I'm astounded by the sheer volume of reaction to last week's post -- not so much because of the outpouring of emotion (both supportive and scornful, here on LJ and via email), but because it actually seems like I was telling people something they didn't already know. What? Poor people? We've got those here? And they have problems? Holy shit, you jest!

Obviously, some of you know all too well what I was talking about. And some of you were genuinely appalled, because the practical difficulties of poverty simply hadn't occurred to you. Others thought I was overstating the case, or being sympathetic towards lazy welfare bums, and giving too much credit to looters and vandals. Some of you asked gently (but cluelessly) why all the car-less poor people just didn't walk out of New Orleans when they heard the bad weather was coming ... and bless your hearts. If I seriously need to explain the logistics of that to you, what a precious and sheltered life you must lead.

Perhaps an object lesson is in order: I'd like to take you, all of you "walking escape" advocates, into a dense urban area in the middle of a thunderstorm ... and turn you loose on the street carrying bottled water, some food, your children, your wheelchair-bound grandparents, your pets (if you have any), and tell you to get the hell out of Dodge within the next day or two. And ... go! I sure do hope you're in a superhero state of health, because otherwise you ain't getting far.


As the news continues to pelt us with grim information, more "buts" come out -- that is, "I would have left, but." But my mother was bedridden, we had no car, and I couldn't leave her. But my grandparents live alone and are housebound, and we couldn't leave them. But I was watching my sister's kids and I couldn't find her, so I couldn't leave without her. But the shelter wouldn't take my pets, and I couldn't leave them.* But my neighbors are disabled and they needed help, so I stayed. But the hurricane hit at the end of the month, right before our paycheck/disability check/welfare check was supposed to come, and the car was out of gas so we couldn't go.

And now, of course, you're seeing more and more people who don't want to leave now that the worst appears over.

Who can blame them? What idiot in his or her right mind would - at this point - simply trust a government official in a boat? Come with us! We'll take care of you! Like hell you will. Thanks, we'll stay put. No water? No food? Well, at least we're home with no water and food, and not crammed into camp conditions in federal custody.

I'm not saying it's the best approach, or the right approach, or that they shouldn't leave -- I'm just saying that I understand why the stragglers are hanging on so hard. It's something worse than fear of the unknown; it's the certainty that their government has failed them in a spectacular and deadly fashion.

And that's the thing about low-income communities like the ones so hard-hit in NOLA -- they already know that their government isn't really there to help them, and that's why so many who could have otherwise left, did not. Who was going to look after the children? The old people? The disabled people? The animals? Should they rely on Uncle Sam, because this time things will be different? Of course not. You stay and take care of your own if you can, because God knows nobody else is going to.


So look at the demographic that arrived first on the scene, while government officials were wringing their hands and shoe-shopping. [Do understand that what follows is generalization, and I am aware that exceptions exist.]

First, of course -- came the press, members of which began roaming more or less freely while rescue efforts and supplies were still conspicuously absent. Next, the hideously overwhelmed local officials dove back in. And after that, along came the local authorities and other poor people from distant areas.

These were people who couldn't really afford to be there, but they went rolling in anyway -- with beater trucks and battered fishing boats -- because they were the ones who best knew how close they themselves were to such a situation. They came because they were only lucky, and they were acutely aware of it; and they too were pretty confident that if they were in NOLA's situation, government officials would be equally slow to act. Small churches and rural schools organized drop-offs of goods, and collected donations on street corners.

The people who had the least to give gave first and fastest, because they knew exactly how much they had to lose.

Shortly afterwards came the big organized charity groups, the blue-collar people and emergency medical people, people whose employers were donating equipment and manpower to the cause as it became increasingly clear that the infrastructure (both federal and local) was shot to hell and that official help was going to be slow in coming. And then the corporate donations gushed forth, because the eau de desperate urgency was beginning to waft the way of the white-collar world. What? You mean a bunch of poor people might have some sort of impact on the existing social, political, and economic structure? Who knew?

And last of all, as we all now know, came the feds -- the bloated, nebulous entities farthest removed from reality, and from poverty, and from the immediacy of the situation. There they go -- finally, grudgingly ... bringing up the rear and passing out blame. Wasting and under-utilizing available resources. Getting in the way.**

I don't know about you guys, but I'm so proud of my government that I could just burst.

* * * * *

Helpful Links:

A friend in Gulfport, MS, collecting goods.
NBC's list of aid and affiliate organizations.
Search for missing friends and relatives here.
Noah's Wish - an organization rescuing and sheltering pets left homeless or abandoned by Katrina.
[EDIT: Trouble with the Noah's Wish site - may be overloaded. Try The Humane Society of NW LA. They too are taking evacuated/abandoned/rescued hurricane pets.]

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* Scoff if you like, but this would've been me.
** According to the local relief official on the Today show this morning.