Yesterday, I sat with three of my colleague at lunch. We were discussing the situation in New Orleans and the subject came around to the blame game. One of my colleagues commented that the behavior of the Mayor of New Orleans was just as culpable for the suffering of the Descendents of Slaves.
This colleague of mine made the point that the Federal Government should not be blamed. He said that it was well known that FEMA would not respond in less than seven days to any disaster. Therefore, it was the lack of preparedness on the part of the mayor of New Orleans that was responsible.
That same evening, I sat in my living room and watched “Katrina aftermath: What went wrong” a special Dateline report. I listened to the voices of the meteorologists and scientists as they complained of how their information was not taken seriously by government agencies from the local to the federal level. These scientists had been warning of the potential for disaster. They had participated in the Hurricane Pam simulation. When Katrina strengthened in the Gulf after passing over Florida, they had made every effort to warn the government.
Tom Brokaw’s report showed school busses in New Orleans that could have been used to evacuate citizens. He sat with the Mayor and asked him, “What would you have done differently?” The mayor said, “I would have screamed louder.” At that moment, I was filled with shame. How could this man sit there and talk about crying for help when he could have actually taken action?
My mind returned to the conversation at lunch.
“Seven days” he said. According to Tom Brokaw’s report, it was supposed to be 48 to 70 hours. This was the expectation of those who had consulted with FEMA during the planning phases for just this kind of disaster. Even so, I had argued that the true cause of the disaster in New Orleans was the deteriorating state of the Levees.
Brokaw’s report addressed this issue. A segment was shown that had been shot just prior to the flooding. It was about how New Orleans had dodged the bullet yet again. The following day, another reporter stood on that same street in the French Quarter in two feet of water. The levees had failed and the flooding had begun. Dark and deadly waters had stolen into the homes of the disenfranchised like a thief in the night.
I had told my colleague at lunch that the catastrophe of New Orleans could have been avoided because the storm surge should not have been a challenge for the levees, even though those levees could not have withstood even a category-3 storm. He commented, “Well, that’s not the federal government’s fault!” Another of my colleagues contradicted him saying, “Yes, it was. I once dated the daughter of a high-ranking member of the Army Corps of Engineers. It has always been the duty of the corps to maintain the levees up and down the Mississippi river, including the New Orleans Levees.” I then pointed out that funding for levee improvements had been cut by the Republican congress.
“We have to make a choice in this country as to what we will spend our money on. We have priorities.” He said. “Yes, and should we be wasting our money on a war in Iraq that should never have been fought? How many of the billions of those dollars could have been spent to prepare for disasters that we knew with a certainty would come?”
“I think the Iraqis who were having their feet flayed would disagree. How are these people so different from the poor people in Louisiana? At least the poor in New Orleans are free.”
I felt a flash of anger at this. How could he be so ignorant? “There is a difference.” I said. “The people of Iraq are living in the land of their birth. They are living in their ancestral home where their people have lived for thousands of years. The people of Louisiana are the Descendents of Slaves who were taken from their homeland without their consent and stripped of their cultural identity.”
Another of my colleagues finally spoke up. He is from Eastern Europe. He looked me in the eye and said, “Why always this talk of slaves?” Before I could answer (being a descendent of slaves myself) my other college began a scholarly sounding treatise on how things are so different in the South. He spoke of how the poor Black folks are mistreated by the ignorant and evil. I finally could not take it any more and interrupted.
“As someone who should have some authority on the subject, I must disagree with you about this. My Father and Mother raised me to be a Free Man. Those of us who still keep the memories of our Ancestors know that slavery was never about whips and chains. Slavery is a mind game. How else could five people control the behavior of one hundred on a plantation? We still see this mind game being played out today. When we do, we speak up about it. This game is not just played on us; it is played on you as well. You are just as much a slave as anyone. The difference between us is that we know that we are being treated as slaves, and you do not.”
Another colleague of mine attempted to interject, “Slavery seems too strong a word…” My other colleague turned to me with a smirk, “Hey, if they want to be free, all they have to do is get a Harley.” I did not dignify this with a comment. I turned to my friend and said, “Perhaps you are right but being a man who makes my living with language (the language of logic) I always choose my words carefully. I used slavery because it is what I mean. Everyone here at this table is treated as a slave. I am the only one who sees it. The disaster in New Orleans has washed away our illusions about our status in this country.”
Lunch was over and we got up and returned to our indentured servitude. We returned to the illusion, yet in my heart I know what it means to be free. I will not be a slave to any man. I will proclaim my freedom every day, in the halls of Corporate America and in the streets of the cities and towns of this nation and the world. I will continue to write about the teachings of my Father and Mother, and their Fathers and Mothers before them. I will continue to shout the teachings of my Ancestors who fought with their bodies and their hearts and their minds.
It is my Ancestors who could have chosen the ultimate freedom of death. It is they who chose to live in bondage and hope. Hope that some day, their children would walk this world free.
For their sake, I claim, Slavery is NOT too strong a word.
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