Letters

Katrina catastrophe a ‘call to order ourselves’

In this 21st century, we boast about modern technology and being globally connected, yet as a country we have fared no better in the tragic wake of Hurricane Katrina than we would have in centuries past. We are totally desensitized, disconnected and disjointed as people in the big scheme of Hurricane Katrina.

The ignorance that prevailed in earlier centuries against this country’s most disenfranchised people, slaves, has not changed. It has only become politically more modern. As writer Richard Wright composed these truths: “They (Negro) may feel that only dupes believe in isms. But anyone destitute of a theory about the meaning, structure and direction of modern society is a lost victim in a world he cannot understand or control.”

Wake up, black America. We have failed ourselves by and large. Without doubt, we have never been able to rely on the American judicial system let alone a quasi-democratic society.

Flash back to the Freedmen’s Bureau if you will and recognize that failed government intervention. Yes, here we are again at the forefront as the marquee victims. This historical tragedy of unprecedented proportion runs much deeper than the government’s failed rescue mission.

Black America must rise. We must be accountable for not upholding a tradition that overcame insurmountable odds. We have not traveled this road in quite some time. The popularity of modern society and its trappings have caused the race to lose its sight. Blinded by bling-bling — which has replaced spirituality — knowledge and dreams have rendered a sucker punch that will either muster up or continue to defy and define who we truly are as a race.

A tragic reminder, but as black Americans — now labeled refugees — we were entrusted a long time ago with a mission far more relevant to our survival than the latest new thing.

If we don’t see this catastrophe as a call to order ourselves, our homes, the community, then Hurricane Katrina will have come and gone in vain.

Gilda Rogers

Red Bank