Never forget Hurricane Katrina!

We are fast approaching the two-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. If you have not seen Spike Lee’s documentary “When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts”, you are not aware of the story behind the Hurricane Katrina disaster. The film is 4 hours and 16 minutes long. I was struck by the shabbiness involved in constructing the eye-walls, not levees, that gave way when the waters became too strong. Too many people died needlessly. The victimization of News Orleans residents at the hands of FEMA, the Army Corps of Engineers and the United States government is shameful. Because of the formally large Black population in New Orleans, Hurricane Katrina victims are most often pictured as Blacks. Hurricane Katrina definitely wasn’t only a Black thing. There were some angry white folks in the documentary and some of them had guns. I got a big chuckle out of the guy that heckled Vice-President Cheney. The gentlemen who spoke of the oil revenue owed New Orleans residents and the temporary show of recovery when Cheney visited was incredible. The depth and breadth of this documentary is amazing. If you haven’t seen this film, do so right away. If you have seen it, see it again. I caution you that some of the bodies floating in the water or along the side of the road were disturbing so you may not want young kids to see the film. As shocking as the visuals are, you must remember that these things actually happened. I pray daily for the survivors and that Blacks will return to New Orleans and not relinquish their property to land-grabbers. More important, the rich history of New Orleans should never be lost. P.S. Click the photo above to purchase the DVD. Do not purchase the DVD through the HBO website, you will pay twice as much.