We Cannot Depend on the Government

Back in the day, it seemed that the government acted in your best interest. Back when you where younger and you learned about our representative government that gave everyone a voice. Back when you believed your teachers when they told you that the government was charged with “providing for the general welfare.”
If I had any faith in those assertions, they were wiped away completely when I journeyed to New Orleans for Alternative Spring Break.
New Orleans is also known as “the Crescent City,” “the Big Easy” and “the Queen of the Mississippi.” Now, a more fitting name would be “the City the U.S. Government Abandoned.”
As I toured the devastation in areas like the Lower 9th Ward, it was hard to believe that it was back on Aug. 29, 2005, that the levees broke. Roughly a year and a half had passed, and yet many places of the city look untouched by the millions of dollars that have accumulated for relief.
There were complete blocks left with nothing but foundation, couches stuck in front doors and even a house still sitting atop an automobile.
I talked to residents from the 6th, 7th and 9th wards who are all still awaiting relief – citizens who were promised finances by our government so they could rebuild their homes. They are still waiting, and these are the few who managed to make their way back home after the flood.
The Road Home Program seeks to assist displaced residents of New Orleans in their journey back to the city, but it is inadequate and insufficient, according to nearly everyone I spoke to.
Road Home is run by a highly bureaucratic system that residents can enter only through extensive applications and an abundance of paperwork that has a funny way of getting lost in the mail.
However, other areas of New Orleans, such as the Lakefront community and the French Quarter, appear as if no flood took place at all.
It’s interesting that these regions of the city that house higher income communities and welcome tourists show no signs of the devastation that is evident elsewhere in the city.
It’s apparent that when it comes to issues that affect black communities disproportionately, we cannot trust our government to provide for our general welfare. We have to take relief and rebuilding efforts into our own hands and heal our own communities.
Although New Orleans is a portion of the black community that is hurting right now, it does not take a trip to Louisiana to help out your community. There is plenty of devastation all over the country and the world that needs our assistance. If we do not help ourselves, who will?
Joshua Thomas, a student at Howard University, writes for the Hilltop. To comment, e-mail [email protected]