try this one too

http://www.gretnasucks.com/

Trying to Make It Home: New Orleans One Year After Katrina

by Bill Quigley, human rights lawyer and law professor at Loyola University New Orleans

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0822-31.htm

http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Surviving_Katrina_Barred_fromSuperdome_without_aid_struggling_t_0911.html

Living in Trinidad, an island just on the outskirts of the Caribbean island chain, an island that has dodged the hurricane bullet many times, watching Spike Lee's film had a special meaning for me. In Trinidad we believe that "God is a Trini" and that he will save us for all tragedy. We reaffirm it annually, as hurricanes and tropical storms hurtle directly toward us, only to veer off at the last minute to decimate some other island. In addition, I visited NO back in 1996 and fell in love with this city, even as I read articles about the crime the poverty et al. The two hours I spent last night were two of the most painful hours I have ever spent, for a number of reasons. Perhaps most important is that you see this tragedy happening in America, where we have been taught to believe that the power of the people is the most pervasive power. That is the legacy of the US's cultural imperialism to the rest of us. There is a paradigm shift that is hidden in this tragedy and that is that Americans are finally understanding the sometimes utter hopelessness of life, when your government cares abosolutely nothing about you.

In addition, in my country we deal with ethnic issues daily and I will say this, if Lee's film, and Lee's NO seems to be a black NO that is becuase it is a black story at the end of the day. New Orleans is a city in the US, but it is a primarily black city, and its agencies are agencies that we in third world countries recognise, their failures are failures we can identify with. The city is in the US, but it seems to be firmly third world in its origin.

Perhaps what is most glaring is the inequality of attention. Bush and his people have only paid lip service to NO and its tragedy while Guiliani is feted as a king and NY firefighters are treated as heros. There are no heros in New Orleans apparently, everyone is just looking for someone else to blame. 9/11 gets a memorial, and tapes are released every year to heighten the publicity surrounding the anniversary of the event. Where is the memorial for the people in NO who died, a memorial so that Americans "never forget". Yes it is a natural disaster, and yes these things will happen over and over and over again...but NO is a city of light, a city of romance, a city steeped in history. In Las Vegas they pay homage to the sinking, stinking city of Venice. Americans must do better for their own. Otherwise, trying to export democracy will only fail, becuase then you are no better than the rest of us.

I've only seen part I and I did not want to watch it ... I planned to wait for a rebroadcast, please, but I peeked and was riveted and sobered. Yes, I cried many times.

Lee has given not just "voice" but also respect to so many varied New Orleans residents.

This is a sober documentary which I think will stand up well in 20 years or 40 or 100 years.

I remain appalled that (particularly AFTER 09/11 when the likelihood of a mass casualty disaster appears increased -- think dirty bomb or utility disruption) FEMA was unable to provide/coordinate basic necessities (as many said, such things were provided more promptly after the TSUNAMI) ... and appeared to be unmoved by the suffering that was readily apparent on the TELEVISION news ... fucking clueless beancounters

Yes, some of it was racial ... just as "some" of poverty is racial ... mostly, those in power no longer give a damn.

anyhow -- see it! consider buying the DVD to watch along with others of George Bush's greatest fuckups.

If people didn't know about people being stopped at gunpoint from evacuating over those bridges, they need to start watching and listening to some different media. It's good we all read Salon and probably listen to NPR but this stuff has been on Democracy Now several times and not on Salon or NPR that I know of. It's been on some blogs.

There was a blog (sorry, can't remember where it was) about a convention of EMT providers in the French Quarter. They decided to wait it out in their hotel in the French Quarter since the French Quarter wasn't flooded. But they began to run out of water, so they called up and ordered some buses. The buses were commandeered at the city limits by the military and never arrived. So the EMT people (from out of town, with resources) decided to set out on foot and walk out of New Orleans.

They encountered the same treatment as the Superdome and Convention Center people who tried to leave New Orleans on foot. They were prevented at gunpoint from leaving on foot across the bridges out of New Orleans. They banded together for protection and helicopters buzzed them trying to disperse them and blow away their stuff. They sized up the situation and decided to camp out right in front of some CNN cameras because they could see it was the safest place...out of range of the TV cameras, people who were trying to get out of New Orleans were being shot at. Again, sorry, I forgot the URL but this was on a blog.

There were Congressional hearing about the bridges and how they wouldn't let people across them because the people in the suburbs were afraid of "looting." (People dying for lack of water were considered 'looting.') Jesus had a few things to say about the cup of water given in His name, but I digress. These Congressional hearings were replayed on Democracy Now.

I invite anyone who is just now hearing about the way people were prevented at gunpoint from getting out of New Orleans to expand the range of media you listen to by subscribing to a few podcasts such as Democracy Now and a few blogs other than Salon. Salon is only play-acting at being progressive most of the time, sorry, I wish that were different. My friends who see themselves as progressive and only listen to NPR don't know this stuff either. Sorry if I sound uppity and snobby. The media (even NPR and Salon) are not giving much of the story these days.