two americas

There needs no more pronounced truth and verification of the truth than the Katrina Aftermath. There is estimate of 10,000 dead from the preliminary forecast. The number could be less than that. In any event, if the number were to rise up to 10,000 humans, I believe it is not inconceivable to think that, of those 9,900 would be poor and they would be African-American.

{By that I do not mean everyone who was left to dry! in New Orleans was African American and Poor. Some educated professionals with money in the bank chose to stay back as well. But the ratio of dead vs. survivors in the aftermath speaks volumes about the group that is left to welfare in America.}

If that does not strike you as the other America, I do not know what would. It is true that most of the world is about have's and have-not's. The American Ideal and the much cherished freedom is sold in various bottles across the world as the most equitable and just. It is not so, Katrina disaster took the veil off. It could also be that the king never had clothes.

This is not to critique the Government's response or to do Monday morning quarterbacking. It is not to support entirely the John Edwards' lines alone. It is not to show that President Bush does not know or care about this other side of America.

It is to make a point about the verification of the existence of America's other side. It is sad that such a verification comes at a price. The price paid in human toll with this hurricane disaster should serve as a remineder going forward to both the Americas. To be poor is sufficient enough to end up at the receiving end of a disaster. The racial dimension of this tragedy to me appears to be unavoidable. Impoverished other side is not in the interest of affluent America.

Consider this: If the same hurricane were to hit Haiti, who would be at risk, the most ? Blacks and poor. If a cyclone hit the East India, whose numbers would be more? People belonging to poor, old and underprevileged and marginalized sections.

New Orleans was over 70% black. More than 30% lived below poverty line. The hurricane could not have picked a better spot to show us the existence of naked second America. This second America is not fed properly, does not get necessary (who cares about sufficient) medical help, and it most likely is only going down in standards with no future to look forward to.

America is no different than any other nation in this respect. In that sense, America is not unique. America is also apparantly vulnerable to these tragedies. To go hungry in America is more painful perhaps than anyother place in the world, because this is a place where crackers come in three hundred different packages, and chips in more flavors than one could care to notice. This is the land of wheat and honey. This is the basket that feeds the hungriest in the world. And yet, there are those who will not get enough education to make a decent living.

Saving an American from poverty is to save several more in the third world. Because, it is more expensive to keep one on the welfare in America than keeping several in other parts of the world. There will be people who fall through the cracks but no-one perhaps expected to see it in such a vast manner as in New Orleans. No-one expected the crack to be so much wide, rivaling the grand-canyon. This truth should have been more evident among the Black leadership, more than any other place.

Black leadership in America must seize on the moment to educate more poor African-Americans. The paternalistic attitude does not serve any purpose. They must know that America or for that matter any civiliztion is defined by the way the country treats its hungriest and the most vulnerable. There is plenty of blame to go around. There needs perspective on this nakedness.

I hope this lesson in verification serves some purpose in the policy circles for a long time.