Its been a year since the scope of the human disaster that was Hurricane Katrina was starting to become known. The divisions of race and class, rising (and falling) political stars, and government ineptitude were revealed to massive media attention. Following are the articles and feeds from that time, just as they were, warts and all. Next Week: September 11 is also Revisited...
Katrina Chronicles Anniversary of historic hurricane's devastation show problems with restoration of Gulf area, direction of a major American city Part I - Katrina Devastates Gulf; Govts Powerless as Millions Incl. Celebrities & Moviemaking Affected Part II - Chaos and Confusion in Black-Run City as Disenfranchisement Agenda Emerges Part III-- Politics, Race Laid Bare from Katrina Disaster; Careers to be made, broken Part IV - A New American Pompeii? Development plans may not include rebuilding much of destroyed city of New Orleans by Kevin J. Walker, Netitor of the Word Netpaper An Online Journal of News Analysis, Popular Culture Critiques and Commentary  Local Milwaukee Politics
TRAVELS TO ATHENS, ITALY:
Photos of Pyramids, Rome, Jerusalem
SCIENCE FEATURES
FILM CRITIQUES
These are articles and news feeds that were written while the disaster unfolded a year ago. They are being presented again just as they are, except for spelling. This includes such as the erroneous information proffered by the mayor of New Orleans and even his police chief on the supposed carnage happening inside the Superdome. I make no apologies for the errors while as many others we were caught up in the unfolding drama. If the city's own leaders say people are getting killed and raped inside their city; Junkies crazed under withdrawal are running amok; and street gangs are shooting police; the media would be inclined to take their official word for it. In a media conference we'd be using them as our informed sources because we'd think with their inside access they knew what they were talking about. Silly us. There will be another series of such articles near the fifth anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11, again presented just as they were of that awful day and the aftermath. (If there is any doubt, just go to the original stories in the authors link by clicking Walker's picture above the stories). We also will be including something we call Terrorism Video Views, or movies with a tie-in to terrorism or similar disasters, such as Denzel Washington's "Under Siege" when multiple sleeper cells wreak disaster after disaster upon NYC; and homegrown terrorists in "Arlington Road" with Jeff Bridges who uncovers a middle class terrorism cell led by Chicagoan Joan Cusack and Tim Robbins, in the government-hating Timothy McVeigh mode. ------------------------- • Looters Reported Firing On Helicopter Rescuers; Military Sent To Keep Order, Re-supply & Medivac Diabetics, Dialysis Patients;
• Cities States Away Being Affected By Crisis; • Militant Islamic Website: " 'Private Katrina' Joins In Jihad Against America!"
• Whites "Find" And "Borrow" Food, Tools, Supplies; Black People Labeled "Looters" Hurricane Katrina has blown lots of controversy with her, involving racial politics, as well as people positioning themselves for elections as 21st century. African Americans find themselves much like our post-emancipation forebears: homeless, directionless, and relying on the charity of others. The expressions "Come Hell Or High Water" now takes on significant meaning, as a modern version of Pompeii may be New Orleans' future if the city is uninhabitable as they say it will be. "Hotel Rwanda" the Academy Award winning film was also brought to mind as people were holding out in abandoned apartment buildings, using swimming pools for water, and scrounging for canned goods while murderous thugs bided their time while otherwise looting the countryside. But the most horrifying thought was that they'd end up in a real life version of "Land of the Dead" in a desolated landscape, besieged with roving bands of mindless killers, and with no prospects of help or hope. After the first shocks of the widespread devastation of Hurricane Katrina when it made landfall Sunday, there is an ugly racial dimension to the crisis that is becoming intertwined with the atrocious bureaucracy and missteps that some say is killing many of those who survived the first disaster from Mother Nature. Seeing the images of the over 90 percent African Descended refugees underscored they are pretty much at the state of freed slaves 150 years ago, with no purpose except survival in an uncertain future. Relying on the kindness of strangers for food, water and clothing, and a cot to sleep on, it is a disconcerting series of images in the dawning decade of the 21st century. This article is reminiscent of the bulletin by bulletin, periodic reports of the September 11th attack, although this is more complete with knowledge but unlike the quick strikes that sunny Tuesday morning it is building to an inexorable completion, and the crisis will be played out for weeks. What started out as a story of Humanity versus Nature is now evolving into one of Inhumanity, as relief workers stop and start their duties under gunfire from roving gangs, armed with weaponry looted from gun stores. Labour Day weekend holiday is a tense one for those with loved ones in the Gulf area. Instead of planning backyard cookouts and fellowship, and preparing their kids for heading back to school; they are organizing food and commodity drives, and calling truckers and air cargo firms to arrange delivery of the donated items. These include plenty of bottled water, baby wipes for personal cleansing, water purifiers, and ready-to-eat foods particularly crackers and peanut butter (in plastic jars) for its convenience, protein, and longevity. DON'T OPEN THE DOOR! Although separated by more than a thousand miles, people in Milwaukee are concerned and active. Once the natural hazards subsided the human ones surfaced. "I told my mother 'please don't open the door, not for anyone, don't even look out of the window! The prisons are out, the jails went under and all these men are out on the streets and they're raping and killing people," said a caller to a Milwaukee Black radio station. "This thing is bigger than what they're telling us... down in Hammond, Louisiana and other places in Mississippi they say they're scared to come out of the house," said the caller. People are wondering what the response to another terrorist strike would be like, seeing the fumble-fingered activities of the federal state and municipal governments, who placed publicity photos and TV footage of their post-9/11 scenario exercises to show off their preparedness with mock drills. Instead, now they're being seen with their pants down and their lack of competence exposed for all the world to see. Foreign governments have offered their help, also frustrated with the bureaucratic response. Nations that were helped in the Tsunami are returning the favour. Although New Orleans is the focus of most of the media reports, damage is also extensive in the Mississippi cities of Gulf Port, Biloxi, and Mobile, Alabama; extended throughout the Mississippi Gulf Coast on into the panhandle of Florida, but primarily affecting Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. Trains southbound are being halted in Tennessee, because of track damage from the rains. The city of Jackson, Mississippi suffered water damage from the torrential rains of Hurricane Katrina, which bounced across the Florida peninsula into the Gulf of Mexico, recharged in its bathtub warm waters into a hurricane only one stage below the strongest a tropical wind can get, a Category 5. WEIRD KATRINA & FUNNY WEATHER + DUMB AGENCIES = DISASTER Unlike most hurricanes which form in the waters off the coast of Africa with a push from the winds of the Sahara, Katrina started up in the Caribbean and moved into America much more quickly. The numbers of hurricanes are much greater than usual, the experts say, and the main hurricane season of September to November hasn't even begun. New Orleans was thought to be lucky as they dodged a head-on hit that saw the brunt of Hurricane Katrina slam into the Biloxi-Gulf Port area, demolishing its string of casinos, clogging the shore-hugging Interstate 10 once again in eerie reminders of Hurricane Camille in 1969. Just as in that huge disruption in the lifestyles of the idyllic Gulf Coast, large ships were tossed inland, and motor homes and recreational vehicles were blown about as if made of Styrofoam. Hurricane Camille killed more than 250 people in 1969, and people who lived through it, as well as people who never experienced a hurricane before, foolishly thought they could hunker down and let it blow over them. And it did, with a vengeance. Many of those affected were elderly, infirm, impoverished, and just plain dumb and stubborn, to be blunt about it. They found themselves trapped in a large cesspool, inhabited by roving bands of cruel thugs who won't even let help land for any of them. Higher Ground and "head for the hills," expressions like this meant something to our ancestors, and now we know why. Without effective mass transit or the boats later needed to get away, and fearful of where they would live and how once they did leave caused many of those who became victims one way or another. Their choices made them the stars of 'round the clock media reports, as the pitiful images are beamed around the world of something people are trying to get their minds around: American refugees, in the Twenty First century. Soup lines, bedding and clothing for people who lost everything except for their lives. Hurricane parties that were part of lesser hurricanes often held in the Caribbean and the type of t-shirts that proclaim "I Survived _____ [fill In the blank with latest disaster] were largely absent here. The fear is that the number of dead will eclipse that of the 3,000 people erased on the jetliner bombs of September 11, whose grim anniversary is almost here. New Orleans' woes aren't a surprise to those who are familiar with its history or makeup. A city of 400,000 with three centuries of history and named for a district of France once defended by Joan of Arc, there has always been a hint of lawlessness in the city with their extensive Culture of Poverty and the open frontier of the South and western expansion. The Battle of New Orleans was a pivotal one in the establishment of America as a separate country when it broke off from mother England. A former port for sugar, cotton, foodstuffs to Europe, and the nexus of the Caribbean/Cuban Puerto Rican Enslaved Trade, it was one of three Free Trade Zones along with San Francisco and New York City, which of course was sited by the World Trade Center's Twin Towers. CULTURE OF POVERTY & DEATH CONTRIBUTED New Orleans had one of America's most exotic atmospheres with its pervasive French influence and was the home for several of the annual football Superbowl extravaganzas, with the French Quarter filling up with tourists in town for the party. It is called the Birthplace of Jazz, home to many celebrities and creative people, and home to the country's largest annual celebration of Mardi Gras. N'Awlins as it called by those familiar with it, is also called The Big Easy but the times now aren't very luxurious, and it will be quite a while before the good times roll there again. The home to the Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday celebration before the deprivation of Lent's 40 days won't be held in the city in 2006 even though the Vieau Carre was one of the portions of the city's 20 percent that was above water. But there has always been a dark underbelly to the city, which is being laid bare with its troubles now. Many have noted that the looting and strife hasn't been duplicated in other affected communities such as Mobil, Biloxi and Gulf Port, which have large Black populations and pockets of poverty. New Orleans' cultures of poverty and death go a long way in explaining this dichotomy when all things are being seen as equal. RAPE, MURDER, AND PILLAGING It has one of the highest murder rates in the nation, and the killing hasn't stopped just because of a national disaster; in fact it may have been elevated as a percentage of the much diminished population. Many of the affected and the perpetrators are of a population that is used to being told what to do, and do not do well when called upon to forecast and improvise for themselves. The Shock and Awe of seeing 21st century Americans herded to sally points and being medivaced from the rooftops of buildings has dragged the country to realize the fragility of society. The Weak are being oppressed by the Strong; the unarmed are prey for those armed and vicious; the very concepts of Women's Rights have vanished and "No Means No" is laughable to men who are inclined to take what they want There are reports of rapes. Home invasions are being reported as those waiting to be evacuated are re victimized by marauding gangs, and would-be rescuers are discouraged by gunfire directed at them. Pets are being returned to nature, and wildlife roam free with poisonous cottonmouth snakes, alligators and clouds of mosquitoes snacking on people, who are getting gangrenous with their wounds from pierced feet while cut off from medical attention. Zoo animals have escaped or been set free to roam, joining onetime household pets. ANYWHERE BUT HERE With their lack of communications the affected don't know all that has happened to them and the extent of the hurricane's damage, or of the efforts to get to them. This has added to the tension which has been mounting. As noted by outspoken New Orleans Mayor Roy Nagin drug addicts, some armed, have gone days without, and have spiraled into murderous despair. Drug stores are being looted as they seek to alleviate their withdrawal pangs. Everybody has been ordered OUT! of New Orleans by the Governor of the state of Louisiana, with both she and the mayor smarting from criticism for their lack of preparedness when it was known Hurricane Katrina was heading their way and the levees were only rated for a Category 3 storm. Katrina came ashore Sunday morning as a Category 4 storm, with Mississippi's coast taking the brunt. Like the old bar call: we don't care where you go, but you can't stay here!," many of the evacuees are ending up in neighboring Texas when moved by officials. They were gathered in a Superdome where they found that because the pumps and electricity were out the toilets don't flush, and there's no air conditioning in the 90 degree humid Louisiana heat. There were no lights after the power went out and so the evacuees are being further evacuated to yet another sports dome, the Houston Astrodome. CELEBRITIES AFFECTED, LIVING IN AREA, OR ACTIVE IN RELIEF EFFORTS Katrina affected millions high and low, including many celebrities who make the Third Coast region their home. • Morgan Freeman is a resident of the area
The Academy Award-Winning actor and has a ranch and horses in Clarksdale, Miss. which is 10 miles or so inland from the Mississippi river.
• Ellen DeGeneres has family in Pass Christian, on the Mississippi Gulf Coast and a favourite aunt lost her house.
• Master P, New Orleans rap entrepreneur
Percival Miller is renting the use of a helicopter to search out the homes of he and his wife's families. Some of their immediate family cannot be located, and he's taking some cell phones down with him;
• Romeo his son and actor of "Like Mike" and the upcoming 1970s film "Roll Bounce;"
• Kanye West is also working on a charity event.
• Sheila Escobar, known as Sheila E the percussionsist and onetime member of Prince's troupe
Escobar became known in San Francisco's Bay Area as a drummer and performer, but has relatives in the affected area. She acted in a 1980s rap movie with the group Run-DMC;
• Celine Dion, "Titanic" singer donated a million dollars to the cause.
Dion is from Quebec, the French portion of Canada where some of the Louisianan ancestors relocated from the oppression of the British in Canada, and the winners of the French Revolution. The Arcadians, later corrupted to the name "Cajuns," went down the Eastern seaboard to the French held territories of Louisiana, which included the smaller version of New Orleans called St. Louis, so named for one of the Kings of France as was the state of Louisiana. All the above celebrities and stars are contributing organizing their own celebrity and musical studded affairs, with the funds going to Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. The city of New Orleans is also home to people such as: • Fats Domino, 77 ("Ain't That A Shame")
He lived in a low-lying area of New Orleans and was feared for since he hadn't been seen since the hurricane hit. Then, late Thursday night it was reported by a niece that he was one of those who had been rescued.
• Brett Favre, Green Bay Packers Quarterback is from Kiln, Mississippi, near the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
The Quarterback for the Packer's football team of Wisconsin's mother was one of those who decided to ride out the storm, and then found the water coming in on her ankles before she fled to the attic as many others.
• Richard Simmons
The exercise guru was raised in the French Quarter of New Orleans.
• Chubby Checker of 1960s "Twist" fame
He also was feared for, but the recluse who hasn't been out in public much in years was supposedly seen out on his balcony recently after the worst of the floodwaters.
• Wynton Marsalis is a New Orleans native. His father is a music teacher in the Crescent City
• Harry Connick Jr., the Sinatra-like crooner and actor of "Memphis Belle", "Copycat" and "Independence Day" derives his muse from New Orleans which is where he is based.
• Aaron Neville, of the Neville Brothers singing group and uncle of Arthel Nevel formerly of "Access Hollywood," but now with the syndicated Geraldo Rivera news magazine. Aaron Neville and their family is safe, although the family's homes are destroyed. COMING TO A THEATRE TO YOU? AREA USED TO MOVIEMAKING Within a few months there will be real movies of the disaster of Hurricane Katrina, with the villains being the bureaucratic bungling. They'll be churned out first out of the chute by television and cable who have faster production times, then later big-budget extravaganzas with Hollywood name actors at theatres. New Orleans and the rest of Louisiana aren't strangers to the attentions of Hollywood. The wrought iron balustrades and railings on the upper decks of the old homes in the French Quarter, which locals call the Vieau Carre, or "Sin City" for its wide open ways. (And I do mean wide open. Movies such as "Let's Do It Again" with Sidney Poitier and Bill Cosby, Ed.D also showcased the city sector, which is very photogenic). The city and surrounding environs is a favourite for Hollywood. Along with movies such as "Johnny Angel" and many others. "Skeleton Key" was only the latest movie to feature much of Louisiana and New Orleans. It showcases the area's history of the Supernatural and genteel old style of the Louisiana countryside, with Kate Hudson as a naive home care worker involving herself with voodoo goings-on at a spooky plantation mansion. The state is a favourite of feature films when they aren't made in Toronto, Canada and Texas to escape the onerous state taxes, procedures and oppressive work rules of the Teamsters and other show business unions. With its lush landscape Louisiana has often stood in for Southeast Asian and South American jungles! Jean-Claude Van Damme's and some of "American Ninja" movies were shot there. The series' stars went on to film another military action flick based in Louisiana against an army of White Supremacists. The hurricane has disrupted plans for present and future location shooting. The sequel "Big Mama's House 2" with Martin Lawrence; and Denzel Washington's "Deja Vu" were scheduled to be shot on location in Louisiana, but now Disney has pulled the operations. People will think they learned something from this drawn out disaster and the resultant controversy. Just like they did after the Branch Davidians and the Siege at Waco; the jetliner bombings of September 11; the Challenger and Columbia Space Shuttle disasters; and the Rev. Jim Jones Cult mass killings in the Central American jungle of Guyana. If some of these past disasters that took up so much TV time and ink take a moment to recall, that is the point exactly. Just as at one time the Tsunami of December 26 that killed nearly a quarter million people once consumed our attention, then we move on until the next crisis. --kjw by Kevin J. Walker, Netitor
The Word NetPaper
Milwaukee Wis USA
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Our Partner:Kevin Walker
Mr. Walker is a print journalist who often includes Science and Travel articles among his forays on political and societal observations. A past professor of Journalism at his Alma Mater of Marquette University, Walker has written extensively for several newspapers on urban issues, and is presently compiling his essays on the phenomenon of intractable trans-generational familial poverty into the book in progress "The Culture of Poverty," based on his observations on the effects of Welfare Reform in his hometown in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He often writes from an Undisclosed Location in the Hidden Valleys retreat inland from the Mississippi River in western Wisconsin, where he indulges in his first intellectual love, amateur Astronomy and stargazing.
Milwaukee, WI, 53202
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