So who watched Spike Lee's HBO special?

[LauraMax]

What an incredibly moving show (although way too long--I think I fell asleep about halfway through).

For those of us (me anyway) who didn't witness Katrina firsthand it was such a wake up call about how much those people suffered. I mean, it's one thing to hear about it on the news, but it sure is something else to hear people tell their stories from beginning to end. Those poor people whose relatives died & they had to leave them w/notes in their hands with their contact information. The one guy whose mother died, he had to evacuate & leave her, & when he came back 4 days later her body was still there, it just brought me to tears.

And the footage that wasn't shown on the news--dead bodies floating, the water levels in sections of NO & the utter destruction of so much--I didn't even realize that an entire 80% of the city was under water after the hurricane. Really heart-wrenching.

I did find it interesting though, that (at least in the half that I saw) nothing was mentioned about the criminal activities that went on in the superdome. There was a lot of discussion about the looting & lawlessness in the city itself, & how slow it took the government to respond to it, but I didn't hear a word about the attacks, rapes & other crimes that happened in the superdome.

I understand Spike's desire to generate sympathy for those folks, but if he wanted to make a documentary he shouldn't have whitewashed anything.

That being my only criticism, I think the documentary was extremely well done & hope to catch the second half sometime--hopefully they'll air it on a Sunday afternoon.

 

[Poochy]

Hey LauraMax ...

could not bring myself to watch any of it .. too painful .. we have friends and co-workers that lost EVERYTHING .. and I was sure Spike Lee's accounting of it would not show everything .. guess I kind felt he would concentrate more on the super dome and NO ..

but our friends who lived between 2 levies at the bottom of LA . . lost everything .. (they owned a boat machine shop .... could not get to their property for over a month .. and of course when allowed in had nothing left of 2 businesses .. and their home .. the crap the family had to take from the insurance companies was also a nightmare .. FEMA did not get to them to almost 3 - 4 weeks ..

Not to mention the devestation ALL over the Gulf region .. so many tragic stories ..

but the thing is .. that really bothers me .. is there were warnings .. my friends evacuated .. we have a place on the water in Florida .. we had to evacuate even that far away .. people were urged to leave .. and in NO people were MADE to leave .. we have another friend that lived in NO the police MADE him leave .. some of the reports acted as if they were not warned .. we were warned .. and they had it all over the news about water surges .. flooding . . and the more than likely event of the levies failing ..

our friend from NO .. when he did get back home .. he had people luting .. and robbing and stealing .. he said it was awful .. he felt like he was in a foreign country .. and the police tried to make him surrender his guns to protect his property ..which of course after some choice language .. they did NOT .. LOL .. but it was a devestating tragedy on so many fronts .. and the areas affected will not be the same for some time!!

this is not to mention damage done to Florida from pre-Katrina .. like Opal, Dennis, Wilma, Bonnie, Charlie .. there is so much damage in Florida .. and insurance companies are raising prices and dropping people .. it is sad!!

.. ok .. I am off my soap box now .. LOL .. I am so glad Ernesto got the wind knocked out of him . . maybe everyone will get off easy this year!!:7

Laura (aka Poochy).. keeping her fingers crossed ..

 

[MarleysMom]

Laura-I can only offer a little insight on why people did not leave. I live in TX on the gulf coast and we have had our fair share of hurricanes. I was part of the city that evacuated during hurricane Rita last year and sat on a back road across Texas for 9 hours to get to Austin which is only 2.5 hours away. I was considered "lucky" to only be stuck that long. 2.5 million people tried to run from the storm and the situation became out of control. Some people actually sat on the freeways for 24-48 hours in 100+ degrees temperate with little to no water, food or gas.

Since my long 28 years in the gulf coast, we have hurricanes all the time and while they do damage, no one expected the amount of damage Katrina caused.

The mandatory evacuation was made too late and a lot of people did not have transportation or places for their pets. Many people said they did not leave due to their pets and their property. A large amount of area hit by Katrina was a close to poverty area and for a lot of people they were afraid to leave their homes due to worry about theft, vandalism, etc. You also have an older generation who have been through many hurricanes and made it out just fine and were not afraid of Katrina.

The Super Dome and convention center were the shelters for those who tried to evacuate last minute and it turned out to be such a horrible situation for those people with the crime, conditions and lack of response from the government.

I understand it is hard for many to find rational reasoning behind why people stayed, every situation is different. The stories behind the survivors of Katrina are heart breaking.

My last research paper was on Katrina and after speaking with survivors and completing countless hours of research on Katrina, I feel so much could have been prevented if our country had been better prepared for such an event.

 

[LauraMax]

Yes, that's pretty much what they said in the show. Actually not much of it was about the superdome, it was more about individuals telling their stories.

Some spoke about the evacuation & the fact that not only did they not have the transportation, but they had no place to go. I mean, what do you do if you have no auto, no family anyplace else, & no money for a hotel? Are you supposed to walk out of the city & sleep in some field somewhere in the middle of a hurricane? It was all so sad.

And the people who spoke about trying to cross that bridge into another parish & meeting a line of police officers with guns at the ready--how utterly disgusting! It is just beyond me how our fellow Americans--fellow human beings for that matter--could treat people in dire need so callously. I wonder how--or if--those officers sleep at night. It really makes you question human nature.

 

[Poochy]

I guess my take on it is different b/c I live down here and have seen the robbing and the luting .. and had friends that suffered from the people that took advantage of a horrific tragedy to steal from their fellow neighbors .. the police and National Guard had to step in b/c of the out of control nature of the people committing horrible crimes .. not just stealing and luting .. but the stabbing, raping and murdering .. that is what is sad.

Then on the flip side there was an outpouring of neighbors helping neighbors .. raising money .. donating money and items taking time off from work to go help out .. I just wish more would be said about that ... GMA had some good coverage of the brighter side of the tragedy .. the fellowship and generosity ..

we had fundraisers .. and took money and items to the small parrish at the bottom of LA .. the scene was unbelievable .. but the people were amazing .. their stories all unique and all heartbreaking .. we met some amazing people with amazing resilience!

I pray there will never be another Hurricane like Katrina .. she was huge .. a freak of nature .. and merciless ..

And the traffic and gas shortages .. that is a problem .. they try to evacuate certain areas at certain times to prevent major trafic tie ups .. We were in the Keys and evacuated during a hurricane year before last.. had to stop whenever we saw gas available .. and the traffic was unbeleivable .. then got up to Tampa where more evacuations were happening different areas has specified times to leave .. and they were meeting w/the traffic from the lower end of the state .. and yes the traffic and the waiting and the gas shortage are horrible ..

and even in Ernesto .. people are more prepared now .. my friend in West Palm Beach said as early as Monday the gas stations were running out of gas .. but most everyone had their supplies .. and luckily for her .. her roof just got fixed last week from last years hurricanes ..

Guess as long as you live near the water you will always have the threat of hurricanes and the potential for floods and the potential for loss of life.

 

[MarleysMom]

One last thing...While completing my paper it became aware to me many people forgot about Alabama and Mississippi. Many people in those states suffered major losses including lives. People tend to only think about LA, due to the news coverage. I wish more media coverage was given to those states.

 

[LauraMax]

And I think the media coverage was on LA b/c of the total devastation in NO--more concentrated population, more low income population, huge tourist destination, etc.

Oh, & the other thing they showed was the NOPD looting a WalMart. It was just unbelievable. A newsteam actually caught them on film & asked one policewoman what she was doing as she walked out of the WalMart w/a stack of CDs, & she said "I'm doing my job." HUH?

 

[BayouGal]

Hi,

I am a Hurricane Katrina transplant now living in the Dallas area. I lost everything in the Hurricane, but have a different perspective on things as I lived in a suburb to the east of the city. I evacuated prior to the storm and I of course have a tremendous amount of sympathy for those who were too poor and had no way to evacuate. I understand Spike Lee's point in trying to expose how poor the federal government's response was in trying to respond to the disaster.

I could go on and on about what was right and wrong in the documentary, but I will limit my remarks to a few comments. My understanding is that the level of violence in the Superdome was exaggerated. My former supervisor's wife is a Colonel in the LA National Guard and she was there. However, there was definitely other violence going on in the city. I have another friend who was a nurse at Charity Hospital and she is still unable to return to the city to this day because of the horrific memories. She and the other nurses had to give each other IV's to stay hydrated and when they were finally being rescued, they were under fire from snipers in the area. She unfortunately witnessed one of the snipers being shot and falling to his death. So, of course, there are many stories to be told.

I thought that the best portions of the documentary were the individuals who described what it was like to return to their homes. This is probably because I experienced the same thing myself. Overall, I think that there are many aspects to the culture and geopraphy of the city that many people would need to understand that might explain how events transpired as they did. But, as I said, I could probably go on all day.....

Sandra S.

 

[Chi-Town]

Spike Lee did a good job and it was the individual stories that will stay with me. It is just a sad shame, that we live in a country that is so plentiful, that we could not get down there sooner to quash much chaos and save mores lives. Katrina will be looked upon as the greatest American disaster, and will be a toll this November at the polls for the Republicans. I, too, have family members that lost EVERYTHING, and I have seen the damage in NO first hand. It is nothing like the TV, it is looks like a nuclear bomb hit that place, and this is one year later. And the ppl down there are so angry at the government, and rightly so, that they definately have nothing good to say about Bush, Blanco and even Nagin. And how Nagin, was re-elected is unbelievable....I could just go on about him.....