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Serious Election Issues Overlooked
News & Record, Wednesday, Apr. 23, 2008
Recently, I returned from a trip to New Orleans as part of a study group from the Commission of Social Action of Reform Judaism. It has now been more than two and a half years since the Katrina disaster. We were briefed by, among others, Dr. Benjamin Sachs of the School of Medicine of Tulane University and Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu.
Much more important than the briefings in our hotel were the on-the-ground briefings the next day as part of a "disaster" bus tour.
During the tour we met the true individual heroes of New Orleans. One was Pastor Bruce Davenport, who remained in New Orleans during Katrina and since then is helping to rebuild the local social service infrastructure.
Another was Tony Recasner, head of the Green Charter School, which provides an example of the changes taking place in public elementary education in New Orleans.
We visited the "Make it Right Project" in the Ninth Ward, which was hardest hit after the levees broke. The work of the Common Ground Collective and Brad Pitt's "Make it Right Project," which seeks neighborhood revitalization with an emphasis on building ecologically sustainable homes, is inspirational.
We met Jackie and Dan Silverman, who, in the aftermath of the disaster, created the New Orleans Women's Shelter.
These people are true heroes in my book. What was missing from our trip and what was missing from the story of New Orleans' recovery was government involvement. Two and a half years after Katrina, vast parts of the city still are in ruin, and this was the most shocking aspect of all. Gross mismanagement and red-tape bureaucracy have prevented the recovery there.
The racism and the classism inherent in this process are apparent. Middle- and upper-class neighborhoods are rebuilding, but the recovery in poor areas is almost nonexistent. Boarded-up homes and businesses and life there are still a challenge for those who remain.
On Yom Kippur, Jews recite a prayer that begins, "For the sin that we have sinned against You ...." I left New Orleans thinking that as Americans, we should be reciting a prayer which says, "For the sin that we have sinned against you by forgetting New Orleans and our brothers and sisters who live there."
During my return flight to Greensboro, a smartly dressed U.S. Army sergeant sat in front of me. The pilot announced that he was accompanying a fallen comrade whose casket was in the belly of the plane. When we landed, the passengers stood at the window of the gate and watched silently as an honor guard took the soldier's casket and put it into the hearse. At that moment, though we were strangers, we were united in prayer on behalf of the soldier and his family. After the casket was loaded, men and women were visibly crying.
As sad as it was, I could not help but think that it is a big mistake that such scenes are not filmed and shown on the evening news. As Americans, we have been insulated from the terrible personal cost of this war to the families of the now more than 4,000 soldiers who have died and the many thousands of wounded soldiers whose lives have been forever changed. We seem to appreciate their bravery but have so little understanding of their sacrifice.
The following night I watched the Pennsylvania presidential debate and saw 45 minutes of discussion concerning trivial issues like lapel pins, past associations, minister's sermons, faulty recollections of events and the Pledge of Allegiance. After what I had witnessed in New Orleans and on the plane, I could not help but feel that we have forgotten what is really important. Katrina and the war in Iraq are two issues of existential importance to our country, and yet here we are focused on lapel pins in terms of deciding whom the next president will be.
I hope that our country will wake up and begin to discuss the real issues. After the election is over, may we not have to say a prayer that would read, "For the sin which we have committed against you by sanctifying the trivial and ignoring the important!"
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