I know it has been a long time since I have written to my Blog and I was going to sign on and lament again about my broken heart and then renew that it is no longer broken.... but instead so much has happened in the time since I last wrote that there are other things to talk about. The most important being a devastating hurricane hit the Gulf of Mexico and it is all the news has seemed to cover the last couple of weeks. The pictures shown and the language used should humble Americans because we now have a part of our nation where people were and are living in conditions similar to those of a "third world country" (the media's words not mine). The "refugees" of Louisiana and Mississippi are without food, water, shelter, and protection.
I must admit that the language made me angry at first because so often the word "refugee" comes with a certain connotation loaded with race. The situation itself was racially framed by members of the media, and in thinking about the world, I got to thinking how many times "white people" were called refugees. How often are "refugees" of "white" countries referred to as "refugees"? I would think they they are more often called evacuees. It is a very difficult situation and it brings to the surface the many issues this country faces and I myself with racial discrimination. Racial discrimination, identification that may be unconscious.
The more I think about it, I think we are actually using race to hide a different kind of discrimination, a more important kind of discrimination.... I think by focusing on the race issue we are taking light off the real issue of socio-economic discrimination. So many people were affected by these tragic events and those people who were essentially "left behind" were too poor to go on their own. Single moms, the elderly, the sick, the poor and the broken.
I hope that these events open many American's eyes to how our government actually operates. The "government's" reaction to disaster, despair, and call to action within our own boarders is similar to our reactions around the world. Slow.... and only when it is too late and we can look like heroes. Then we also leave before things are done... but only when the countries are poor and the US has nothing more to gain... that is why we aren't in Cuba anymore but we are still in Iraq. That is why we only help out in poor African countries when the media is covering the story and why we don't get overly involved in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. Sure GW is stepping in now... Sure the director of FEMA may have resigned to take heat off, and so we have SOMEONE to blame (that is part of human nature). The reality of the situation is that it isn't only his fault. I am sure the director of FEMA can only make decisions based on the information he is given by those individuals surrounding him... Did he chose them, appoint them?
The most interesting thing to me is to see if Americans will make a connection with how our government reacted to this situation and how it REACTS to the world. The United States is no longer Proactive in protecting. Look at the fall of the world trade towers... a bombing had occurred years earlier and we didn't develop "Homeland Security" then to prevent the situation. Research, learning, and understanding the new type of "warfare" didn't' occur until it literally hit home even though "terrorism" has existed throughout the world for so long.
It is amazing how arrogant our nation is. So we had a few monumental accomplishments in the past but we are behind the game now. We build cities below sea level thinking we can control nature. We treat natural resources as if they are unlimited. We exploit the world and even ourselves. I say we because I AM AN AMERICAN. Though I am not always proud of it, I am proud of the freedom and privileges we do have, even though those too are disappearing (see the supreme courts ruling on eminent domain). It is a scary thing. I only wish I knew what the would, our country, and the lives of my children would be like in the future. I don't think we "Americans" are leaving them much to work with.
Granted I am only one person with one opinion. The world is a very complicated place. There is no black and white for the right and wrong thing to do because we are so much more connected around the world than we ever have been. I wish that we could communicate better. I wish that we didn't live in fear. I wish that we could learn not tolerance but acceptance of differences... yeah I know that is mushy, and I know it is asking a lot and maybe too much because comes down to admitting that you may not be absolutely and completely right! But that is something to think about... because I could write a whole lot more on trying to argue there is no "right" and "wrong" or who decides "right and wrong".... well you get the point.
