After seeing the post on the Binghamton flood, I'd like to start off by saying I hope your family was as lucky as mine in avoiding the flood, as I am also from the Binghamton area. The flood and our focus on race in this class got me thinking about Hurricane Katrina.
So now I'd like to take some time to talk about the now infamous Kanye West interview after Hurricane Katrina. Below is a link of Kanye attempting to raise funds for Katrina victims. He began by calling himself out for going shopping before he donated to help those without food, but then just seems to blurt out that "George Bush doesn't care about black people". As is visible in Mike Myers' face, this came to a shock to everyone that was watching. At the time though, it did seem as if they may be a sliver of truth to this, as George Bush appeared slow in making any actions to help the people of New Orleans, who are predominately black. This lead me to question whether this was true and also question how I could ever even know. It only took me a year to find out...
In 2006, there was another flood in the Binghamton area (not quite as bad as the one this year). This flood though made me a first hand witness as to the difficulty behind helping people out in flood situations. The flood in my town was no where close to be as bad as a hurricane devastating a city. Not to mention, how many more people that live in the New Orleans area compared to the Binghamton area. Yet, following the flood, I got to see how limited people can be as they are trying to help, regardless of race.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pVTrnxCZaQ
Dan, have you seen Spike Lee’s When the Levees Broke? It is a 4 part HBO series that documents the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. I just finished watching it a week or so ago and it definitely gave me a new sense on what happened in New Orleans after the Hurricane hit. It puts New Orleans in a historical perspective, interviews people from all walks of life, and attempts to find answers concerning the federal government’s ineptitude and tepid response following the disaster. If you haven’t seen it already, I would highly recommend it. It even has interviews with Kanye West and Mike Myers who discuss the incident you’ve described in your post. There has actually been a slew of documentaries in recent years exploring the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and you might find those to be of interest as well – there is Spike Lee’s follow-up to When the Levees Broke called If God is Willing and Da Creek Don’t Rise, a bunch of Frontline documentaries, all of which can be found online: Law and Disorder, which explores police violence and news representation of “law and order” in post hurricane New Orleans, The Old Man and the Storm, and The Storm. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/gsearch.html?x=0&y=0&q=katrina
ReplyDeleteKritika