Where's American pride now?

My return from sabatical comes with many apologies. But I can't not write about things going on in this country right now, as we reveal our dirty underskirts. Given my occupation I will tread lightly in the area of punditry, but it goes without saying that I say something.

Much like my good blogpal Avery, I too have been fortunate enough (read: sheltered) to have never seen a corpse that wasn't decked with flowers and pallbearers. I have never gone involuntarily without food and drinking water, and have never felt as helpless as thousands of people are feeling now.

So it was with great emotional upheaval that I watched and read about Hurricane Katrina over the past week. Gladly, my colleagues who were down in the affected areas are safe and doing okay. But it is unfathomable for me, even as I see the treachery of it all, that human beings were left to fend for themselves surrounded by water four times my height with no means of communication, no answers, no help, no nothing, for more than a week.

People are still being evacuated...why has it taken this long?

My city is welcoming many of the evacuees (they are NOT refugees! They are citizens of THIS country!) this week. I am glad, because I will be able to help more readily than if they were farther away. But I am also leery, because a lack of foresight is what leads to catastrophic consequences such as we have seen, and I hope cities are really considering the needs of people, both short and long term, as they welcome them.

Aside from the political (que: rash) quibbles over who is to blame (from Bush to NO Mayor Nagin to FEMA) , and semantic/ethical issues of phrasing in media, one thing's certain: this is all about class. The people who were able to leave were black, they were white, they were blue, whatever--they had the means and the money to get out. The people who were left behind, while overwhelmingly black, were also white, young and old---and overwhelmingly poor. People for whom a mandatory evacuation should have meant a mandatory means of evactuation.

People who, in conditions left to fend for themselves lived by natural law, and who were surrounded by other law-abiding people as well as lawbreakers,and whose needs were overshadowed by the few engaged in senseless acts of crime. But we were given images of New Orleans as a land of anarchy violence and chaos, a place too dangerous for rescuers to enter. An effective way to dehumanize people and rationalize not aiding them immediately.

But I'm not here to point fingers.

I'm here to ask, in spite of the numerous contributions individuals, corporations, organizations, you name-its have given, where the publicly stated prayers are? Remember 9/11? It was within 48 hours that our televisions were taken hostage by advertisements sending condolences to the familes of victims. Commercials blazing the stars and stripes in her triumphant glory, declaring us all proud to be Americans.

Yet, I can't help but notice that not a single commercial claiming American pride or well-wishes and prayers for familes hit by Katrina has aired.

Again, it goes back to class. The 9/11 tragedy largely hit people working in well-to-do occupations. Katrina hit a below-working-class, "buried under the federal poverty line" city with few people having a high school education. Suddenly big commercial companies aren't so quick to identify with that kind of America, and have shelved their glossy images of heroes and banners waving 'til the rocket's red glare.

I end on that note, already having said far too much.

Disclaimer: These opinions are solely the author's and do not in any way reflect those of the author's employer.

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