Katrina: What Went Wrong (An Alternative View)
Author: Serf X
Katrina revealed the unwillingness of the American Government to come to the
aid of America's African-Americans and poor. While I believe that everyone
from the President down to the Director of FEMA should be charged with capital
murder in their intentional mishandling of the catastrophe, I also believe that
the people of New Orleans remained far too obedient to authority. Assuming
that every person has a right to struggle to survive, let us ask the question,
"What went wrong?" Let us ask it anew from the perspective of
personal autonomy.
(1) Not Enough Buses Were Stolen
One
and only one bus was stolen in New Orleans and used to evacuate citizens from
the disaster. This
lone bus was stolen by Jabbar Gibson, a young man of 20 years. Jabbar Gibson
should be considered a national hero. A special day should be put aside
each year, Jabbar Gibson Day, and all school children should be taught to look
towards Jabbar Gibson as a role model.
The car-less of New Orleans failed to do the ethically correct thing and
steal each and every bus in the city. The stolen buses should have been
used to collect the stranded and drive them to safety. After having stolen
the buses, should more residents wishing to leave remain, police cars and every
remaining vehicle should have been stolen and used for escape.
(2) People Waited Too Long To Loot
It appears that most people who looted waited until they were
desperate. This does not make sense. The failure to loot early and
effectively deprived many children and older people of needed food, water,
clothes, and medicine. Given that those in New Orleans without sufficient
income to prepare Hurricane kits had no other option, they should have made
plans in advance to steal everything they needed as soon as the shop owners left
town. Had families and groups of friends compiled lists of the items that
they would have needed and then assigned specific individuals with the task of
looting the required stores efficiently, the looting could have been done before
the storm actually hit. Food that would have gone bad due to the loss of
electricity could have been eaten first, thus saving non-perishable items for
later. The net available useful food would have been increased by
efficient and early looting. Many lives may have been saved.
(3) Not Enough People Were Armed
If the poor of New Orleans had been armed, they could have taken out the
police blocking their escape into drier neighborhoods. They also could
have overcome the interference by FEMA and let in people wishing to bring
aid. In the few cases were the poor turned upon one another, a heavily
armed population could have kept order itself, thereby saving some from the
consequences of storm induced chaos.
(4) No-one Offering AID Used Force To Overcome FEMA
Americans rushing to the area to provide aid should not have complied with
FEMA's orders. FEMA should have been overcome by Americans, by force if
need be, in order to ensure that as many people as possible were rescued and/or
provided needed aid. We can all blame ourselves for this.
While this is a short and humble piece, I hope it sparks some thought in how
to respond to future interference with our survival by the "powers that
be".
What the poor of New Orleans need is the Black Panthers. They need an organization by and for themselves. It need not be only for Black people, because there are some poor white people there too. Had they been organized, even if loosely, they could have self-mobilized to evacuate, to coordinate comandeering of goods from stores, and to seize buses.
It's the American condition that the poor are in chaos, not only during these emergencies, but also when things are going "okay". But they're really not "okay." People are atomized and disempowered, and under constant cultural, political, and personal assault by society.