This was a modern
day genocide that no one is talking about, plain and simple.
Ten years ago saw
one of the worse catastrophes that world didn't know about in full. I remember
sitting down and watching the news reports and I remember feeling anger and
disbelief that the country I lived in, did nothing for days and days, with
countless number of people dying or inheriting diseases that would later kill
them. I've come back to this post multiple times and debated even writing
it because for the simple fact that I can't contain my rage even after ten
years. Images burned into my mind of whole families trapped on roofs, waving to
news choppers to help, and they only shot scenes for the nightly news. The same
nightly news that vilified humans for going to stores to look for supplies
because the response time was either not there, or was weeks late. I remember
hearing people actually saying out of their mouth that people should just wait
for help rather than act like animals and stealing. The same people that were
robbing and pillaging stores when 9/11 happened, the same people that rob and
pillaged stores when tornado's ripped through the Midwest, destroying countless
homes. The same people that want the response time for all of the wild fires
blazing up the west coast to be almost immediately.
This was one of
the freshest moments in my mind where America showed me loud and clear that they
hate black people.
Even when
celebrities were getting on TV and asking for all of the help that they could
get to send to the states outlying the gulf coast, we still couldn't believe
what we were seeing. And when Kanye echoed the sentiment of every single black
person in this country that "George Bush doesn't care about black people", he
was proceeded to be treated like a criminal for saying something against the
interest of the United States, rather being acknowledged for speaking the truth.
The simple fact of the matter is that they did nothing for New Orleans and other
areas completely left in ruins, they are still not doing anything while parading
pictures of Bourbon street as if New Orleans has returned to prominence. The
right residents displaced by the storm can't return home because their homes are
STILL IN THE SAME CONDITION AS THEY WERE TEN YEARS AGO. There has been no
reclamation projects, there have been no rebuilding of the schools in the areas
that matter.
I really don't
care about where or who this falls into the hands of, but when the storm hit, it
was a blessing for those who wanted to gentrify the area to their liking. Just
like what's currently going on in DC and various other major cities with large
African American populations, instead of giving opportunities and providing
money for areas that have been underfunded for centuries due to the fact that
black people have lived there since slavery ended, they want to make it
somewhere "more friendly to vast parts of the population". It's no secret that
New Orleans had a lot of hard hit areas before the storm, but even that was the
direct result of racism still embedded in this country. They hated us since we
came, they didn't want anything to do with us, they sat back and watched as we
built our own entertainment, now they want to come in and capitalize on it
because they want it for their own personal gain.
It truly hurts my
heart when I see my good friend @SheSeauxSaditty
talk about what happened to her and her life when Katrina hit. I hate that I
have to see how she almost died but pulled through by a miracle and the Lord's
love instead of getting the help she deserved. I hate how her whole life was
washed away in that storm and this country didn't give two shits to help her
rebuild in the place that she called home for years and years. I hate how her
kids won't get a chance to experience what she experienced when she was growing
up because the country that we live, the government that we empower doesn't want
to help rebuild the areas that are the heart and soul of New Orleans. Even when
you read testimonies from various pro athletes
covered here by Yahoo Sports, you can still sense the hurt and the anger
behind their words.
With every single
thing that has happened in the last two years in this country, thinking back on
Katrina makes me realize that I've been angry for a long time, that I've been
sad for a long time, that I have all of these emotions of confusion as to how
this country can be so careless towards another human being. Just like Jon
Stewart said after the Charleston shootings, "the disparity of response between
when we think people that are foreign are going to kill us and us kill
ourselves". That right there speaks volumes about every single racially
motivated event that has ever happened to us in this country, and Hurricane
Katrina spoke the loudest with no one outside of African Americans caring a
single bit.
So to end this
right now because I feel myself getting angrier and angrier the more I type
about this, I just pray and I still hope that the New Orleans displaced from
their rightful homes can one day take back what is rightfully theirs from the
people that only want to profit off their pain. I hope that the state of
Louisiana will get off their ass and out of their old racist ways and start
supporting people in that great state that has so much promise, because trust
and believe that this South Carolinian knows all about potential in the southern
states that stunted by growth due to racism and not being able to admit defeat
and become a more educated and honest human. The resilience and pride that every
single folk from the gulf coast has and will always have is nothing short of
astounding. They love their city and state like no other and that inspires one
to be proud of where they come from; this is southern pride at it's fullest
display. I pray every single day that they get treated with the proper respect
that they deserve and have earned through pains unimaginable to most people in
this country.
10 years later and
Katrina is still looming over the gulf coast with the helping hand of
gentrification.
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