Wednesday, August 30, 2006
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Brendalove@gmail.com
*quickie update* - as I am writing this, Ernesto path is calculated to come right over the top of the f'n house. I refuse to turn the air conditioner off - I want to revel in it, wallow in it, freeze to death. Because I KNOW this storm is coming here and air conditioning is going to be a thing of the past.
The following email was making the rounds today....I got included quite by accident. Here it is transcribed in its entirety including the bolded part....not my bolding:
Sometime today in your spare time please take a "moment of silence" to remember our people that lost there lives in the Gulf Coast to Hurriance Katrina, Today is the 1 yr anniversary,as we all know we can not depend on the president or government for anything or to make this a memorial day like 9/11, please forward to all of our brother and sisters..thnks
Whaaaa? Okay, first of all, my feelings were hurt. I know what the hell that meant. Then I'm like.....wait a minute! Plenty of white people died in Hurricane Katrina, didn't they? Just as plenty of black people died on 9/11, I'm sure. I was puzzled by the differentiation between the two tragedies.
And since when is 9/11 a "memorial day"? I certainly don't get that day off of work, do you? The only thing that was different (in my case), was that first year after 9/11, they did ask for a moment of silence during the time the attacks took place. After that, we were on our own as far as any memorializing. Perhaps there should have been a nationally-sanctioned "moment of silence" for the Katrina victims today.
I won't even go into the "depending on the President or government for anything" part, because Stew and Greg will take care of all that in the comments. ;-)
I was just shocked though. I understand that black people are still angry about the slow response to Katrina but I had no idea there was division regarding the tragedy itself. The email somehow implies that Katrina was a "black tragedy" and that 9/11 was a "white tragedy"......what are your thoughts on this email?
*and if Ernesto hits here, it is going to be a "Brenda tragedy"*
Posted by brendalove@gmail.com @ 9:16 AM
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