There for the grace of God...a Katrina story

[zulchzulu]

My S.O. took a cab today and was shocked to hear the story.

The driver was from Biloxi, Mississippi... a white woman without much of an accent. She was now living in some horrible hotel that was furnished by FEMA and was waiting for her trailer to arrive on her plot of land and she'd be gone.

Her husband had died three days before Katrina and she had no idea where the body was. She had lost a son in Iraq last year.

When Katrina came, she and a couple neighbors were taken to Houston. They stayed in the Astrodome for a day or so and were then ordered to pick a bus for final destinations in Utah, Phoenix and some other towns. She chose Madison, WI.

Her hotel is in the worst part of town where she hear neighbors beating up each other, shootings, drug dealing and the usual hell in that part of town. She has no phone, as part of the deal with FEMA.

Lost a son in Iraq last year. Has no idea where her husband's body is. Lost everything in Katrina. Driving a cab in a faraway place where she had never really dealt with snow. Now she just wants her trailer and go back to Mississippi and live on her plot of land in Biloxi.

I can only imagine there are thousands of stories like this. Here in Bush's America.

[pitohui]

1. yes indeed

a couple of issues in esquire followed the stories of some families in mississippi who lost a family member to the war and then their home to katrina, the first story in the series was called "mississippi goddamn," can't remember the month of the issue because i donate my magazines after i read them

biloxi is an airforce base, and both mississippi and louisiana have volunteers for armed services out of proportions to our numbers, yet we are shit on in the aftermath of this storm, and soldiers report being denied the right to come home and help their homeless families or in some cases the right to search for a missing family member

it is beyond belief what some of these families have been thru


i don't doubt for a minute the woman's claim that she lost both son and home, it is going to happen just by statistics because the storm hit so hard in an area where so many volunteer

and, yeah, we don't have real strong accents on the gulf coast any more, i blame the color teevee!

[zulchzulu]

2. Thanks for the info

I'll have to track down the Nov 2005 Esquire issue.

[Arugula Latte]

3. God that is horrendous.

I fear for this country. :scared: