I dont know if this has been discussed but I saw the first of the 2 part Spike Lee documentary last night and I thought it was superb.
I thought the still photography and film used were amazing, the devastation was astonishing and accepting the bias of Spike Lee and a number of the contributors its still unacceptable that FEMA and Mike Brown claimed they did not know people were in the Superdome for days and the length of time that the Feds took to send resources in was shocking.
General Honore (sp?) seemed to be the person that really got things moving on the ground and the US Coast Guard were really pretty amazing during the whole experience.
I think the documentary is worth watching for the footage and stills alone.
Did Spike Lee venture to guess why the residents of refused to evacuate when their esteemed Mayor gave them ample warning? Or did he gloss over that fact and squarely point the blame at the government for refusing to help its minority citizens?
He did touch on why people didn’t / refused to leave, but didn’t really point to personal responsibility as a cause. He also didn’t interview Rep William Jefferson and ask him why he used National Guard and Coast Guard resources to remove items from his house while people were stranded in the Superdome.
I was surprised that there are many residents of NO that believe the government blew-up the Levees.
Regardless of who’s fault it was, this was one shocking and sad film.
I was surprised that there are many residents of NO that believe the government blew-up the Levees.
Our you serious? I could believe that one or two nut jobs would truely believe this but not “Many”. Did they just make it look like “many” by interviewing ALL of them?
First - True history. In the past (I do not remember what year it was, but it was either during/after Betsy - mid 60’s or in the late 20’s) they did in fact dynomite some levees. Now once again I do not remember where, but it was in the general New Orleans area. So there was a precedence set to cause the suspicions.
Second - the levee to the lower Ninth ward was taken out partially/completely by a 200-300ft barge, which I believe was empty. I would imagine that a barge of that size banging around the levee top would make quite a racket. Also when it finally came through the levee, you got to think that thing banging aroung the street / houses has to be also quite loud.
So maybe they knew/heard of the history, may they heard the sounds of the barge. But it is not only one or two that they happened to interview.
Do you really think he would portray them as lacking for making those comments? Those comments about the levees have flooded the area since not long after the levees broke.
"Did Spike Lee venture to guess why the residents of refused to evacuate when their esteemed Mayor gave them ample warning? Or did he gloss over that fact and squarely point the blame at the government for refusing to help its minority citizens? "
Oh good christ…
Why don’t we start with:
No money
No public transportation out of the city
No or very little privately owned vehicle transportation (poor people in cities do not own cars.)
No where to go to
No money
Woefully inadequate attempts to communicate non-existant evacuation plans to residents
No money
Does that make things a little bit more clear?
I love this kind of s**t.
“Stupid people! Why didn’t they just leave? So what if they don’t own cars, don’t have any money, don’t have any place to go, have never been out of the city in their lives, and have no idea where to go - they should just start walking! It’s only, what, 50 or 60 miles until they get off the floodplain? Once they get there (wherever there is,) they can rub sticks together to start a fire! They can hunt squirrels for food! It’s a flood, right? Thats cool - water will be plentiful, then…”
Rich white guys have a hard time understanding that not everyone in the world is as fortunate as we are.
I remember in my early 20’s, I was in my last year of school and had no money. I tried to explain to a wealthy friend that I couldn’t go out one night due to a lack of funds and he just asked why I didn’t go to a bank machine and get some. I didn’t even bother trying to explain because he wouldn’t understand.
No money - I don’t have any money because I spent it all on drugs, cigarettes and lottery tickets! The Govment should bail me out!!
No public transportation out of the city - I can’t afford a car because I spent all my money on drugs, cigarettes and lottery tickets! I also refuse to get a job or go to school to improve the limited skills I have. The Govment should bail me out!!
No or very little privately owned vehicle transportation (poor people in cities do not own cars.) - I can’t afford a car because I spent all my money on drugs, cigarettes and lottery tickets! I also refuse to get a job or go to school to improve the limited skills I have. The Govment should bail me out!!
No where to go to - I have no friends or family members willing to help me because I spend all of my money on on drugs, cigarettes and lottery tickets! I also refuse to get a job or go to school to improve the limited skills I have. The Govment should bail me out!!
No money - I don’t have any money because I spent it all on drugs, cigarettes and lottery tickets! I also refuse to get a job or go to school to improve the limited skills I have. The Govment should bail me out!!
Woefully inadequate attempts to communicate non-existant evacuation plans to residents - Because the residents of the fine city of N. O. don’t pay taxes.
No money - I don’t have any money because I spent it all on drugs, cigarettes and lottery tickets! I also refuse to get a job or go to school to improve the limited skills I have. The Govment should bail me out!!
Take this in the spirit in which it is intended, from a person with several family members who were fortunate enough to merely lose all their worldly possessions in the New Orleans flooding:
Get a clue.
Barring that,
F - off.
Go away.
If you are trolling, it isn’t funny. If you really, truly believe this nonsense, then - god willing - I hope that one day you will be forced to walk a mile in the shoes of those less fortunate than you.
We were in NO a couple of years before this happened. I bet I heard a hundred times how it was all under the sea level and they had to pump water out of the city. They bragged about it. Then they’re shocked that they got flooded. Don’t get it.
No or very little privately owned vehicle transportation (poor people in cities do not own cars.)
No where to go to
No money
Woefully inadequate attempts to communicate non-existant evacuation plans to residents
No money
I would be very interested to learn how these factors actually affected people’s decisions. It’s easy to make assumptions, but as far as I know, the facts are still unclear.
-Was public transportation provided, when was it available, and how many could have been accomodated?
-If so, was this information publicized? how and when?
-Were there provisions made for the sick/elderly who couldn’t climb aboard a bus?
-Were there out-of-town shelters available for the evacuees, and how many could be housed there?
There was probably a good portion of those who stayed who could’ve made an exit but simply chose not to. I live in a Hurricane strike zone, and it’s a fairly common attitude around here among all classes.
I was surprised that there are many residents of NO that believe the government blew-up the Levees.
Our you serious? I could believe that one or two nut jobs would truely believe this but not “Many”. Did they just make it look like “many” by interviewing ALL of them?
~Matt
Matt, half this country believed a certain middle eastern dictator was about to rain chemical and biological hell down on us unless we invaded. People believe a lot of stuff that isn’t true and for the most part the conspiracy theories are distractions from the real story.
New Orleans happened, the levees broke, and how they broke is really immaterial to the core issue…and that is how we handled the ensuing disaster…which was not very well at all. I can guarantee you this, if the California levees break and a similar number of middle class white people are put in harms way, the federal government’s response will be a lot different. Race, poverty and political power or rather the, lack thereof all contributed to the disastrous response to the New Orleans disaster.
I’m an idiot huh? Well your a naive utopian who has no clue about the real world. Sure, there were probably many people who do not fall into my over simplified generalization, but there are many who are much worse, so I will stick with it because it probably averages out to be accurate.
I deal with people like this on a nearly daily basis and not when they are in a good mood like when you deal with them or if you even do. I deal with them when they are not putting on a nice show for those that will give them a hand out, so you can take your happy go lucky everyone should be equal and personal responsibility plays no part in life goody goody shit elsewhere.
**I deal with people like this on a nearly daily basis and not when they are in a good mood like when you deal with them or if you even do. I deal with them when they are not putting on a nice show for those that will give them a hand out, so you can take your happy go lucky everyone should be equal and personal responsibility plays no part in life goody goody shit elsewhere. **
Since you voluntered and it has shaped your view of minorities I want to know more about your experience. What do you do and what is your involvement with “them”?
"-Was public transportation provided, when was it available, and how many could have been accomodated? "
a statistically insignificant amount, no, and very few.
"-If so, was this information publicized? how and when? "
No.
"-Were there provisions made for the sick/elderly who couldn’t climb aboard a bus? "
No.
"-Were there out-of-town shelters available for the evacuees, and how many could be housed there? "
Not until after it was far too late, and not nearly enough.
"…as far as I know, the facts are still unclear. "
Not in this particular area.
"There was probably a good portion of those who stayed who could’ve made an exit but simply chose not to. "
How would you define “…a good portion?” I know people who stayed, and could have gotten out - one of them was in the public hospital that was (famously) evacuated only when the staff called in to the TV news in panic. Does that constitute “choosing to stay?”
"I live in a Hurricane strike zone, and it’s a fairly common attitude around here among all classes. "
Have you ever been to New Orleans? This is a city with a serious, underdeveloped big-city inner core, far more like Harlem than Miami. It’s not the same thing…