American Shame

Friends, we are witnessing a class tragedy - a failure of planning but also a work of prejudice, of skin color and of economic status. Thousands of impoverished Americans - Americans who spend every day of their lives struggling to maintain a tenuous grasp on opportunity's edge, dangling over the brink of economic and emotional disaster - are literally caught in a swallowing sea of chaos. And yet again, our country is failing to carry out it's moral burden to rescue and protect.

Here, you will find some up-close accounts of the horror that American citizens are facing, a devastation perhaps few thought would befall citizens of the greatest power ever known. You can read the accounts of Mississippians and Lousianans left behind by the rich whites who fled, some in thousand dollar limosines. There is the claim. uttered by no less than the Secretary of Homeland Security, that those people remaining had "chosen" to stay behind. This is a patently prejudiced assumption, one that belies a momumental ignorance which easily traverses into arrogance.

Some things to consider, about the "choice" made by the poor in abandoning their homes. In New Orleans there are 130,896 people living in poverty, or 27.9 % of its residents, Lousiana has over 800,000 living in poverty (19.6%), with many of those concentrated in the same area as New Orleans. Mississippi has 500,000 in poverty 19.9%. Though much of the poverty is on the eastern side of the state, away from the coast there are still very high concentrations of poverty in some areas leading up from the Gulf.

In New Orleans, Fair Market Rent for a two bedroom apartment is $676 a month. That means that a household of minimum wage workers must work 100 hours each week in order to have their rent be only 30% of their income. If you make minimum wage and work 50 hours a week, you make about $1000 a month before you pay taxes, though you may get an extra 50-100 through refundable tax credits, but you may as likely not, because your employer doesn't help you with getting this money through each paycheck forcing you to wait for a refund in the spring.

Rent comes due monthly, usually on the 1st. So, often, does the car payment, the light bill, the unpaid medical debts, the mortgage. Today's poor are increasingly saddled with debt, though in many ways they are often still far removed from modern banking assets which would allow them to (albeit slowly) accumulate savings. And if the regular bills don't hit, there are the unexpected expenses. And there are some expected but time-sensitive costs, such as many families experience in August buying school supplies.

So, when on the 29th you are faced with a choice of evacuating to another town, where you don't have family, where you may not have shelter, you must think, can I afford the gas, the food, the shelter. What will it cost to pick up your two kids and take them away from your home, your stove and put them into a car that may break down on the way? Or perhaps what will it cost to pay for a bus ride since you and your families leave. Actually, if you thought about the busride on the 29th, you were out of luck, because Greyhound had already stopped running.

And, somewhat perversely in the present context, for many of those who are disabled or elderly, and therefore the least able to leave on their own - their checks come on the 3rd. This means that by the 29th, they have eked out their last little bit of savings and have only a few dollars left until that precious date the 3rd. Perhaps they will have a credit card, perhaps they will get a short-term loan (both at exorbitant amounts). But for the working poor and the disabled, saved money is not something easily come by.

But even if you can work it out with your landlord, find the spare $100 of dollars, or find a ride, you must think some more. Your home and all your possessions will be left behind and if they are lost it will take literally years to accumulate them again. Many have loans which are secured by these very same household goods. And trust me, the loans don't wash away with the flood.

And of course there is family, the elderly and the young, who must be cared for. You may personally be able to go, but you may not be able to leave your sick mother who likely should not make the trip. You may not have a car which can carry you, your children and your other relatives out. Not having a car may seem unlikely, but vast numbers of the urban poor especially are unable to afford private transportation.

Finally, there is the concern of where you go. Considering that after five days its clear there is not enough emergency shelter for all who need it, it certainly makes clear how unlikely it was that a person leaving New Orleans, if all had headed Mr. Chertoff's belated suggestion, would have found it.

It is far too easy, and arrogant, for elected officials to claim to know how individuals faced with these decisions should react.

This is the greatest American Shame of my generation, to see Americans swallowed up and left for dead by a rising tide because with our wealth and our posturing, we were blinded to their needs. There are some who don't like comparing parts of our economy to the Third World, they call it unamerican. But this week, our Third World has come front in center, and we have betrayed their citizenship. No amount of violence on the streets of New Orleans will restle the scarlett blood stained stigma from our flag.

But, still, I pray, "Let America, be America Again"