The horror that is New Orleans will be a long time abating. Even a week later we are unable to get even an estimate of a death toll. This is strange since in other disasters the lead story in the next day's paper is usually X thousands die in tsunami/earthquake/train wreck/ferry sinking. Anyway.
Of the people that died in New Orleans, there must have been a number of children.
They did not need to die. This is a shame that we will live with for a very, very long time. They were disproportionately black. The true story of Charity Hospital, one of the inner city hospitals that serve the poor that exist in any large, American city (Grady in Atlanta, Boston City, D.C. General (until it closed), etc.), has yet to be told. It will be distressing in the extreme.
The leaders of our country don't give a damn about children.
What about the survivors, are plans being made to get them into schools at the earliest possible time?
If not, why not? School for these children would be the single, best, stabilizing factor. It would give them a sense of continuity and it would let their parents and the rest of us know that our Country cares.
I doubt this will happen. There were no plans for it. There were no plans for anything. If reports are to believed, the flooding of New Orleans was the result of a 300 foot breach in levees that stretched for miles. All our government knows how to do is kill in Iraq(the link is from 2003).
The people of America have rallied many times to disaster. At this point, I do not consider 9/11 a disaster. I consider the devastation of the Gulf Coast by Katrina a disaster, particularly for children.
Several days ago I posted information on the American Red Cross. Yesterday I learned that they were forbidden to enter New Orleans by our government. I am sorry, but their explanations for why they were not allowed in ring hollow. If you ever thought before that we didn't live in an upside down world, you better change your thinking quick.
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