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September 21, 2005
Katrina The Great
Katrina the Great
In the midst of everything else that’s being said and done about Katrina,
I am quite sure no one else (i.e., besides me) has jumped to the unlikely
conclusion that hurricane Katrina was “great.” But since I couldn’t
possibly read all of the post-storm commentary, there may well be someone
out there who likewise took this rather peculiar leap. I say that Katrina
was great by inserting a line of demarcation between that which is great
and that which is good. Something great (i.e., human or non-human
phenomenon) can be both great and good, but this connection holds no
certainly, no automatic linkage. Greatness likewise assumes no negative
quality although this, too, can be an adjunct. Rather I conclude that
Katrina was great because of the storm’s far-reaching impact coupled with
its capacity to affect all manner of human thoughts, reflections, regrets,
insinuations, accusations, courage, anticipations, frustrations, nobility,
cowardice, exploitation, sacrifice and caring. Right off the bat it
should be obvious that this list: a) includes contradictions and b) is
anything but exhaustive.
Everyday some new wrinkle is revealed, some new corner of the human
inclination to do something related to Katrina that is exceptionally
positive or unbelievably stupid. Only greatness can prompt such a
instantaneous spectrum of behaviour. Just last night (Monday, 9-19-05) I
listened to 3 hours of the concert from Lincoln Center, aptly and cleverly
called (something like) Concert for the Higher Ground. Laurence Fishburne
waxed poetic with glimpses of New Orleans’ history of harbouring
everything from an auction bloc for imported Africans (aka slaves) to this
country’s first opera house with its segregated (of course) section for
slaves in attendance. Scholars, artisans and rogues (viz., New Orleans as
the original home of the American Mafia). The concert music was broadly
based and overall of an excellent quality. Soul and relevance-searching
Bill Cosby rambled endlessly with a directionless tribute to “the people”
-- the irony being these same “people” were the subject of his widely
touted under class indictment. Shakespeare tells us that “Conscience doth
make cowards of us all.” How true.
Thankfully, a sane, sensible and seriously people-attuned Harry Belafonte
provided a more pointed insight coupled with a $200,00 donation from the
Vanguard Foundation of which he and Danny glover are an important part.
As if I didn’t already have a full plate with less than half-finished
projects and half-baked plans, I find myself (additionally) trying to put
spiritual, emotional, psychological and yes, practical “arms” around
Katrina and find myself failing on all counts. But the beauty of the
storm’s greatness is that Katrina defies that kind of encirclement. In
the literal scientific sense, the storm could not be controlled. The
power was beyond human means to be controlled. And, at this moment, the
so called aftermath is much more than ordinary math. That, too, is
characteristic of greatness. I am thus left with the partial satisfaction
of sharing this with you and…sending another $50.00 to the Episcopal
Relief and Development Fund. That’s hardly an “answer” but it’ll carry me
over until Katrina starts unsettling me again.
Posted by mbowen at 07:23 AM | Comments (0)
September 15, 2005
Cornel West on Katrina
Cornel West on Katrina
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Cornel West, co-chair of The Tikkun Community and professor of African
American Studies, recently spoke out about the larger meaning of Katrina
from the standpoint of African Americans.
Katrina
Summarizing an interview with Professor Cornel West
It takes something as big as Hurricane Katrina and the misery we saw among
the poor black people of New Orleans to get America to focus on race and
poverty. It happens about once every 30 or 40 years.
What we saw unfold in the days after the hurricane was the most naked
manifestation of conservative social policy towards the poor, where the
message for decades has been: 'You are on your own'. Well, they really
were on their own for five days in that Superdome, and it was Darwinism in
action - the survival of the fittest.
People said: 'It looks like something out of the Third World.' Well, New
Orleans was Third World long before the hurricane.
It's not just Katrina, it's povertina. People were quick to call them
refugees because they looked as if they were from another country. They
are. Exiles in America. Their humanity had been rendered invisible so they
were never given high priority when the well-to-do got out and the
helicopters came for the few. Almost everyone stuck on rooftops, in the
shelters, and dying by the side of the road was poor black.
In the end George Bush has to take responsibility. When [the rapper] Kanye
West said the President does not care about black people, he was right,
although the effects of his policies are different from what goes on in
his soul. You have to distinguish between a racist intent and the racist
consequences of his policies.
Bush is still a 'frat boy', making jokes and trying to please everyone
while the Neanderthals behind him push him more to the right.
Poverty has increased for the last four or five years.
A million more Americans became poor last year, even as the super-wealthy
became much richer. So where is the trickle-down, the equality of
opportunity? Healthcare and education and the social safety net being
ripped away - and that flawed structure was nowhere more evident than in a
place such as New Orleans, 68 per cent black. The average adult income in
some parishes of the city is under $8,000 (£4,350) a year. The average
national income is $33,000, though for African- Americans it is about
$24,000. It has one of the highest city murder rates in the US. From slave
ships to the Superdome was not that big a journey.
New Orleans has always been a city that lived on the edge. The white blues
man himself, Tennessee Williams, had it down in A Streetcar Named Desire -
with Elysian Fields and cemeteries and the quest for paradise. When you
live so close to death, behind the levees, you live more intensely,
sexually, gastronomically, psychologically. Louis Armstrong came out of
that unbelievable cultural breakthrough unprecedented in the history of
American civilization. The rural blues, the urban jazz. It is the
tragi-comic lyricism that gives you the courage to get through the darkest
storm.
Charlie Parker would have killed somebody if he had not blown his horn.
The history of black people in America is one of unbelievable resilience
in the face of crushing white supremacist powers.
This kind of dignity in your struggle cuts both ways, though, because it
does not mobilize a collective uprising against the elites. That was the
Black Panther movement. You probably need both. There would have been no
Panthers without jazz. If I had been of Martin Luther King's generation I
would never have gone to Harvard or Princeton.
They shot brother Martin dead like a dog in 1968 when the mobilization of
the black poor was just getting started. At least one of his surviving
legacies was the quadrupling in the size of the black middle class. But
Oprah [Winfrey] the billionaire and the black judges and chief executives
and movie stars do not mean equality, or even equality of opportunity yet.
Black faces in high places does not mean racism is over.
Condoleezza Rice has sold her soul.
Now the black bourgeoisie have an even heavier obligation to fight for the
33 per cent of black children living in poverty - and to alleviate the
spiritual crisis of hopelessness among young black men.
Bush talks about God, but he has forgotten the point of prophetic
Christianity is compassion and justice for those who have least. Hip-hop
has the anger that comes out of post-industrial, free-market America, but
it lacks the progressiveness that produces organizations that will
threaten the status quo. There has not been a giant since King, someone
prepared to die and create an insurgency where many are prepared to die to
upset the corporate elite. The Democrats are spineless.
There is the danger of nihilism and in the Superdome around the fourth
day, there it was - husbands held at gunpoint while their wives were
raped, someone stomped to death, people throwing themselves off the
mezzanine floor, dozens of bodies.
It was a war of all against all - 'you're on your own' - in the center of
the American empire. But now that the aid is pouring in, vital as it is,
do not confuse charity with justice. I'm not asking for a revolution, I am
asking for reform. A Marshall Plan for the South could be the first step.
· Dr Cornel West is professor of African American studies and~ at
Princeton University. His great grandfather was a slave. He is a rap
artist and appeared as Counsellor West in Matrix Reloaded and Matrix
Revolutions.
Interview by Joanna Walters, in Princeton, New Jersey
Posted by mbowen at 11:38 PM | Comments (0)
Foreign Countries
Foreign countries have responded generously to Hurricane Katrina. Donor
nations and their contribution:
Country Support
Afghanistan $100,000
Armenia $100,000
Australia $7.6 million
Azerbaijan $500,000
Bahamas $50,000
Bahrain $5 million
Bangladesh $1 million
Belgium Medical/logistics teams
Canada 2 helicopters, 32-person rescue team, evacuation flights, medical
supplies
China $5.1 million cash and relief supplies
Djibouti $50,000
Finland Search-and-rescue team; 3 logistics specialists
France Tents, tarps, MREs, water treatment supplies, cleaning equipment
Gabon $500,000
Georgia $50,000
Germany MREs, high speed pumps, forensic experts
Greece 2 cruise ships
India $5 million
Iraq $1,000,000 cash
Ireland $1,000,000 cash
Country Support
Israel Tents, first-aid kits, baby formula
Italy Generators, water pumps/purifiers, tents, med supplies
Japan $200,000 cash and $844,000 in relief supplies, $1.5 million in
private donations.
Kuwait $400 million in oil, $100 million cash
Maldives $25,000 cash
Mexico Transport vehicles, 1 helicopter, ambulance and medical teams.
Mongolia $50,000 cash
Nepal $25,000 cash
New Zealand $1.4 million cash, search and rescue teams
Nigeria $1 million cash
Norway $1.54 million in relief supplies
Qatar $100 million cash
Republic of Korea $30 million cash and in-kind donations
Saudi Arabia $5 million from Aramco, $250,000 from Agfund
Singapore 3 helicopters
Sri Lanka $25,000 cash
Taiwan $2 million cash, medical supplies
Thailand Forensic experts, blankets and food
UAE $100 million cash
UK MREs
Venezuela Up to $1 million
Source: State Department
Posted by mbowen at 06:39 PM | Comments (0)
September 13, 2005
It's Gonna Be All Good
i am aware of the fact that perhaps much of what i've been sharing re the
impact of katrina has either been reportorial (just the facts, m'am) or of
a complaining nature. i can't take back what's said. in reality my focus
is twofold: to help/assist when and where i can and to do something of a
creative nature. in respect to the latter, i am thinking about the
tremendous opportunity there is for meaningful artistic outpourings. NEW
music, photography, plays, short stories, poetry, films,
novels..........even operas, spirituals, one man/one woman monologues.
the slate begs to be filled with creative, uplifting things. i think i
mentioned earlier having finished one short poem; and i anticipate other
"projects."
Posted by mbowen at 03:06 PM | Comments (0)
September 11, 2005
New And Old Nine Eleven
Posted by mbowen at 04:54 PM | Comments (0)
September 09, 2005
Visiting the Dream Center
i stopped at target late this afternoon and picked up quite a load of diapers, baby powder and baby oil. since it was right in the middle of rush hour, i took surface streets to the center. it's still abuzz with activity. they have more than enough clothing for adults. the need is baby things: clothes, wipes, diapers, powder, etc. the lady told me there are 200 families being housed. the radio says 100. anyway, i asked what one can do to meet the folks. she gave a big smile and said, "come to church." what i learned is that the newly arrived will attend service with the host folks of dream center. services are thursday evenings at 7pm and sunday at 10am. location: angelus temple in echo park. you may recall that's the headquarters for the foursquare international church founded by amee semple mac pherson............
from there i went to lacma and caught part of a free friday night jazz set. nice change of pace. then to popeye's at la brea and jeffereson and then to the pad.
now, tis time for some shakespearean reading and then, early zonk tiempo.
Posted by mbowen at 10:00 PM | Comments (0)
September 03, 2005
Katrina Update
for all intents and purposes, the guys at this morning's men's club
meeting all wanted to talk about hurricane relief. we voted to send $2000
-- most likely through the Episcopal relief and development fund. we'll
also make an effort to gather clothing items during the coming week. i'll
make an announcement during tomorrow's service challenging other parish
organizations to do something as well.
i mentioned that i would be going to smart and final this afternoon to get
some diapers and other goods. one member (who is on less than a fixed
retirement income) gave me $10.00 cash and another wrote a check to me for
$100.00. from church i went to the KRST unity center at 78th place and
western and introduced myself to the women in charge. they told me a
truck had left earlier in the day to pick up stuff from some other sites.
another truck will be back early in the week for another pick up. if i
don't get back there today, i'll certainly do so tomorrow.
will keep u posted.
(talked to sylvia this morning.)
[i heard that cuba has offered to send medical
personnel...........hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm]
Posted by mbowen at 01:59 PM | Comments (0)
September 01, 2005
Katrina…It’s a Black Thing
For more reasons than I will explore here, I hate the fact that this country is fighting a losing war in Iraq. America never should have mounted the invasion (Yes…Bush lied then and now his mendacity of yesterday is overshadowed only by his contemporary utter stupidity. That’s another story for another time.) One of the things I have reflected on over these seemingly endless months of military misadventures is what it must be like to live in a place like Baghdad, a city under siege. And when the tsunami hit Indonesia I wondered about the power and unforgiving “nature of nature.” Now, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and parts of Florida are experiencing unprecedented disaster as a direct result of Hurricane Katrina. (On an irrelevant, I have only met 2 females with that name. Both were very gentle women to a fault. So much for a name.) Although I have backed away from much of my 60s and 70s thinking about race in general and Black people in particular, I have never moved away from my horror over the ever-downward spiralling nature of poverty as a tenacious reality and destitute human beings…of every color and kind.
Because my television viewing is less than minimal (if that’s possible) I initially received what I learned about the storm via radio, the newspaper and the internet. All the time I knew that the stores about misery, dislocation, isolation, etc. were unquestionably the stories of Black people. One reporter said that being in New Orleans was like being in a Third World country! How ironically and unintentionally accurate. Looking at photos of people wading through varying levels of water was exactly like seeing pictures of African villages. Sparse belonging, empty expressions, confusion…hopefulness, anticipation all combined.
When I first heard about the looting, my reaction was automatic and typically American: “Oh, that’s terrible!” And I remain convinced that looting ain’t cool, but “terrible?” Once again it daughter Debbie to the rescue. Without extending a stamp of approval, she queried, “What would we do [under those circumstances]?” No money, no credit card, no food. Oh, I certainly know what the moralists would intone about right being right and wrong being wrong no matter what. But when those proclamations are touted one is probably warm, well fed and most likely gainfully employed. One is not scrambling around in the midst of unprecedented chaos. Again, another story. BUT…shooting at helicopters deployed to rescue people from the Astrodome? That’s not revolutionary or frustration-initiated or evening an score from historical misuse, abuse or slavery. That is just plain STUPID. (Yes, Mr. President, you do indeed have Black counterparts! Even if humans aren’t created equal, they get that way after a while.)
But there’s another dimension here. It has to do with something I’ve been thinking about recently having to do with Black male leadership. Or Black men in general. The facts speak for themselves so I note simply: P. Diddy now simply (a fitting word) wants to be know as Diddy; Jesse is in Venezuela noting that the President should condemn (ever-foolish) Pat Robertson; local Nation of Islam leader Tony Muhammad tells an L.A. cop, “Make me!” and although we still don’t have all of the so-called fact, got his butt whipped; and Ludacris continues “Pimpin’ All Over the World.” Whew! Yielding to a tendency to ask the wrong question, I ask, where are the outcries to do something positive?…like mount a campaign to send money or organize a caravan or send food or clothing to those whose total existence has been uprooted by mindless Katrina? All storms are that way. Why no Black politicians, religious leaders, civic mouthpieces, ad nauseum taking the lead, filling the void? Where is the real leadership when it is so desperately needed? The answer is an easy one: Waiting on the sidelines for white folks to mess up! Waiting for white folks to “Make me!”
I always entertain the prospect that there is something wrong with my own picture – the one that I see or the one that I draw; that I am missing something or, seeing all that needs to be seen, that I place an emphasis where it doesn’t belong. Could be. In the meantime I pray for those who are in those unbelievably water-logged places. Yes, and I likewise pray for the shooters and the looters too albeit that the shooters should be jailed with all deliberate haste.
Finally, I still my own restless soul at times like this by doing another thing I have no reluctance to do: SEND MONEY! I’ve written checks for the Episcopal Relief and Development Fund and the Red Cross. And when I do a closer-to home family financial thing, I’ll gulp down a Colt 45!
Life is unpredictable, often (as now) tragic; but ever…good.
Cheers, beers, fewer fears (Guess who’s still in charge?)
Posted by mbowen at 11:18 AM | Comments (0)