So i'm really pissed off about this news coverage. It is making me angry to see these newsreporters in the field reporting on the situation and seemingly being of little help to the people there. They show these images of black people looting that they have looped, and shoot crying children and elderly people who are obviously in need of immediate attention. And the rest of the country, myself included, is going on with their day, checking in, becoming disturbed and changing the channel again.
I will say that spelman is taking in students from xavier but i don't think dillard will recover from this. This is just crazy! Crazier still because this could have been avoided.
If the US hadn't colonized this country the way it had, maybe followed the living migrational patterns of the indigenous people who lived in the region maybe it could have been avoided. If slaves hadn't been brought in to work the land, maybe the faces on the tv screen would be a little lighter and maybe people would be more inclined to reach into there pockets to help. If we hadn't upset the natural balance of the world so much, maybe a category 5 hurricane wouldn't have come to be.
and yet and still life goes on. I have to read 200 pages for feminist methods and topics and it's all about how women studies is this different field this field of compassion that puts people first and yet, there's this national crisis going on and we are reading textbooks? Not only that but there are social events, even one that am hosting tomorrow while there are people who haven't had clean water to drink for 3 days, and not even in some part of the world we don't think about but one or two states over. When will wake up out of this collective daze that is the status quo and move to do what we know is right?
13 comments:
You say that you are hosting a party and reading textbooks and ask when are "we" going to get out of this collective haze. Well what ARE you going to do? Are you going to stop talking about it and be about it?
whoever wrote that needs to kiss my beautiful caramel ass because they obviously don't know you moya beans. and it's still a valid, although pretty insensitively scribed point because all of that madness did happen and we are all in it together. i smirk and roll my eyes and get mad annoyed because we're all doing the best we can to talk AND be about it. but i digress.
i was really posting a comment because i wanted to congratulate you on being ANGRY!!!!!!!!!
i know this is a new, relatively experimental emotion for you and i'm just proud that you're feeling it and expressing it. keep up the great work.
and whoever posted that comment--lemmeatem! lemmeatem!
l'
(that says, "lemme at em, lemme at em". like on the honeymooners, ya know?)
punks jump up to get beat down
how you gonna post BS anonymously? at least be bold enough to attach your name to your nonsense.
i don't take too kindly to folks messing with my fam. just step.
Hey Moya,
I've returned to my quaint little blog spot and I'd thought I'd pay yours a visit.
Anonymous, hey I can't be mad, like Phoenix said, you don't know MB (sh*t I only kind of do), but if you did you'd realize that the only question that applies to her concerning "being about something" is "Damn Girl, what HAVEN'T you done?"
Anywho, I'm happy to hear that you've gotten right back into the scholarly groove, all 200 pages of it :-) I haven't been feeling very poetic lately, but when I do again, I look forward to another random comment from you to (hopefully) boost my confidence.
Take Care!
thanks ladies, for having my back. anonymous, i was critiquing myself when i made those comments. i live in this country too. I'm caught between really getting into the subject i love and putting it into practice in this situation.
Thought you guys might like to read this. Got it from a co-worker and felt I had to share it:
Dear Mr. Bush:
Any idea where all our helicopters are? It's Day 5 of Hurricane Katrina and thousands remain stranded in New Orleans and need to be airlifted. Where on earth could you have misplaced all our military choppers? Do you need help finding them? I once lost my car in a Sears parking lot. Man, was that a drag.
Also, any idea where all our national guard soldiers are? We could really use them right now for the type of thing they signed up to do like helping with national disasters. How come they weren't there to begin with?
Last Thursday I was in south Florida and sat outside while the eye of Hurricane Katrina passed over my head. It was only a Category 1 then but it was pretty nasty. Eleven people died and, as of today, there were still homes without power. That night the weatherman said this storm was on its way to New Orleans. That was Thursday! Did anybody tell you? I know you didn't want to interrupt your vacation and I know how you don't like to get bad news. Plus, you had fundraisers to go to and mothers of dead soldiers to ignore and smear. You sure showed her!
I especially like how, the day after the hurricane, instead of flying to Louisiana, you flew to San Diego to party with your business peeps. Don't let people criticize you for this -- after all, the hurricane was over and what the heck could you do, put your finger in the dike?
And don't listen to those who, in the coming days, will reveal how you specifically reduced the Army Corps of Engineers' budget for New Orleans this summer for the third year in a row. You just tell them that even if you hadn't cut the money to fix those levees, there weren't going to be any Army engineers to fix them anyway because you had a much more important construction job for them -- BUILDING DEMOCRACY IN IRAQ!
On Day 3, when you finally left your vacation home, I have to say I was moved by how you had your Air Force One pilot descend from the clouds as you flew over New Orleans so you could catch a quick look of the disaster. Hey, I know you couldn't stop and grab a bullhorn and stand on some rubble and act like a commander in chief. Been there done that.
There will be those who will try to politicize this tragedy and try to use it against you. Just have your people keep pointing that out. Respond to nothing. Even those pesky scientists who predicted this would happen because the water in the Gulf of Mexico is getting hotter and hotter making a storm like this inevitable. Ignore them and all their global warming Chicken Littles. There is nothing unusual about a hurricane that was so wide it would be like having one F-4 tornado that stretched from New York to Cleveland.
No, Mr. Bush, you just stay the course. It's not your fault that 30 percent of New Orleans lives in poverty or that tens of thousands had no transportation to get out of town. C'mon, they're black! I mean, it's not like this happened to Kennebunkport. Can you imagine leaving white people on their roofs for five days? Don't make me laugh! Race has nothing -- NOTHING -- to do with this!
You hang in there, Mr. Bush. Just try to find a few of our Army helicopters and send them there. Pretend the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast are near Tikrit.
Yours,
the American People
I'm happy to know what we are all pissed.
Singing ***That's what friends are for******
My comment did not intend any disrespect, particularly since I have friends and co-workers in the region. Rather, it was an attempt to get at some solutions to a problem that needs more than just questions. Too many "scholarly-activist" types spend countless hours pondering and criticizing the world of which they are a part without ever acting on it. Not to say that this is what you do, since I know of you only from your blog, as your friends pointed out. This was a challenge to all readers not to limit themselves to scholarly thinking and feeling and motivate them into some action. I appreciate the thoughtful response from the owner of the blog, much more than the "scholarly thugs'" cursing, threats of violence, and invitations to kiss someone's ass. They offered no hope for a solution and instead pride themselves on being rude in support of their friend. May I remind them that it's pointless to embark on a path of knowledge if you reject any critique of that which you believe to be true.
oh lord anonymous! cry me a river! you still ANONYMOUS!!! and
1) you don't know me so please don't assume anything about me either (scholar, activist, etc.)
2) i am not now, nor ever have declared myself to be any kinda thug (except a hispanic gangster and that was in the 6th grade, but i digress)
3) and...i don't think you were really criticizing anything. just asking questions, which i support (as i already said). it's true, plenty of people live in theory without ever daring to practice what they believe. but can you really assume anything, particularly about people you don't know? so just cut it out. it makes everything incredibly messy and stops the true communication/learning/exchange of knowledge from happening.
(you know that phrase, "don't assume. it makes an ASS of U and ME" (ASSUME). seriously. it ain't no joke. that's how folks stay ignant.)
the most productive thing any of us can do is critically question ourselvevs. what am "I" doing to make things better? it would have been so much more productive if you had just said, "i feel you girl. it's a hot shitty mess out there. this is what "I" am doing to improve things. maybe we can brainstorm together and help make things better". but would that have been too progressive/grassroots/makin' things happen/for real, sho nuf, community based/activism for you?
something to think about cuz i still ain't heard no solutions from you...
l'
p.s. beans, i'm so glad that you're nice (i really am too, you just can't tell with all this blogtalk) but you don't owe anyone an explanation of your anger (or any other feelings for that matter), particularly on your own damn blog. jeez! what's the world coming to?
:D
okay, okay. i did get a little crunk upon it in the bloggerie. please sidestep the personal attacks if you feel so inclined or offended.
i agree with delaine. she sho nuff righteous and right on. i'm sure we all are, and we're just figuring it out as we go along. so, everything she said, and then some more.
it's all g-double o-d good...well, not really the 'it' tha we're speaking of, but everything is in divine order, on time and for a reason. that much we know. that much we don't have any control over.
the question is, where are you choosing to go from here?
it's interesting, doc, that we find ourselves in a similar emotional position nearly four years later. i remeber this identical sentiment post-9/11. people balling (crying, in this context) out of control and trying to locate family and hosting vigils and all the rest, but at the end of the day we did not really have the time to process because we were expected to go about life as usual. even the professors with bleeding hearts weren't pushing back assignments or giving extensions/ exceptions. surely there were/are students who are hard workers and mean well and would do all the work in the world if they could just stop thinking about this life altering event, if they could just stop crying....
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