Five days after the Katrina has hit and still tens of thousands are left desperate, with no food, no water, no way out of the city. There are reports of rapes, gunfire, and massive explosions as bodies are left to rot in the streets or among survivors at the Convention Centre because there is no way of removing them in the anarchy.
Michael Brown, Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency attempts to sidestep the issue of why the emergency reaction was so slow and small. Ted Koppel doesn’t let him get away with it. Neither does CNN’s Paula Zahn (via Bring It On!).
And what is the President of the United States doing? Pledging aid five days after the initial disaster and putting on Sad Face for photo ops.
Please, give of your earnings, give of your time, if you can. Open your home to evacuees if you live close enough.
But at the same time, speak your mind. I do not understand why all of America isn’t seething over the massive failure of the American government to take immediate control of the situation before it descended into dire chaos and placed tens of thousands of its citizens in further peril.
This is not about political rhetoric or partisan affiliations. This is about massive human suffering on a scale unknown in your country. This is about your elected government that has proven completely unable to care for the very citizens it represents and is meant to protect; in many cases, the very citizens who placed it in this position of power. This is about leaders too insulated the mundane realities to do anything but hide behind a theocratic veil and hope for the best.
By the very nature of democracy, something you claim as the pillar of American existence, are you not obligated to tell your leaders when they have done wrong? Are you not obligated to demand explanations? Is it not your responsibility to demand results?
So please give, and give generously whatever you can. But that should not stop you from speaking your mind. That should not stop you from acting upon what you know in your heart is right.
SPEAK NOW
