Living and dying, hand to mouth

The ugliest thread that has woven its way through the narrative on Katrina has been the meme that the survivors were at fault for not leaving the city when they were told to evacuate. The common theme was they're too lazy to care, too stupid to act in their own best interests and they deserved what happened to them. Obviously these smug pundits have never been poor and I wish that every person who made those pronouncements was forced to live on a minimum wage job for at least a year because I'd bet they're the same people that don't support a raise in those wages.

The WaPo tells the survivors' story today, in their own words.

"Me and my wife, we were living paycheck to paycheck, like most everybody else in New Orleans," Eric Dunbar, 54, said Saturday. "I don't own a car. Me and my wife, we travel by bus, public transportation." He was rolling two quarters around in his hand, short 50 cents to make a long-distance call to his son.

"I only work part time at a janitorial service," Jones said. "I make $6.00 an hour. If I didn't have my mama, I'd be one of those victims still trapped in New Orleans." She works 17 hours a week.

"I had $80 when I got out of New Orleans," Jones said. "And I wouldn't have had that if payday hadn't been that Friday. Eighty dollars with two children."

Lavalais, who formerly lived in the 10th Ward, said that when the hurricane struck she had a total of $94 in the bank, which constituted her life savings. "And I couldn't even get to that," she said. "So thank goodness I had some gas in my car."

Nobody chooses to live in poverty but those who live one miserably inadequate minimum wage paycheck from the street, the choice isn't between the Ramada and the Comfort Inn. It's between taking a chance and staying in the home with the few meager possessions you worked so hard to obtain, or to willingly take your $100 of life savings and take a chance on becoming permanently homeless in some strange place. Not much of choice.