In Australia we, or at least the media, have been quick to judge the Americans for their poor response to the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina. In these images I am reminded of an America I used to see every day as I rode my bike to work. An America where the gap between rich and poor (which is so often also the same as between white and black) is huge and ever widening and it is in the response to a disaster that we see how deep this divide runs. Right now I see an America stripped bare with the world watching and neither side likes what they are seeing.
However when I read the response here, I wonder if we would do so much better. As I was shocked to discover, the Australia I came back to 18 months ago now is closer to the US than ever before. In a country where the original inhabitants of the land have an average life expectancy that is 20 years less than white Australians, I ask, who are we to judge?
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every time i give up hope, that anyone will remember mindwork, you pop up. thanks for still remembering to write.
idealistic as it is, for me mindwork and the words within it will always represent a great hope for the future. I won’t ever give up on that.