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Sep. 1st, 2005 10:09 amI am utterly heartbroken by the devastation of New Orleans. Although I have no close family there any more, I have deep roots there, and it is, unreservedly, my favorite city in all the world. My mother's parents came from New Orleans--the Badeauxs originally hailed from Hammond, La., the Formans from New Orleans. My favorite picture of my grandmother is of her as a teenager, posing on the porch of their house on Octavia Street with her sister. My grandmother's family has been interred in our family tomb in Metairie Cemetery almost since the Civil War, and I had been planning a trip there this fall with my mother's ashes. Now I am grateful that I waited, because I have no idea whether that tomb is even still standing.
They're estimating there could be as many as 100,000 refugees in Houston now, and if New Orleans remains uninhabitable for months it seems certain that number will grow. The hotels here are full, but people are quickly running out of money and finding themselves suddenly homeless and living on the street with their families and pets. The Vietnamese community here has rallied to find host families for 500 displaced Vietnamese refugees ("Nguyen, the mother of two, was at the market to pick up some groceries. She ended up taking home the entire 11-member Tran family instead.") Churches and organizations all over town are providing free meals to refugees and their pets. School districts here are preparing to accept masses of newly homeless refugee children and Rice University and TSU are opening their doors to displaced college students from Louisiana.
The first refugees from the Superdome arrived at the Astrodome last night, but this morning brought the sad news that evacuation efforts have been interrupted because of gunfire and arson around the Superdome. The stories coming out of New Orleans are of horrors beyond imagining. Meanwhile, refugees here are being turned away from the Astrodome, forced to find space at other shelters around the city. And people continue to pour into the city, by any means necessary, hoping to find shelter and safety.
I am sad, and I am angry. Angry at the Bush Administration's criminal lack of foresight and belated reaction to a disaster that has been predicted for a long time. The dissolution of FEMA in favor of so-called "Homeland Security" and the diversion of resources to the war in Iraq have taken my disgust for this administration to new heights.
For those of you who want to help and are looking for alternatives to the Red Cross, here are some other organizations that are reaching out to help:
( National Organizations )
( Local Houston-area Organizations )
They're estimating there could be as many as 100,000 refugees in Houston now, and if New Orleans remains uninhabitable for months it seems certain that number will grow. The hotels here are full, but people are quickly running out of money and finding themselves suddenly homeless and living on the street with their families and pets. The Vietnamese community here has rallied to find host families for 500 displaced Vietnamese refugees ("Nguyen, the mother of two, was at the market to pick up some groceries. She ended up taking home the entire 11-member Tran family instead.") Churches and organizations all over town are providing free meals to refugees and their pets. School districts here are preparing to accept masses of newly homeless refugee children and Rice University and TSU are opening their doors to displaced college students from Louisiana.
The first refugees from the Superdome arrived at the Astrodome last night, but this morning brought the sad news that evacuation efforts have been interrupted because of gunfire and arson around the Superdome. The stories coming out of New Orleans are of horrors beyond imagining. Meanwhile, refugees here are being turned away from the Astrodome, forced to find space at other shelters around the city. And people continue to pour into the city, by any means necessary, hoping to find shelter and safety.
I am sad, and I am angry. Angry at the Bush Administration's criminal lack of foresight and belated reaction to a disaster that has been predicted for a long time. The dissolution of FEMA in favor of so-called "Homeland Security" and the diversion of resources to the war in Iraq have taken my disgust for this administration to new heights.
For those of you who want to help and are looking for alternatives to the Red Cross, here are some other organizations that are reaching out to help:
( National Organizations )
( Local Houston-area Organizations )
