Katrina - the survivors stories

There's been some discussion on my lists about how to corroborate eyewitness accounts of the Katrina survivors. As someone pointed out, who better to believe? There's a ring of truth to these accounts that you don't get, even from our newly invigorated MSM. Old habits die hard and until now, the MSM has been cheerleading for this administration from day one. I'll take a citizen journalist any day of the week. They're not protecting their jobs, they're just telling their stories.

I don't want to excerpt this post from two paramedics who got stuck in NOLA while attending a conference in the French Quarter, because you really have to read the whole thing to get the big picture, but I'll give a few key grafs and urge you to read the rest yourself.

Our little encampment began to blossom. Someone stole a water delivery truck and brought it up to us. Let's hear it for looting! A mile or so down the freeway, an army truck lost a couple of pallets of C-rations on a tight turn. We ferried the food back to our camp in shopping carts. Now secure with the two necessities, food and water; cooperation, community, and creativity flowered.

We organized a clean up and hung garbage bags from the rebar poles. We made beds from wood pallets and cardboard. We designated a storm drain as the bathroom and the kids built an elaborate enclosure for privacy out of plastic, broken umbrellas, and other scraps. We even organized a food recycling system where individuals could swap out parts of C-rations (applesauce for babies and candies for kids!).

This was a process we saw repeatedly in the aftermath of Katrina. When individuals had to fight to find food or water, it meant looking out for yourself only. You had to do whatever it took to find water for your kids or food for your parents. When these basic needs were met, people began to look out for each other, working together and constructing a community.

If the relief organizations had saturated the City with food and water in the first 2 or 3 days, the desperation, the frustration and the ugliness would not have set in.

Flush with the necessities, we offered food and water to passing families and individuals. Many decided to stay and join us. Our encampment grew to 80 or 90 people.

They were on a highway median. They weren't in the way but they were visible. The press began to report on them. Our government, broke up their camp, consficated their food and water and chased them back into the city at gunpoint.

It wasn't because they cared about their safety. It was because they took care of their own safety and made the government look bad. Think about that next time someone tells you it was the victims own fault.