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[eyes_of_cyrene]

All day long, something's been nagging at my brain.

All over LJ yesterday, and in the news, there were people saying, "Why didn't they leave?!"

I think that enough people have countered that particular fallacious, victim-blaming mindset (with nods to wicked_wish, and scott_lynch, among others). What I want to address is something nobody seems to be considering

Comments

[knittedberry]

People also forget that a good many of those who stayed, or were stuck, lacked the resources to leave. It wasn't that they didn't want to, I read that some of them had evacuated earlier in the year with another hurricane, and felt that they couldn't afford to evacuate twice. And I know there were a fair bit of homeless in the Superdome.

[revduke67]

It has come out that quite a lot of the people at the 'dome and stranded all over NOLA may have known how bad Katrina was and were aware that evacuations were taking place, but just lacked the resources to get out. They may have SAID, "Ah we'll just ride it out" to the TV cameras, but more than likely they were just too proud to say that they were too poor to have a car or the money to get out of there.

The thing that seems to be a common thread throughout these stories is that these people were doing what they were told by people in Authority. Someone in charge TOLD them to go to the Superdome or the Convention Center and that they would be taken care of, but when they arrived NO ONE was there. THAT'S when people get upset and desperate. Looking at the CNN and MSNBC stuff yesterday, I saw people that felt abandoned by their country and government.

Maybe there's a lesson there for all of us.

[binxcat]

They may have SAID, "Ah we'll just ride it out" to the TV cameras, but more than likely they were just too proud to say that they were too poor to have a car or the money to get out of there.

Spoken like someone who has had some honest-to-Goddess interaction with people of the lower economic classes of this country. So many of them don't have the means, and they are far too proud to ask for help.

Someone in charge TOLD them to go to the Superdome or the Convention Center and that they would be taken care of, but when they arrived NO ONE was there. THAT'S when people get upset and desperate.

Y'know, I knew this, but seeing it written out like this for some reason caused a surge in the ever present nausea that has been with me since Monday.

Looking at the CNN and MSNBC stuff yesterday, I saw people that felt abandoned by their country and government. Agreed. I have in the past been embarrassed by actions (or lack thereof) taken by our Government - and not just this administration (although they are leading pack

[eyes_of_cyrene]

From interdictor's blog yesterday:

"Bigfoot" is a bar manager and DJ on Bourbon Street, and is a local personality and icon in the city. He is a lifelong resident of the city, born and raised. He rode out the storm itself in the Iberville Projects because he knew he would be above any flood waters. Here is his story as told to me moments ago. I took notes while he talked and then I asked some questions:

Three days ago, police and national guard troops told citizens to head toward the Crescent City Connection Bridge to await transportation out of the area. The citizens trekked over to the Convention Center and waited for the buses which they were told would take them to Houston or Alabama or somewhere else, out of this area.

It's been 3 days, and the buses have yet to appear.I wonder, in the end, how many of these people will require long-term psychiatric care because of the trauma they're experiencing AFTER the hurricane... the trauma of having the people they depended on for help betray their hopes, and abandon them

[eyes_of_cyrene]

It has come out that quite a lot of the people at the 'dome and stranded all over NOLA may have known how bad Katrina was and were aware that evacuations were taking place, but just lacked the resources to get out.

I know. That's why I linked to the other two posts where people said it far more succinctly than I could. I was bringing another perspective to the table.

[soul_stepfather]

I concur with both of the responses above. People forget that not everyone has a car (and/or money for car payments and/or already expensive-ass gasoline) and some people indeed had to wait it out for lack of anything else to do.

What is really sickening is that the powers that be have known for a long time that New Orleans had the potential of being devasted by a hurricane but no money was given to developing any contingency plans since we have a $300M a day war to fight in Iraq.

[eyes_of_cyrene]

You should go read the two posts I linked above (if you haven't). They said it so heartrendingly well.

We've all known about the potential for New Orleans to be devastated by "The Big One." But people get complacent, and think their government is taking care of things...and the government, knowing that complacency is there, takes advantage of it.

This is not just evident in NOLA. If you look around you, I'm sure you can see some evidence of this. I know I can.

[soul_stepfather]

Both are very good and very spot-on. Having grown up in rural Kentucky and now having moved back to the South after eight years in Chicago, I know exactly what the first poster is talking about (although, perversely, we now make *more* money than we made in Chicago, at least on paper), and the second post was also on the money.

[binxcat]

*Applauds*

thank you for putting into words so much of what has been kicking around in my brain.