One Year Later

"I want to thank you all for -- and, Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job. The FEMA Director is working 24 -- (applause) -- they're working 24 hours a day."
-President George W. Bush (September 2, 2005)

"The politics of all this are very simple. If we come out of this crisis and in the next couple of years don't have a national conversation on the following issues- race, class, petroleum, the environment- then we, the news media will have failed, by not keeping people's feet to the fire."
-Brian Williams, NBC News (October 2004)

"It’s amazing, isn’t? It’s amazing what the world looked like then and what it looks like now."
-President George W. Bush (August 28, 2006)

As I'm sure everyone will be reminded today by the news (as they take a break from 24/7 John Karr coverage to pretend they still care about the story of the Gulf Coast), and ignored by the right-wing blogs, it is the one-year anniversary of when Katrina hit the Gulf Coast. The storm itself had the strongest impact in Mississippi and Alabama, but when the levees broke in New Orleans, a second disaster struck. We watched the horror in all three states live on television for days. I am not going to write a long post on this, as I have already blogged about the impending anniversary a few times in the past week or so. Instead, I think reflection is in order.

I think the two blog entries I wrote on September 1st and on September 3rd last year still hold up. Everything I really want to say on this matter is covered in those entries and I refer readers back to them. A year later, my feelings haven't changed one bit.

I said then, defending the political debates that came out of Katrina, that "We need to remember this moment." That we have failed to do that to some extent is important; these people need to know they didn't suffer for nothing.

The people of the Gulf Coast- Americans, human beings- were all but abandoned by all forms of government and today are still struggling to pull their lives back together. I know all our thoughts are with them in these efforts. No one expected an immediate recovery, or miracles, but they certainly deserved more than the bare minimum. Brian Williams was right- if we don't have a national conservation on the socio-political factors that contributed to this disaster, then we really did fail. I won't be holding my breath.

I also want to post some pictures... and some related links to this story-









-Think Progress: KATRINA TIMELINE

-This Modern World: Katrina : A Timeline

-Think Progress: One Year Later: The Real State Of New Orleans

-NY Times: Year After Katrina, Bush Still Fights for 9/11 Image

-Newsweek: New Orleans Blues: Can Nagin Save New Orleans?

Finally, I end with a recommended link to a quote from a former New Orleans resident who wrote in to Talking Points Memo. They state that "I don't understand how anyone can look at either of those two places ever again [the Superdome and the convention center] and not be shattered by the absolute abandonment of the poor by their government in the days after Katrina... I feel like the knowledge of that is slipping away somehow. I feel like people think oh, that's just in New Orleans, you know, that crazy banana republic down South. But you rip the lid off any major urban setting in this country the way the lid was ripped off N.O., and I think you get the same thing. But we aren't really talking about that. I think that Katrina proved that America has absolutely abandoned its underclass. We don't like poor people. And that serves up a big dollop of shame to go with my sorrow.

Yes, New Orleans was built in a f------up way in a f------up place. And yes, the local and state govt has done nothing at this point to get things -- anything -- going again. And yes, we need to knock some Corps of Engineers heads because of the levee situation. And yes, the insurance companies are screwing OLD PEOPLE every which way they can to get out of paying. And yes, Nagin is a jackass and Bush is a nincompoop... I think as an aggregate, though, we suck. Because, so far, we've been unwilling to look in the mirror of New Orleans and see what we have allowed to happen."

'Nuff said. And I'll have more thoughts on that later.