CODE RED - The Storm That Stole Calm

I continue to sit glued to my television set. Watching the unbelievable horror and destruction in New Orleans, Biloxi and other gulf coast points courtesy of Hurricane Katrina and her aftermath, I can’t help but wonder why…

Why are people looting? With the amount of death and destruction that surrounds them, how can they even think to steal dress suits and purses? Sad to think and perhaps even more drastic to say, I feel like if somebody had to die in this tragedy, I sure am sorry that death called upon the people who just couldn’t evacuate and drowned in their own homes. Why couldn’t those that died needlessly have been spared, and those that found it necessary to rape businesses for superfluous goods amidst 12 feet of dirty southern water have gotten locked in somebody’s attic? Don’t mistake my anger for misinterpretation of a desperate situation. There is no potable water, no food, no gas, no lights, no baby formula and no shelter to sustain the citizens who remain in the devastated Crescent City. Thus, I can clearly understand the need to retrieve and perhaps even steal certain survival supplies. Yet, I cannot understand why someone would need to steal a car stereo, a Mike Jones CD or an X-box when there is no fucking electricity.

Apparently ignorance can weather any storm.

As field reporters began transmitting stories back to headquarters, (funny how CNN sent the only black reporter on the story to New Orleans where the Negros are) news stations appeared all too happy to loop footage of Black refugees laughing as they entered and exited quaint shops that encompass the once beautiful French Quarter. Carrying boxes of pilfered high heeled shoes and other dime store trinkets, the most ignorant of our tribe, pillaging their caches of booty - as if they had somewhere to take it. Meanwhile, the sad news stories have come from the white folks who lost their million dollar, “insured” homes? Yes, I feel sorry for everyone affected by this horrendous storm, but even in times of what seems like Armageddon, CNN and Fox News still find the time to depict us as savages. Regardless if some of us really are.

But what about those who have been caught up in the savagery but are not savages? What about those helpless victims who could not get out of harm’s way in time to avoid the uncertainty of being lost in a runaway sea of toxic fluid, broken trees and rickety rack remnants of what once was a place called home? Everyone who is able to help, please DO SOMETHING! If you donate to the Red Cross, if you send clothing to a local contact near the affected area or if you volunteer in the clean up effort when needed, DO SOMETHING to help.

It seems that this tragedy will become a gold mine for the corporate vultures who cannot wait to see how many Blacks lose their homes and properties inside New Orleans and parts of Mississippi. Black people who are smart should monitor the situation closely and once the area has been cleaned up, buy property in the ravaged areas. Even if you choose not to live there, use the land as income property in order to help Blacks to maintain what for the time being is sure to be lost. Moreover, if you know able-bodied individuals who are looking for work, have them start planning now to look into jobs cleaning up Katrina’s wrath. Please believe me when I tell you, if we don’t get those jobs, the borders next door are always open for folks to come on over and snatch up the few jobs that will be left. Talk about the new South…

Hey, here’s a thought, why didn’t the state and federal governments provide evacuation transportation for everyone who was willing to leave prior to the storm? Did they ever stop to think that some people didn’t have vehicles to escape in? Hell, some people didn’t even have televisions to warn them of the imminent danger they would face. Why didn’t the FAA force airlines to fly people out of the danger zones, (at least through Sunday morning when the skies were still clear) instead of allowing those air carriers to cancel flights at their own volition? WHERE IN GOD’S NAME WAS THE MILITARY…? Oh, in Iraq. The National Guard should have been mobilized prior to the storm just in case things went wrong. Perhaps that’s hard to do though when at least 25% of the National Guard members from each affected state are across the world playing shoot the Muslims.

Oh and the President, why we certainly could not complete this installment without mentioning that thoughtless cruel hearted ferret. It seems Hurricane Katrina’s preliminary damage reports have indicated that the final damage numbers could be well above the 30 billion dollar mark. Seems to me like we’d have those duckets already covered if the US government had not already spent over 191 billion dollars to purchase Saddam’s old country. Hmmm, I guess we’ll all be looting pretty soon. Perhaps we can sell Dick Cheney a dress suit from Canal Street and Condoleezza Rice a purse from the French Quarter.

Stay tuned for continuing coverage of CODE RED -The Storm That Stole Calm and more war stories only here at The POWER journal.

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