Dr. J. Alva Scruggs1804 Mayfair DriveTallahassee, Florida 32303
FRANKLY SPEAKINGLETTER TO EDITORGUEST WRITERCOLMUNIST
HURRICANE KATRENIA-THE BAD,THE GOOD AND THE UGLY; WHAT WILL AMERICA LEARN AND DO???
As bad as the disaster produced by hurricane Katrina was, there was the discovery of a even greater disaster that has been ongoing in New Orleans for centuries, that of: the human indifference racism, extreme distance between the wealthy and the poor, and he terrible injustice of industrial pollution of the New Orleans the poor “Bottoms” population. Randy Dotinga noted it like this. “Before Hurricane Katrina even reached New Orleans, scientists warned of a “toxic gumbo” that would fill the giant soup bowl of a city. . . . As the water recedes, a disgusting muck coats the surfaces of buildings and streets. . . ..” (Randy Dotinga , How Vile Is Katrina’s Toxic Goo? , Sep. 19, 2005 PT) John Heiloprin (AP), reported . “A new health risk other than that caused by the hurricane (Katrina) emerged Friday from the sediment of New Orleans — test results showing that diesel and fuel oils, (petroleum products as creosol, pesticides, benzene, dioxin, etc.) which can take years to break down, make up as much as a 10th of the weight of some sediment samples. . . . Earlier tests turned up dangerous amounts of sewage-related bacteria and lead in floodwaters and more than 100 chemical pollutants.” Heavier components of oil and gas have simply sank into the muck, along with chemicals of pesticides and herbicides. Then there’s the matter of how little will be told by such agencies as the EPA and FEMA about the full extent of water and soil contamination, at least publicly. Reporters are already complaining that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is resisting Freedom of Information Act requests for details about dangerous chemicals let loose by the storm and flood. The Center for Disease must study the health conditions of the “Bottom” dwellers as compared with the citizens of the rim. This seems to be a classic case of class extermination by “Social Darwinism.” It will help to understand what caused the magnitude of this disaster if we can picture the way this happened. First, we must picture that the city of New Orleans is built in a sort of a bowel located between the Mississippi River, the Gulf of Mexico, and The man made lake, Pontchartrain. The poor and Black in Large numbers lived in the “bottom” of this bowel while the well-to-do lived essentially on the rim. Industry was also located on the rim of the bowel . All the high lands waste from industry and the well-to-do either flowed to the bottom of the bowel as top ground flow or seeped to the bowel under ground. New Orleans always used a series of monster pumps running all the time to keep to levels of liquids in the bowel from drowning the population. However, the ground at the bottom absorbed as much as the ground would hold producing a toxic environment for all the poor and Blacks. who were unfortunate enough to live in the cities bottoms. This was the mud and muck that the hurricane mixed in the clean up after math of this disaster of Katrina Picture the common kitchen coffee maker. The coffee grounds are placed in the filter at the top and water is percolated over the coffee grounds which dissolves or leaches out the dark coffee into the pot located at the “Bottom”. Well New Orleans bottoms is the coffee pot where the liquid coffee is collected. But the difference here is that in New Orleans this coffee is the pollution and waste matter that people on the high ground/rim pour down through the ground water and the porous soil into o the lives and environment of the “Bottom” dwellers! This gives the quaint labels of, Cajuns, Getches, Bill Street entertainers a different negative and essentially racist label. They are the useful slaves, who are but a tolerated “Bottom” of society. Reports by Census block group, these New Orleaneans are living a slaves income being between 25% and 70% below twice the poverty threshold (Greater New Orleans Community Data Center, February 3, 2004, www.gnoccdc.org)! They are mainly Cajun, Black and for sure generally poor .These are the New Orleans citizens that were so carelessly left in the Super Dome to suffer. But this is not the face that the government will give the city of mystery and lights, the city of Bourbon Street and Cradle of the blues. God did not record that the cities of Sodom or Gomorra were ever rebuilt as or where they were. Why build a city in a hole and whit a society that left so many of their citizens in poverty and poison environment. Before America executes the profiteering off the rebuilding of New Orleans, we should agonize over, Where should New Orleans be rebuilt??”
BY: Dr. J. Alva ScruggsYour comments are appreciatedEmail; jscru5750@aol.comWebsite; http://franklyspeaking.info