i wanna rock with you

ugens helt store begivenhed har selvfølgelig været at få billetter til jacko i london i juli. det bliver så vildt. ellers har den stået på skole, hvor jeg forbereder mig til midterm i arab images i næste uge. heldigvis er det bare nogle spørgsmål, som vi får med hjem, så mig og rebecca kigger på dem sammen. i går var vi på besøg på central city extra, som er en af de aviser, vi skal skrive til i ethnic news service. det var ikke vildt spændende, men synes avisen ser spændende ud og de prioriterer alternative dødsannoncer meget højt, hvilket er ret sjovt og en god idé, synes jeg. det er med andre ord dødsannoncer om folk, der betyder meget i kvarteret eller som mange har kendt, og derfor er der en del dødsannoncer om hjemløse, hvilket danske aviser kunne lære noget af. dagen i går blev ellers brugt på en tur i parken med nogle fra skolen og lidt hangarounds. dejligt med sol!
en del af jer, har spurgt hvad det egentlig er jeg skriver herover, når jeg laver lektier, så jeg vedlægger lige et eksempel fra mit perspectives on american culture-fag. det er en såkaldt reaction paper, hvor opgaven var at reflektere over det første forløb, vi havde om katrina. den så sådan ud og blev vurderet på dybde af analyse, organisation og klarhed.

Post-Katrina: Is there no longer such a thing as the United States of America?

I wonder what went through Osama Bin Laden’s head, as he watched satellite TV somewhere in the Tora Bora – and realized the magnitude of the devastations in New Orleans and along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. And I wonder what he thought, as he realized that the American government’s response was slow, hesitant and didn’t live up to what you rightfully could expect from the government in the world’s most powerful nation. I wonder what he thought, as President Bush’s approval ratings dropped at a pace nearly as violent as the collapse of the Twin Towers, and I wonder what he thought, when rap superstar Kanye West on live TV pulled the race card and uttered the now legendary sentence: “George Bush doesn’t care about Black people”. Did he think that he finally got proof that he succeeded – that he succeeded in more ways than bringing down the Twin Towers; he was actually tearing America apart? In my opinion – and with the words and objectives of his 1996 fatwa in mind – he had every right to feel accomplished.

In the beginning of September 2005 we all realized – or at least we should have, following the disgrace of the American political system in the wake Katrina – that things had changed in the US, and as I will argue in this reaction paper, I think the change is largely due to the terrorism masterminded of Bin Laden and the reaction of the US government to that terror. When Osama Bin Laden struck the Twin Towers, the Pentagon and a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, the American response was vigorous, immediate and unified. 9/11 proved that even in dire straits the US could, of course, one would say, react in a way that suits the World’s lone superpower. The handling of Hurricane Katrina, the storm surge and the displacement of hundreds of thousands Americans that were scattered all over the country, proved the exact opposite. So something must have happened during the four years that separates the two disasters.

Of course 9/11 was an attack against the US, its economy, its infrastructure, and its self perception. But was the damage caused bigger than that? I think it was. And Katrina proved that. With George Bush and most of his administration focusing on the War on Terror and specifically the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the Axis of Evil, they didn’t leave much time to care about domestic affairs. “Homeland security is only threatened from abroad,” seemed to be the dominant modus operandi in Washington. In 2003, that led to FEMA being integrated in Homeland Security, which ultimately weakened FEMA (its new motto “A Nation Prepared” didn’t seem to impress anyone) and prevented an appropriate response to Katrina, which again led to a growing mistrust of government amongst the American people. The administration couldn’t or wouldn’t spread it powers and focus on both dangers from terrorism and nature. And the Americans suffered.

When the administration on the other hand did care about domestic affairs, they cared about their base: tax cuts to please the rich and religious hard talk and a focus on “yes to life” to please the Christian Right. In general the administration was characterized by a unapologetic, compromise loathing approach best described by the “You’re either with us or against us”-mantra that not only addressed terrorists and disbelievers, but also enemies at home: liberals, tree huggers and the majority of Americans not living in The Bible Belt, but on the East and West Coasts. This mantra, and the unflattering partisanship it represented, also paralyzed the cooperation between The Bush Administration and Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco, and in that way it again enforced the halting response to disaster. The shock of 9/11 tore America apart instead of uniting it.

So when then-Senator Barack Obama delivered his highly praised 2004 Democratic National Convention Keynote Address and claimed – among other things – that there is no Black America, no White America, but only The United States of America, I think he was wrong. Obama was dreaming, hoping. A year later, when his fellow Americans were sending S.O.Ss from their rooftops, even he must have realized.

Obama could of course argue that thousands of first responders, and Americans from all of the 50 states, gave their all to help the victims in the weeks, month and years after Katrina, and thereby proved that America acts as a whole. And yes, many Americans did an extraordinary job helping Southerners in need, but of a population of around 300 million people, the people who cared were a drop in the ocean. And
more disturbingly, after Katrina 40% of the Americans still supported a president that so brutally neglected their fellow Americans. Why? Didn’t they care? Didn’t they think Bush was to blame for the mishandling of the disaster? Or couldn’t they relate to the people of New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast? I don’t know the answer, but the outcome was that there, no matter what Obama said a year before, was an America for those stranded in New Orleans: They seemed to be living in a third world country-version of America. And then there was another America where Condoleezza Rice – a long with a lot of other fashionistas – would go shop Manolo Blahniks before even bothering about New Orleans. Even Kanye West admitted that he went shopping as the Big Easy was drowning. But even more worrying – because you could argue that Danes wouldn’t care about Italians in need either, and the difference between those is the same as the difference between New Yorkers and the people of Louisiana – it seemed that the people of New Orleans were living in different countries, too. Those in Uptown were maybe not living in the richest nation of Earth, but compared to those in the Ninth Ward, in the Superdome, the Convention Center, and on the Interstate, they were ok. They were living in White America, where, even though it’s not always nice, it’s always better than Black America. In White America, you at least have the time to care about your pets, and you are more likely to have a car or other means of transportation to escape in the hour of emergency. Add to that the Christian America, the Gay America, the Republican America, and so on. There, quite simply, is no such thing as The United States of America.

In my mind, Katrina proved that The United States of America is the world’s leading power only because there’s no other nation ready to take its place. Because, if the US wants to treat its citizens as it did during and after Katrina, ok, but then the US just can’t claim to be the richest and most powerful nation in the world. Katrina just wouldn’t happen in what we describe as a democracy. A united people and a united country, proud of itself and all that it has to offer, wouldn’t allow its leaders to mistreat or simply ignore hundreds of thousands of its fellow citizen.
In that way, as Hurricane Katrina raised the waters of The Mexican Gulf, conquered the levees surrounding Lake Pontchartrain and took the lives of more than 1,800 Americans, the American century ended. Now, can newly elected President Barack Obama change that? Can he reunite the United States of America and add some decades to the American Dream? I’d like to think so. He already did a lot to change the damages and the divides caused by the former president.

And that’s what makes me wonder, what went through Osama Bin Ladens head on November 4th last year. What did he think, as the polls came in and the idea of a McCain-Palin combo in charge of The United States became less and less likely by the minute? What did he think, when Obama took the stage in Chicago and the world listened, when Europe and the World opened its arms again – to a Muslim, American president? Again, I don’t know, but I hope he was dispirited. I hope Osama is afraid of Obama, because the World needs a united America.