September 02, 2005 :: The new diaspora

Like many of us, I've had a lot of thoughts running through my head this week about the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the former residents of New Orleans. I'm transfixed by it all, and I don't see how anyone else could not be. So many things are going on, in the world at large and in my own thoughts, that it's been difficult to sort them out. I'm glad to see the mass media waking up to the racial dimension of this situation, and its contribution to making things worse. I'm sorry to see the piss-poor organization and command & control structures of the federal government. I'm awed by the satellite, aerial and up-close photos of devastation, and in pity of the masses of people who literally have nothing but the clothes on their backs and who have to start life all over again from scratch. I'll let other people talk about most of these issues, but one thing in particular is pressing on me.

In a few days, or maybe a week or two, hopefully the evacuation will be pretty much complete. But then what? All these people, most of them black, will soon exhaust whatever temporary resources they have at their disposal, be it credit cards, relief fund vouchers, cash on hand. They will need to get jobs, somehow, when they have no work history, no employment or education records, and some probably don't even have identification. They will need to be absorbed into the economies of the rest of the country, and it won't just be Texas, Arkansas and Tennessee, it will affect all of our communities.

In all the darkness of the past few days, I've been looking for a few rays of sunshine, of hope. Here's one: people all over the country are offering room in their houses, for free or very cheap. With all the focus on looting and other crimes, the generosity of this country has been lost in the shuffle. Hopefully we will see more of it in the weeks to come. My personal opportunity for this is at hand; my brother's roommate is from New Orleans, and pretty much his entire family lived there. They lost everything, and they're all on their way here. Most of them will stay in my brother's house (which is quite a bit bigger than mine), but I'll probably put up two or three of them in my spare bedroom and help them out with food, clothes and bus fare until they can get on their feet. That will make me feel a lot better than the money I gave to the Red Cross.

Another ray: So many of the pictures we see are so depressing, that I wanted to share one that isn't quite so depressing.

posted by Rainmayun at 3:56 PM -