One hundred thousand humans, left behind like animals, to fend for themselves. For days they suffered, then were moved from dome to dome, from refuse-filled refuge to makeshift refugee camp. Those are the poor, the uninsured, the uneducated, those who left little behind. Those are the ones we say have been forgotten by the administration.
But are we not forgetting the bulk of the evacuees ? The media, the blogs, all speak of those trapped in the city. It is easy to forget that over half a million humans have been displaced by this shameful act of god. In a way, they're lucky: they've not suffered as much from the administration's incompetence. But they've still lost everything.
In the next few days, efforts will focus on the basics - and soon, most victims, will be fed and lodged. Those with friends and families will go to them; those with money will stay in hotels; the rest will end up in shelters. America is going to have over one hundred thousand people staying in refugee camps for a long time. Hundreds of thousands more are going to be staying elsewhere.
Like all refugee camps, these will be breeding grounds for violence. Today, every city offers up space for refugees. In a few weeks, when the rich quarters of New Orleans have begun to reopen for business, how much will Houston still care for its twenty-five thousand refugees, still without a rented home to return to ?
Like all refugee camps, these will concentrate more poverty than America can stomach to see. The camps will be broken down, the refugees will be given a few weeks of federal aid and sent on their way. It will be a great scattering of the poor.
Shame on you, god, for acting this way !