Spike Lee’s “Levees” Brings Up Memories And Hard Topics
Spike Lee’s documentary, while slightly paranoid in some places (comparing the willy-nilly evacuation of post-Katrina victims and subsequent separation of family members to the planetary-scale devastation of the African slavery trade is ridiculous), brought up tears, memories, and a multitude of broiling political topics.
One particularly interesting segment dealt with the fact that little-to-none of the money generated by Louisiana’s natural resources - which account for roughly 20% of the country’s oil and natural gas - is retained by the state. In one of the four-part documentary’s many in-depth interviews, Douglas Brinkley (“The Great Deluge†author) said the state was treated like “a colony” by the U.S. government, siphoned of its natural resources. This systematic pimping, justified by the offshore three-mile limit rule, results in an absence of state funds needed to build levees that actually work, restore the long-abused protective wetlands, and address New Orleans’ myriad economic weaknesses.
And while radio personality Garland Robinette spat out that if the state had that revenue it would allow the city to get back on its feet, another interviewee pointed out that secession would render the state financially independent and on a par with Saudi Arabia.
But even though Spike treated us to multiple replays of Kanye West’s now infamous statement, he failed to include even a snippet of the impassioned (and eventually nitpicked) “Meet The Press” testimony wrenched out of a wailing Aaron Broussard (president of Jefferson Parish who, irony of ironies, also publicly embraced the notion of secession) recounting the pitiful death of his colleague’s mother. Although gaping holes such as this one warranted, in my honest opinion, another “act,” Lee did a monumental job of making sense out of the numerous issues bubbling under the surface of this still fresh situation.
Aaron Broussard’s classic Meet The Press interview
Thanks to Whatreallyhappened.com for the video.
August 23rd, 2006 at 1:14 pm
“…comparing the willy-nilly evacuation of post-Katrina victims and subsequent separation of family members to the planetary-scale devastation of the African slavery trade is ridiculous”
Really? Ridiculous? I don’t agree. What other event in our nation’s history would you compare it to? Admittedly, I’m not a history scholar by any means, but when I think about residents who are living in poverty, who therefore have no voice, being herded onto busses and airplanes taking them somewhere without 1)telling them where they’re going, 2) offering any choice, 3) ensuring that families are not separated in the chaos or 4) providing a way for them to reunite, at home or otherwise….I’m sorry, that sounds hauntingly similar to the American slave trade to me.
On a significantly smaller scale, yes. But the largely black inner city population of a major US city - isn’t that big enough to warrant a comparison?
August 29th, 2006 at 8:42 pm
The hurricane victims weren’t considered property or owned by anyone. Africans, regardless of “neighborhood” were whole human beings one day, and sold like animals the next. Not to take away from the situation our fellow Americans were in but at least they spoke the language, have a working knowledge of the country they’re in… you see where I’m goin gwith this. I agree there’s absolutely no comparison.
August 29th, 2006 at 10:16 pm
I agree with Piscean Princess. That experience, being separated from the people you need the most at the time you need them the most, is very much like what happened to families during days of slavery. I have been a student of the Civil War all my life, am from the South, and a white woman who had the honor to attend Howard U. I think I am somewhat qualified to respond.
August 31st, 2006 at 2:48 pm
[…] And… I still stand by my original assertion that comparing Katrina evacuees to African slaves is silly. And as if to prove my point, NFADK led an unwitting lil ole me to actual pictures of enslaved men, women and children taken sometime around 1868. As you look at the faces, and bones sticking through slender frames, you realize that there are so many reasons for emaciation. Not being fed is one, but the anguish of being separated from everything you know and everyone you ever loved could drive many to self starvation. Also, the realization that many of these people could not even share their grief amongst themselves due to different dialects and languages… do you think that the psychological damage suffered by these people could have been assuaged by a cot, the Astrodome and a little sympathy? […]