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(note: I wanted to do letter that everyone at DU could sign, but I was so upset that I had to write this one instead. Apologies to all - maybe next time.)
Dear Ms. Winfrey,
I watched my country start to die last week. As did many, I initially thought the culprit to be the whims of nature, but my brethren and I were wrong. We are dying not from nature, but from neglect. We held a lottery for life last week in New Orleans, and those not rich or pale enough to play came up empty and unable to play again, lest it be with angels.
I watch as a man whose job is supposed to be to protect and defend this country saunter back from his vacation as if a faucet was dripping in the kitchen. I watch a man who is in charge of FEMA take an Alfred E. Newman approach to his job, glad that Mr. Bush repaid his campaign help by giving him a job that he has absolutely no qualifications for. I watch as hundreds if not thousands of people try and help, but are turned away by those who are supposed to embrace with outstretched hands.
Mostly, though, I watch people die. I count the ways that this country allows its fellow citizens to perish. I watch them scream for help from rooftops, and I watch them cling to life in squalid rooms dank with water and waste. I watch the life ebb from their bodies with each passing day as they live in a purgatory not of their own making, waiting for a miracle that will not come.
This is America, I tell myself. This is America. There is a statue in the harbor, and I know the words on its base. I know the words. They speak of charity and dignity and hope, and make no mention of color or class. I learned the words as a child – I hold them to my chest now as one more citizen slips away. I look for the America that I know is here somewhere, but I cannot find it.
This government does not care. I almost have to spit the words out, lest they linger in my mouth too long. Days went by before someone cared enough to help, and by then thousands had died. We live, today, in a nation where had these folks been white or wealthy the boats would have been lined up weeks before. Instead, I watch my neighbors float in brackish hell, and I watch my government lie and place blame on everyone save The Man In The Mirror. I ask myself why until the tears stop. They never do.
Oprah, I would like to say that I usually watch your program, but I do not. That changed yesterday, for at the urging of others I sat for an hour and watched. If you hadn’t before, you know now what millions of us know. It is true. All of it. In this case, it is not the color purple, but the color green. If you know why this matters, please tell me.
All ask of you is that you continue speak out about what you have seen, and what you know. As of today, the Bush administration is attempting to ban all reporters from New Orleans, as they attempt to stop any bits of truth from seeping out. Unlike me, you have a vehicle for getting the message out to millions. Please let your viewers know what is happening. They are trying to whitewash a funeral, and millions of us will keep screaming until our voices fail. We welcome your voice to the choir.
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.
Sincerely.
xxxxx
xxxxxxx
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