When I first saw the horrific images of New Orleans on television, I thought it can't be America. But then I'm starting to think this may be real America, realer than ever.
Bodies of black people pile up, black people shoot and loot, and those images are broadcast across the world. Yeah, Katrina hit the whole city, but only those who had been underrepesented and misrepresented since the day America was born are left dying in the city. After all, there's nothing surprising about those images, because we've been seeing the images of helpess, savage black folks for a long time, not just in America, but in other parts of the world too.
So maybe that's why the U.S. government thought it could ignore them this time too. And it's utterly disappointing because I thought America had been making some progress in adressing racism. I, and many other naive people were wrong. Katrina not only drown the city but also exposed the ugly facet of American society. It's just that racism has evolved into a new form in a way that nobody talks about it under normal circumstances. But in an abnormal time like this, America and that hypocrisy broke down miserably.
Why are we seeing a bunch of soldiers with scary looks and guns wandering the city rather than rescue crews like fire fighters or something? The city was flooded, but there's no war going on. What are guns for now in that city? They need food, water and help, not bullets and coercing. Did Bush spend so much time talking about bombing Iraq that he confuses a natural disaster with a war? Or does he just think folks with different skin colors from his are not just his people so he can treat them like shit?
The way Bush administration responded was undoubtely inhumane, but it was also politically so stupid to make himself look this bad. Even cold-hearted Wall Mart is trying to look like it's offering some help. He could be so negligent, because he doens't care about those people, it's just simple as that.
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