Main Entry: re·qui·em 
Pronunciation:'re-kwE-&m also 'rA- or 'rE-
1 : a mass for the dead
Watching Spike Lee's documentary on New Orleans is difficult. That's because he has a deft touch for communication which is extraordinary. He is deeply sunk into the work and if you know anything about Spike Lee movies, you know how good he is at getting the camera in on people talking from the heart. Conclusions? That's not Spike's business. But I have a few.
On Refugees
I called them 'refugees' and I said a word was just a word. But it wasn't until Spike's documentary that I rethought that. What struck me about his angle was that here were people who finally got to the point at which they were demanding the basics of what they deserve as American citizens. So while Belafonte pontificated about what Hugo Chavez might have done, the people stuck in the Astrodome weren't trying to accentuate the hyphen in African-American. Gone was the rhetoric about 'Plymouth Rock landing on us', it was straight 'taxpayer talk'. I'm American, I deserve mine.
There is a very good segue from this into talk about who belongs in America and who doesn't. But I'm only going to mention it in passing. My nickel says every African American displaced by Katrina would vote with Ted Hayes on matters of illegal immigration.
On Compass
Chief of Police Eddie Compass comes off as a much more sympathetic character than he was portrayed in the news. The impression given by Lee was that he was merely a public relations liability rather than an incompetent leader given the fact that so many of his officers up and quit - not to mention those who allegedly joined in the looting. I bought Compass' story.
On Nagin
Spike Lee's film basically validates everything I've been saying about Ray Nagin since day one. I defended him then and I support him now that he's won re-election.
On The Bomb
Non issue.
Other than that, really there's nothing to say. I mean there are issues that remain with the rebuilding and I'm sure there are many arguments that could be made, but I don't think it is proper or constructive for us out here in the country to debate it. There are those who have difficulty with Spike's take on the matter, but the answer to that is the same as it has ever been. Make your own damned movie. But none will capture the flavor and the pain and the feeling of loss that he has so completely done.
I fell asleep for the 3rd time watching Lee's parade of sorrow and I won't be going back to finish. What's done is done and it is almost as heartbreaking as it was in realtime. My aunt remains back in the city trying to find a way to help rebuild by attending meetings and speaking out in various places. And there is yet again, a part of me that feels like I could be some help if I were able to go, stay and work. I feel that there isn't a hole in my soul brought on by the tragedy that would stop me in my tracks and reduce me to uncontrollable tears. But maybe that's the real qualification necessary to be dedicated to the end. Situated as I am, on the perimiter of disaster, I feel it best to simply remain aware.
I read this morning the following paragraph, which strikes me as particularly useless and cruel.
When you have an enclave of non-working, welfare receiving, non-intact families headed by uneducated and unskilled single moms, what do you expect? When nothing is expected from these people other than to wake up and go to the mailbox to see if the next government assistance check has arrived, should anyone be surprised that they are singularly unable to care for themselves? Now, of course, not everyone living in New Orleans fits this description, but a significant majority do and certainly most who could find no way to leave the city or, if they could, stayed behind because they had no family of friends to go to.
Am I being too harsh? Well, not if you pay attention to what is happening in Houston, a city which opened its arms to an unprecedented extent to Katrina victims. A year later, Houston has had enough of the displaced citizens of New Orleans it had reached out to help, but not because of any additional burden placed on its social service system. Houston is fed up because of how these people conduct themselves.
There is no solution for 'these people'. Even those who exactly fit the description have a place in America and that is the burden of the nation to bear and it should be born with grace. Instead this was written with the bias of one incapable of strength and irresponsible to the cure. As far as I'm concerned there are only two kinds of people: those who provide and those who require provision. And of the providers there are those who are responsible and those who have abdicated their responsibilities. For the latter group there is nothing but shame, a lifetime worth, and what indicts them is the reality of a twisted neighborhoods and shattered lives.
There is opportunity and what seems to me an almost inexhaustible well of goodwill citizens do and should have for New Orleans. It will cost money and take time. It will take thought and compassion. We have all that. It's all about do.
The rest of us, I think should observe and respect silence for the dead.
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