NYT: A beautiful paen to the dead city from Anne Rice.

[NNadir]

"WHAT do people really know about New Orleans?

Do they take away with them an awareness that it has always been not only a great white metropolis but also a great black city, a city where African-Americans have come together again and again to form the strongest African-American culture in the land?

The first literary magazine ever published in Louisiana was the work of black men, French-speaking poets and writers who brought together their work in three issues of a little book called L'Album Littéraire. That was in the 1840's, and by that time the city had a prosperous class of free black artisans, sculptors, businessmen, property owners, skilled laborers in all fields...

... to my country I want to say this: During this crisis you failed us. You looked down on us; you dismissed our victims; you dismissed us. You want our Jazz Fest, you want our Mardi Gras, you want our cooking and our music. Then when you saw us in real trouble, when you saw a tiny minority preying on the weak among us, you called us "Sin City," and turned your backs.

Well, we are a lot more than all that. And though we may seem the most exotic, the most atmospheric and, at times, the most downtrodden part of this land, we are still part of it. We are Americans. We are you."

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/04/opinion/04rice.html?pagewanted=1

[Burried News]

1. The pieces by Brooks and Rich are at the same link and worth

the read.

From Rich:
"Most of all, we're going to have to face the reality that with this disaster, the administration has again increased our vulnerability to the terrorists we were supposed to be fighting after 9/11. As Richard Clarke, the former counterterrorism czar, pointed out to The Washington Post last week in talking about the fallout from the war in Iraq, there have been twice as many terrorist attacks outside Iraq in the three years after 9/11 than in the three years before. Now, thanks to Mr. Bush's variously incompetent, diffident and hubristic mismanagement of the attack by Katrina, he has sent the entire world a simple and unambiguous message: whatever the explanation, the United States is unable to fight its current war and protect homeland security at the same time.

The answers to what went wrong in Washington and on the Gulf Coast will come later, and, if the history of 9/11 is any guide, all too slowly, after the administration and its apologists erect every possible barrier to keep us from learning the truth. But as Americans dig out from Katrina and slouch toward another anniversary of Al Qaeda's strike, we have to acknowledge the full extent and urgency of our crisis. The world is more perilous than ever, and for now, to paraphrase Mr. Rumsfeld, we have no choice but to fight the war with the president we have. "

[NNadir]

2. Yeah, I saw the Rich piece. It was great.

David Brooks mostly disgusts me; but the scales do seem to be falling from his eyes. To hell with him though. It's too damn late.

[Burried News]

7. "It's too damn late." Same here. Decent guy but his support

of Iraq War for over three years - end of story. He can join Judy Miller.

[goclark]

4. Another choice would be

to MARCH like we have never marched before and get the full attention of this nation.

If ever there was a time to rise up and March, it is now!

"we have no choice but to fight the war with the president we have. "

[nofurylike]

6. yes.

[nofurylike]

3. it is beautiful; it is devastating. thank you for posting this NNadir eom

[NNadir]

9. You are welcome.

There was another thread on this subject that I didn't see over in the Editorials forum:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x152946

[nofurylike]

10. thank you. eom

[Political_Junkie]

5. I was wondering when she was going to speak up.

She's right on the money there. Of course, there were many of us who wanted to help, but weren't allowed to. I used to live there when my son was 11 years old, we've spent the past week mentally walking the streets and saying to each other, "Do you remember...". He's been trying to get together a group to go down and help out, but it looks like the administration doesn't want us to help our own people. I want my country back. I want my city back too.

[expatriot]

8. Killing New Orleans sure won't be easy for BushCo to sweep under the rug.

It is not those typical stories which will be buried by the next news cycle or the next three news cycles, the macabre treason of this administration has stained itself on the pages of history.

[magellan]

11. Most of what I know about NOLA I learned from reading Anne Rice

She's my favorite contemporary writer and is solely responsible for bringing New Orleans to life for me through her vampire novels. I haven't had the privilege of visiting the city in person. But my heart has been breaking all week long, not just in sympathy with what the people have been made to suffer, but as if I had walked its streets myself and were mourning all that's been lost and can never be replaced.

Damn BushCo.