Saturday, September 10, 2005

On Being Invisible And Feeling Ignored...

No Longer Invisible
By Eugene Robinson

NEW ORLEANS -- Beside the interstate leading into this abandoned city there's a self-storage warehouse whose flimsy walls were peeled away by the hurricane. The contents are almost undisturbed, stacked neatly in their exposed compartments. You can see all the inconvenient things that people stowed out of sight and out of mind.

That's what this unreal disaster did to New Orleans and the whole country. Things we tried to tuck away and forget about are suddenly out there for the world to see. As a nation we can deal with them or not, but we no longer have the option of pretending they don't exist.

Mr. Robinson makes his case that poor people in particular and black people in general are ignored. New Orleans ignored them? Louisiana ignored them? The Federal government ignored them? Naming names would be too much of a stretch?

If they were feeling so ignored why did they flock to New Orleans and continue to live there? Living in New Orleans was so intolerable, yet neither you nor anyone else of your political persuasion seemed to be able to do a damn thing about it. Still can't tell us the names of who let you down though. Still can't say one...single...bad word about the Democrats because poor folk have to stick with the Democrats. What have the Democrats being doing for you if you feel so invisible and ignored? They are your party of choice, yet you say you aren't getting your fair share, so one of two things should happen here, Mr. Robinson; you can go on feeling this way or switch to a political organization that can address these feelings, because it sure seems you're not happy with the status quo.


The worst possible storm that nature could have devised hit one of the worst possible place's to live. These "ignored" folks who lost property will be getting the money to rebuild, free of charge, and we've been doing that for quite some time now. Can't afford private homeowners insurance? Get wiped out by a hurricane? Here's up to $250,000 to rebuild, and sorry we've been ignoring you. Oh, your city is a moneymaking tourist attraction but you've been on once kind of public benefit or another most of your life? Here's more public benefits, and sorry again for ignoring you.

Of course low income housing could and should be improved. New Orleans could have provided more funds for this and did not, so sorry your Democratic Mayor ignored you. There could have been more attention given to virtually all of your problems, but sorry your Democratic Governor made you feel invisible.


What was your point again, Mr. Robinson? That poor people are ignored. In some instances you're quite right so I'd suggest you take that up with the local authorities and see what their answers might be. And maybe someday when you mature you'll understand that all peoples who sit back and wait for things to happen...well, they sometimes DO get ignored. Not everybody can be rich, not everybody can be even well-to-do, but everybody can do the best they can instead of complaining that nobody loves me. Can you honestly look me in the eye and say you've done the best you can, and all of these poor people have done the best they can, and nothing has changed?

Because you know what? If things go back to the way they were, you're going to get the same results . Societies in general can be blind to people who don't contribute, and if THAT is what you're speaking about then we agree. If you're asking for something for nothing just so you won't be poor, then I'm afraid you'll have to go to Europe for that.

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