HOMELAND OF INSECURITY

By Mumia Abu-Jamal

Col. Writ. 9/17/05

It has been four years since the ravages of 9/11, and in the winds and waters of Hurricane Katrina, we find that, for all intents and purposes, when it comes to the lives and welfare of average people, nothing has changed.

"How can this be?", you ask.

There is a Department of Homeland Security. It is the largest, most powerful, most intrusive agency in the nation's history, where a score of other agencies, like the Coast Guard, like the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and like the Immigration and Naturalization Service, among others were folded together into a super-department.

But that's just the point. Political leaders changed titles, posts and offices, and appointed their favorites to head them. And, these agencies had, as their purview, a law enforcement/military mission: to seek out, identify, and neutralize terrorist-related threats.

But, tell me, how do you arrest a hurricane?

Further, when we look at how politicians do business, we see that they appoint pals to positions of vast power, without regard to whether or not they have expertise in these areas. I won't belabor the Michael Brown/FEMA story; it's old news. Remember former New Jersey Governor, James McGreevey, who appointed his lover to head that state's Homeland Security Office?

When you think of these kind of acts by state and federal leaders, does it leave you feeling more secure?

If you looked at state and federal responses to Katrina, you could easily assume that they've never responded to a natural disaster before.

You saw inaction, confusion, and in some cases, sheer malfeasance, misfeasance, and nonfeasance of duty. According to early reports, a full third of the New Orleans Police Department (arguably one of the most corrupt in America) headed for the hills, and just split. They took cars, weapons, and other paraphernalia, and got as far from Sin City as they could.

Since 9/11, Americans have spent billions of dollars for new machines, new government offices, new gadgets, bells and whistles. There are state and regional offices which soak up money like the Sahara drinks a summer shower, but if the Gulf States is any indication of how 'secure' the 'homeland' is, then America is in trouble indeed.

Fueled by the fear of 9/11, Americans have elected idiots, who, in turn, have selected other idiots to watch over the nation. Driven by a weird corporate denial of global warming, rising temperatures over the ocean are prime recipes for hurricane-making, and for stronger, and stronger ones, in the future.

In times of crisis, how people first react betrays their deepest, and truest concerns.

What did we first see in the Gulf States, in Biloxi, in New Orleans, but a clear, unmistakable message, that they were on their own?

It is almost obscene how politicians, from presidents to mayors, came along, days later, to preen in front of TV cameras, reading lines written by others.

If you are poor, Black, Latin@, Vietnamese, white; whatever, you are on your own. This government isn't there for you. 'Homeland security' doesn't refer to your homeland, nor your security. The National Guard isn't there to guard you. You were essentially on your own before Katrina; you are on your own now.

Do what you can to preserve the lives and welfare of your loved ones, and your community, or else it won't get done.