The Six-Ton Elephant in the Room

I have a final word on the Hurricane Katrina debacle and I'm not sure many of you will like it. But I think enough time has passed where we can look at things honestly and more objectively... let's see if I'm right.

For someone like me, the coverage of Katrina hit me hard, probably harder than most of the people I know. Why? Well...

A) I'm a Floridian, so I'm no stranger to the devestation a hurricane can bring.
B) Working fairly close to what is our legislative branch of the federal government, I saw first hand the early lack of concern and delayed rush to action. Can you say, summer recess?
C) Many of you don't know this but when I moved to DC about a year ago, FEMA gave me my first job offer to work as a communications agent specializing in hurricane relief. I was this close to taking it too, until the House Speaker came a' calling. If it wasn't for a twist in fate, I could have been in the shit right now along with our old buddy, Mike Brown.
And finally, D) I'm Black. And if you've caught any glimpse of the news footage out there, well... you know what i'm saying.

So with all this in mind, what could I possibly say that hasn't already been said before? Probably nothing. But I'm the only one I know that can say this publicly, without the fear of being labelled a racist or a right-wing Bush defender. It really comes back to this question: Katrina, is race an issue? And I'm here to tell you, of course it is... but in not the way you (or Kanye West) might assume.

What I'm trying to say here is that, the welfare state has failed us once again.

I need to make it abundantly clear that a responsive 'Welfare' program is a necessary and vital portion to any government in today's civilized world. It has its place as a saftey net; a way to keep you and your family afloat in times of need.

But we've seen time and time again that welfare in this nation has morphed into a status-quo. Families, generation after generation, have incorporated welfare-culture into their way of life. Incentive to prosper and grow is muted in this world when you can simply get by on the least amount of work possible. It has become a generational curse on Black America, with no end in sight.

In pre-Katrina New Orleans, we had an example of an segment of the population entirely dependent upon the federal government for sustenance. Food, housing, clothes, even transportation at times: all courtesy of your friends in the U.S. Government.

"Hey, if the check is on the way... why should I want to leave this nice government housing in the middle of the NOLA?" Nevermind the fact that you're situated several feet below sea-level. The government will take care of it all, right?

In post-Katrina New Orleans, we now see our federal government for what it truly is: a deeply flawed, beauraucratic, and disfunctional hegemony of grandiose thought and fatal inaction. But none of us here really lost our lunch over its problems. The people in NOLA did, and they lost a whole lot more. You see...

It pained me to see George Bush strum a guitar at a political reception the day after the hurricane hit.

It erked me to hear of Mike Brown's failures to control the situation at FEMA.

It pissed me off to hear NO Mayor Nagin rant about the fed gov's response to secure New Orleans while he was sitting pretty in Batton Rouge, LA.

It shamed me to see rows of my black brothers and sisters sitting in shelters with helpless looks in their eyes; no family to call, no car to take them away before the storm, no savings to get by, no preparedness.

But it made me teary-eyed to see their helpless children starving and dying through no fault of their own.

New Orleans will be rebuilt, billions upon billions of dollars will be spent, press conferences and photo ops will happen, and life will get back to normal. But my only prayer through all of this is that one of the many kids who came face to face with the utter helplessness will find a new charge in life. He (or she) will find a home outside of New Orleans with their family. He will promise himself that he will never be dependent on anything other than himself and his family. And he will design his life in a way to make that happen. Government held these kids from the minute they were brought into the world, but maybe Katrina will help some of them realize that they have to walk on their own, or government will fail them in the end.

It hardened my heart to see news reports of hurricane survivors using their FEMA issued and subsidized debit cards on Louis Vuitton handbags and purses.