Wow, what apiece.
She KNOWS NO.
The last two paragraphs are spot on but not without a few problems.
I don't think America has let us down to the extent she thinks it has. It did let us down with respect to the speed with which a response was made, but I honestly don't think anyone comprehended the scope of the disaster until folks started shouting and the media highllighted it. And, let's face it, the storm was enormous; only the bare necessities could be handled at first.
Anyway, I think the blame game is fruitless at this point, at least until hindsight tells us in more clear and less impassioned manner what went wrong.
And I also think that she got it both right and wrong when she lambasted the US for enjoying our hospitality and gifts but not wishing to do the necessary to help when it hits the fan.
The first part is true; everybody wants to soak in our atmosphere, eat our food, relax ln a the shadows of a lifesyle which she properly calls sweet, listen to our music, etc. The second is flat wrong: I've witnessed firsthand what Houston is doing for us, for example, and it is absolutely admirable. I suspect other cities and organizations are doing the same.
It's going to be very difficult not to raise the racial issue because the political elite in NO is a black one while the state government is largely white. The finger pointing and the racial angles will be and have been very destructive. If disposing of this cancer and "getting over it", in the modern parlance, can be achieved, it is a lesson to America worth all the Jazz Festivals and Carnivals we have ever had. |
