience in emergency management, his only previous emergency management experience, was “serving as an assistant city manager with emergency services oversight.” This was an internship position that he performed while attending college. Before joining the DHS/FEMA, Brown was the Judges and Stewards Commissioner for the International Arabian Horse Association, (IAHA), from 1989-2001.
But this is so typical of Bushs appointments, which are based on cronyism rather than competence. Another example, is Stewart Simonson, assistant secretary for public health and emergency preparedness, Department of Health and Human Services, Simonson has no previous experience in health emergencies, however, he previously worked for Amtrak. His knowledge of bioterrorism is limited, put perhaps, he can make the trains run on time.
And how about the New Head of the U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement Division of the Department of Homeland Security, Julie Meyer, who is 36 years old, and has no previous experience in Immigration matters, but did work as a federal prosecutor in Brooklyn for a few years, however, she is the niece of former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff general Richard Meyers.
The list of cronyism goes on and on, in fact the list of political appointees went up 15 percent to 4,496 from 2000 to 2004.
What Katrina did was to reveal, the incompetence of the Bush administration—an incompetence that has become increasingly apparent in their mismanagement of the Iraq War, and the ineffectual response to Katrina.
KATRINA ONE YEAR LATER
Katrina also unmasked the level of poverty that exists in Louisiana and throughout the U.S. and why poor people, who lack resources will be abandoned in a crisis.
The attention that this issue received, has again waned from the media spotlight, only to be forgotten until the next catastrophehow quickly we forget. Yet, the poor are still as numerous and needy as ever. Census figures released weeks before Katrina struck revealed that the number of poor had climbed during Bush’s presidency. Forty million Americans, 12 million of whom are children, are poor. Census figures in the year after Katrina will likely show little change in the poverty numbers. Thousands of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast poor are still jobless, and live in FEMA constructed trailers, and subsist on private donations.
THE LATEST FIASCO
FEMA needs to replace locks on as many as 118,000 trailers used by Gulf Coast hurricane victims, after it was discovered that the same key could open many of the mobile homes.
One manufacturer cut only 50 different kinds of keys for the trailers it sold to FEMA. That means, in a worst-case scenario, one key could be used to unlock up to 10 mobile homes in a park of 500 trailersso, if you are lucky enough to get a trailer, your security and safety was again compromised by FEMAS incompetence.
Report thisBy The Right Wing..., August 22, 2006 at 4:13 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
...Media Does Not Care About Black People.
How do I know?
1) More coverage and hype about a 10-year old murder case than the status of NOLA
2) Move coverage and hype about “Snakes An A Plane” than this monumental documentary
and the beat goes on….
Report thisBy yours truly, August 22, 2006 at 3:58 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
What’s crucial here is not so much that we understand the meaning of Katrina in both its human and political dimensions, but whether or not we see to it that Katrina turns out to be the last of the man-made or man-enabled catastrophes. What will that take? We the people changing the world, that’s what. And since changing the world is gonna be a do it ourselves (each and every one of us) endeavor, politicians and other in-between sorts need not apply.
Report thisBy SummerWind, August 22, 2006 at 10:56 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
Why ?
These modern day grave robbers, standing on ashes of humanity in New York or water soaked rubbles in New Orleans that were once homes of our families, continue their maddening quest for more at the expense of our very souls and democracy. How long will it take for the faces of those who have been left to drown or insinuated in air to be seared into the consciousness of those who have shown an emptiness of their own humanity which mirrors that of the agents of the holocaust? When will the gurgled sound of their last breath of air be heard in the minds ear of those whose hands are red stained from the last election? How long will the smell of their decaying and charred flesh be burned into every breath that is taken by those who wish to rebuild a city or a nation in their own image? How long will the shame and fear of a nation and the savage inequality of executive privilege be used as an overseers whip to strike down those who would simply ask the most basic question in a democracy why?
Report thisBy Godon Soderberg, August 22, 2006 at 10:28 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
I have been volunteering in New Orleans since September 2nd 2005. The only federal response that can been seen on the ground has been the policys and police actions to remove the poor from “areas of interest” at gun point. The national guard is here to protect property? Why are they not here to repair the property? We have been mucking and gutting homes for 11 months. At no time has the National guard helped a comminuty with rebuilding. They have been harrasing the volunteers and attempting to descourage the refiel efforts of grassroots organizations from the start. I have been pulled from my vehicle handcuffed and harrasted by the National Guard troops for now reason other than for asking a question. The only reason they let me go was because I was a veteran. We in the volunteer community are living in a police state surffering under marshal law while the city and state provide security for FEMA contractors. Hell, the Headline on the military news paper last september was, “COMBAT OPERATIONS START IN NEW ORLEANS”. The federal, city, and state government used the disaster to rid itself of the public housing, public school systems and the poor. And when the levee did not quite finish the job for them, the guard was sent in to remove the rest.
Report thisBy tonysferlazza, August 22, 2006 at 8:43 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
AS a vounter I seen the disgras of our nation. what if this was your city? how would you feel when the rich people of the U.S.left your famly behind. Just like our brothers in pine ridge S.D.forgoten.I maybe just a small drop in the bucket for the last year of my life,but I’m doing what the great sprit told me to do. Help the people.
Report thisBy Zarine Ashraff-Herd, August 22, 2006 at 4:04 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
I lived in America for four years, and my daughter was born there and is a US citizen. I am a coloured person, with a degree in Social Science and a job that pays very well, now living in South-East Asia. When I was in America, I experienced racism from some groups of white folks, especially in my travels to Texas, South Carolina and Florida. I feel what people are saying here. That is why we left America 18 years ago, and would not consider moving back there again to live on a long-term basis. There are many good people in America, of all colours and religions, but there’s also more racism, fundamentalism (right-wing, bible thumping WASP zealots like Bush who are barely more humane towards people different from them just like a member of Al-Qaeda’s core group - PROVEN by their handling of Katrina, Iraq, the recent bombings of Beirut/Lebanon and the re-building of New Orleans), bias, cultural narrow-mindedness, tunnel-vision and an absolute lack of universal perspective beyond North American geo-political interests and middle-eastern/oil/Israeli politics. To think that New Orleans was left to it’s own fate when the hurricane hit and STILL left to rot by the so-called most powerful country in the world ! It’s shocking, telling and abhorrently racist - akin to Guantanamo Bay - a place to torture mostly coloured human beings just because they are ‘suspected’ of being terrorist or symphatisers, and mostly lacking in proof that would stand up in court. America is now a playground for the rich and powerful politicians, businesses, and lobbies to fully ‘use’ their power and connections without fear of reprisals, punishment or rule of law. THIS is a universal symbol of DEMOCRACY ? American politicians should stop being hypocrites and proclaiming themselves believeing in justice, equality and opportunity for all. Rubbish and bull - I’ve seen poor families with kids sleeping near dumpsters and in cars in California. I have never seen this where I live now - here even the poorest can get government subsidised housing and medical care. Bush,Cheney, Rumsfeld, and all their cronies will get away with every wrong thing they have done, not only within America, but all over the world. Money talks, military power controls/manipulates.
As a coloured person, I would never want to live in any state/country that would treat people so callously simply on the basis of their skin colour, language, religion, gender if I can help it. Is America on the decline, thus pushing its politcians to hammer and subjugate the world with their iron fist of military superiority while ignoring the real needs of its own people ? Americans, wake up. VOTE, and vote out the Bushies and lobbies that manipulate and control your lives and your children’s lives. VOTE, it’s your right to choose your elected officials - and choose well. When my daughter turns 21, I will insist she does her research and votes, even if she is overseas, and votes for representatives who care for the American people, the poor, the kids, the old and the minorities, not their personal pockets, lobbies, and their family businesses. BTW, I wonder if Bush’s family has spent any time recently on Martha’s VIneyard with the Royal (puke) family of Saudi Arabia? Their families have long had business dealings with one another - big money changing hands over two generations (another country hijacked by power-hungry outsiders - the Sauds - while the REAL ruling families who lived on the land for hundreds of years are threatened into silence). Who supports these human rights abuses in ‘saudi’ Arabia - guess ? Right, Capitol Hill & White House, Washinbgton D.C.
Where is the money for the recovery of New Orleans, Bush? Where is the help for the coloured people of the ruined cities and towns? Where is the justice for the people who died when the levees broke ? Where is the justice for the women and children who now suffer in Iraq each and every day because of an unjust war you started for revenge on innocent people ? Where are your Christian VALUES now ?
A Mother, A Coloured Woman.
Report thisBy D Macklin, August 22, 2006 at 2:46 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
I have just finished watching, with great difficulty, the first two hours of this documentary film. As the review promises, this is a post-mortem of a political disaster that has been passed off as an act of God. We as a nation and a people have 12 weeks to explain to those responsible that we have not forgotten, we cannot forgive and we will not allow our fellow citizens and a great American city to be forsaken.
Report thisBy Elisabeth Applegate, August 22, 2006 at 1:52 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
I have a multi racial great grand daughter. She is 3. She is part Black, part Thia, part Jew, part American Indian, part Irish, Part Scottish, part Mayflower Decendent. If I had been in New Orleans Some one would have tried to take her away from me. She dosn’t look like me, but she has my heart. She is the future of the world. A blessing to those that told the true story. It is stunning.
Report thisBy Kevin W, August 22, 2006 at 12:54 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
To me, it is extremely sorrowful to see what America has become. I’ve always believed that America was the home of the brave. However, what bravery can be found in a nation that cares more about rebuilding another nation that we destroyed, rather than protecting our own suffering, storm ravaged citizens. Katrina was not only a devastating storm, but a signal of an oncoming barrage of governmental neglect and inefficiency. I can only pray that our wonderful nation will not be devoured and scrificed, while our leaders wait out the wind and hard rain of the storm.
Report thisBy Kristofer, August 21, 2006 at 11:54 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
If the quality of Mr. Lee’s When the Levees Broke merely approximates the excellence of Ms. Avni’s superb review then he would have achieved the impossible: proved himself a worthy filmmaker, at long last, and voiced the voiceless without the benefit of his echo. Ms. Avni, your review compels me to watch this movie. Obvious Liberal biases notwithstanding.
Report thisBy Craig Lucas, August 21, 2006 at 9:18 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
Our beautiful experiment is over, Bush’s administration has effectively destroyed American, constitutional governance. No quarter!
Report thisBy Louis (Lou) Freitag, August 21, 2006 at 8:54 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
As long as we attempt to control mother nature we can expect thing like Katrina. We have to learn to so to speak live on the high ground. There is a 54’ wall at St. Louis to keep them from being flooded. It’s hard for me to imagine what will happen there some day when the father of waters desides to move around the big levee. The rivers are supposed to have flood plains that was explained many years if you can imagine by Mark Twain as resoviors during flooding, to hold water as a blalance for the river depth and provide groud water. Why the Corp of Engineers? President Herbert Hoover was going to use the Mississippi for the people, and control mother nature. When New Orleans gets washe clean away what is/will that look like? We need to reverse our control of mother nature, we need to begin a restoration of mother nature. We need to fewer people we need to decrease our population.
Report thisBy TruthPlease, August 21, 2006 at 8:19 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
Getting as many folks out to vote as humanly possible is definately the goal - in November and in 2008 - but what good will it do, if Diebold is in charge of counting those votes? And NEVER forget the Supreme Court - if it was pro-Bush (NeoCon elites) them, think what it has become now!!! I’ll definately vote (every time since 1972) and try to get as many as I can to do it too, but I’m not sure it’s not a futile effort now. Can we hold an early national election to have LOTS of election oversight (think Jimmy Carter’s outfit)? That might do it - See you at the Polls!!
Report thisBy Terry Pennisi, August 21, 2006 at 6:19 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
We need only to look at the speed with witch Hezbollah has come out to the aid of Lebanon. If “Terrorists” can help with such speed, how can we not accuse this administration of turning a blind eye to the suffering of so many. I am ashamed of my government. No one can convince me of anything other then the fact that only the rich count with this crowd.
Report thisLet us, The voters, prove our strength, by voting in such numbers, they won’t be able to win, even if they try stealing the election!
By Marilyn Daniel, August 21, 2006 at 4:20 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
+ I heard a rumor when Bush took office that “the cities were on their own.” Meaning, this administration and its business cronies were not going to waste money or talent on fixing anything in the cities. The cities would have to take care of themselves.
Policywise, Bushites ARE taking care of wars and the pockets of war-serving corporations.
If we’re not satisfied with OUR government’s policies—-isn’t it time we, citizens, stopped whining and started voting and holding OUR government accountable for our tax money. We just can’t “complain” our way into a viable Republic.
Report thisBy Nat Turner, August 21, 2006 at 4:19 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
Miami’s Hurricane Katrina.
At the dawn of the last school year Miami Northwestern High senior James 3J Lewis was gunned down outside Traz Powell Stadium after attending a football game. At the time, no one dared imagine the killing season that lay ahead for the whole community.
That school year, one after another, young men, women and children of color were victims of violence in Miami-Dade. The pace of death quickened throughout the year, climaxing with the unspeakably tragic death of 9-year-old Sherdavia Jenkins. Ironically, the sweet and beautiful little chess champion had been the top third-grade student at Lillie C. Evans Elementary. Sherdavias soaring FCAT score failed to provide shelter from the world the rich and powerful built around her but not for her.
Any illusion that the new 2006-2007 school year would brighten spirits and lift the dark clouds was shattered by the violent death of Otissha Burnett. Just hours before the aspiring fashion designer was to step on the campus at Miami Central High for the first time as a senior, she died in a hail of assault rifle fire. Otisshas murder and several others later that week brought the carnage to horrific record highs. At least 25 youths, all African-American or Latino, have died violently since last June. Another 10 minority youth have fallen in Broward County.
Otissha Burnett was lovingly remembered at memorial services in the Central High auditorium on August 9th. At the ceremony, school counselor Jayne Caudill, told The Miami Herald, Ive had six of my students shot over the past year. Only the ones that die make the papers. Until leaders come to the community and throw these kids a ladder, this wont stop. A lot of the kids getting in trouble see themselves as having no options. Pastor Anthony Dawkins from the Project Hope Ministries came to the mic to call out government and community leaders, We want a meeting this week! This is a state of emergency!
The government response to this crisis is curious. In 1995 one tree infected with citrus canker was discovered in Miami. Without hesitation the state launched a decade long citrus canker eradication program that only just ended this past February. More than $875 million was spent and 13 million trees were destroyed to protect the citrus industry. This past May Gov. Jeb Bush declared a state of emergency in the Brevard and Collier County areas after wildfires burned several thousand acres of brush and forest, destroyed three homes and shut down stretches of highway. Clearly the powers that be can move quickly and decisively when something of value is imperiled. The list of valuables apparently goes something like: business, property, interstate transportation and somewhere further down the listthe lives of Black children!
According to Otissha Burnetts uncle Johnny Strong, Our children are just dying. It looks like were in this by ourselves. By all appearances, some residents of Miami-Dade are huddled in a figurative New Orleans Superdome, devastation and death all around them after a hurricane of violence, wondering and waiting for a government that has seemingly abandoned them.
Report thisBy Robert K. Goode, Sr., August 21, 2006 at 2:08 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
As a native of New Orleans, I am constantly amazed at the fact that people are so surprised at the total failure of the system. We have been asking for the funds to construct a decent levee system for years; Congress turned a deaf ear. FEMA was and is staffed to knuckleheads. I have dealt with the Corps of Engineers, and they are interested in, above all, generating enough paper to cover their asses. The oil companies tore into the wetlands, laying pipe and dumping millions of gallons of toxic waste.
We have always been on our own down here. We still are. Katrina was only an accessory in the government’s remaking of the most unique city in America. Come on down and check it out for yourself.
Kudos to Spike for speaking to the truth.
Report thisBy ferguson, August 21, 2006 at 1:55 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
spike’s movie should be shown on PBS for ALL to see. we’ve not only “lost” new orleans but we’re in real danger of losing this country to the rich and well-connected. the best way to help the people of new orleans and to “keep hope alive” is to REGISTER and VOTE.
Report thisBy Yogi Carpenter, August 21, 2006 at 1:41 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
The Bush-Cheney-Rove plan is like an inverted pyramid with big blustery fear mongering chest beating headlines at the top peopled by well dresssed talking head after shrinking talking head, ever diminishing as you read down to the very fine print at the bottom, which says if you can get out your Hubble telescope to read it, “our intent is to do as little as possible to prevent or relieve actual catastrophies because the more scared and hungry the populace, the more secure our coup.” At the very bottom it says “let them eat cake,” but you can’t read it because it’s been redacted for national security.
Report thisBy cmoden, August 21, 2006 at 1:02 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
The shameful, uncaring response to the suffering caused by Katrina should be the rallying point for Democrats in the upcoming elections. If the Iraq War obscures the true colors of the current administration, the response to Katrina reveals them without mercy…and they ain’t pretty!
Report thisBy rabblerowzer, August 21, 2006 at 8:53 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
Vermont Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in an interview that he and other senators did not want to cause a ruckus. “There is a great deal of frustration that the Supreme Court decided the election by stopping the count in Florida,” he said. “As much as I disagree with the court’s decision, I uphold it as the law of the land and won’t object. We will, all of us, Democrats and Republicans, accept George W. Bush as the next president.”
What Leahy and many other spineless Democrats demonstrated was their willingness to submit to a rightwing coup d’état to avoid civil strife. He wasnt upholding the law of the land, he caved in to the rabid right. The Supreme Court does NOT have the right to select their choice as the President of the United States.
A coup d’état is the sudden overthrow of a government through unconstitutional means by a part of the state establishment, that mostly replaces just the top power figures.
As long as cowardly Democratic leaders like Leahy fear to uphold the constitution, the rabid right will increase their push for a Unitary Executive—-DICTATOR.
The Republican party is a coalition of crooks, racists and religious fanatics.
Report thisBy Josue Harari, August 21, 2006 at 8:31 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
All I can say is Bravo to Spike Lee and thank you to Ms Avni for a review that combines heart and brain. I will certainly make sure to watch the program in full on HBO. I also hope that it will provide us the political incentive to wake up , denounce at the polls the incompetence and bad faith that characterize the present administration, and reclaim the American dream that have been bestowed upon the wealthy at the expense of the middle class and most minorities.
Report thisBy Oh Gosh, August 21, 2006 at 7:30 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
So tired of the katrina mess. I’ve lived down here all my life. It has been common knowledge that the levee’s couldn’t hold this type of hurricane and people continued to live there anyway.
Report thisBy John C. Tripp, August 20, 2006 at 11:49 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
Excellent write-up, wish I had HBO. I was in Miami when Katrina passed through and watched in horror as it morphed into its epic size. It’s unbelievably sad that we have so quickly forgotten about New Orleans. What lessons have been learned? Who has been held accountable? And, finally, what city is next on the list? Will the government’s reaction be the same if South Florida is hit? Charlston? New York? Pray we don’t have to find out, but trends as they are, it seems the plight of New Orleans is merely a sign of what’s coming.
Report thisBy TruthPlease, August 20, 2006 at 4:24 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
The real question now, is how long will anyone keep on believing the BS that our government insists on spewing out - even the whopper about fixing the levees up to pre-Katrina levels is a lie - hurricane season is on us - Right NOW!!! There is no more time to fix those damn levees! And nearly a quarter of a million residents of New Orleans are still in refugee status, scattered across the other 49 states - with no end in sight, a YEAR LATER!!!!! Yet, whenever a hurricane seems to even maybe threaten Jeb Bush’s state, Florida, (home, if only in the winter, of a LOT of wealthy white people) - they have supplies and aid ready and waiting before the hurricane even hits.How anyone could believe this wasn’t about complacence and prejudice - that it was not racial, is at the least, not paying attention to the facts of the case. You don’t listen to what the politicians are saying - they’ll say anything to further their agendas - you ask the people on the ground who were directly impacted. That’s where the Truth lies, not in boardrooms and cushy clubs in Washington D.C. What ever happened to “What you have done to the least, you have done to ME, and what you have NOT done for the least, you have NOT done for ME” - you’d think Christians - especially ‘Born Agains’ - would honor and treasure the words of their Savior - I certainly do, and I am ashamed whenever these close-minded, greedy, selfish, lying hypocritical Pharisees call themselves Christian - Jesus was a poor, Non-white man who didn’t follow the party line of the political Establishment - these folks would have let him drown along with everyone else in New Orleans - and it seem like, with the exception of a few, that Americans are letting them get away with it!! It’s insane.
Report thisWhen will enough people wise up to the fact that they (all of us) are being played and used to line the already obscenely huge bank accounts - Stand up and fight for what’s RIGHT - what Jesus would really do - not what these phonies try to convince us Jesus would do - HE will NOT recognize these liars when he does return - all anyone has to do is read the Bible - according to that book, God and Jesus HATE G.W., Cheney, Rove, Rummy, Condi…...no matter what they say - they are not Christian because they are not following the teachings of Christ - HE told us to help the poor and feed the hungry, not to focus on personal wealth except as the way to continue charitable works. It would be a lot better world if Hypocritical “Christians” really practiced their faith according to their own book.
By Jim G, August 20, 2006 at 3:48 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
You can read about it and see pictures on TV, but until you see the city in person like I did earlier this week you can’t possibly imagine the devastation there. Almost a full year later I might add. All i can say is shame on the government and shame on all the people that think this is just another “Black problem”. Most of all shame on the POS g.w bush for his complete lack of leadership and compassion for the people he supposedly serves.
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