Watched Spike Lee's "If God Is Willing And Da Creek Don't Rise" last night, his follow-up to his 2005 masterpiece "When The Levees Broke."
Great documentary. And heart-breaking.
Despite progress, New Orleans is still hurting, and much of the pain seems to be coming from the recovery effort. It seems that the powers that be took the opportunity of the disaster to practice some "Shock Doctrine" political and economic theory in the city.
Charity Hospital, once the largest hospital in the country dedicated to providing health care to the poor, is being closed in favor of development of a huge, for-profit health-care complex. Using eminent domain, the state is seizing an entire neighborhood and tearing it down to clear the way for the complex.
The schools, which, before the storm, were dismal, are even worse. The difference is they are being run by for-profit corporations. The drop-out rate is astronomical, as is the crime rate among young people.
Housing is still a problem. The public housing projects, many of which came through the storm unscathed, have been torn down for new development.
The police department is a mess, a cesspool of corruption and brutality.
The mental-health system is broken.
It goes on and on.
The more interesting thing was the political game that got played on New Orleans. If you'll recall, the Mississippi Gulf Coast was also hit hard by Katrina and has recovered nicely. There's a reason for that. Money intended for recovery was funneled to Mississippi, represented by well-connected Republicans, Gov. Haley Barbour, former chair of the Republican National Committee, and Sen. Trent Lott.
Much of that money went to rebuild casinos and erect condos on the shore. At one point in the documentary, a Mississippi activist points out that in the shadow of the gleaming condos, a library still remains in shambles. Kind of sums up our culture.
The fall-out? Louisiana elected, as governor, the golden boy of the GOP, Bobby Jindal. Wwhat has he done? Among other things, he ordered the closure of the only in-patient mental health facility in New Orleans -- at a time when the city is experiencing a mental-health crisis.
What do we do then?
Who knows?
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