I Know She's Bound For Heaven

I have just got off the phone with my brother. His wife is from Louisiana and she still has family there. They mostly live in the northern part of the state so they were not affected by Katrina. There was one family member living in New Orleans- her grandaughter's mother. Due to personal problems "Lisa" had left her daughter in San Diego with her grandmother (my sister-in-law) and moved back to Louisiana. The last time my sister-in-law or brother heard from her was about a week ago when she called to tell them that she was waiting out the hurricane in the Superdome. You can imagine what this week has been like for my brother and his wife.

Today Lisa called saying she was safe in Omaha, Nebraska where the government had sent her. She said she was happy to be alive and that she was angry that the media has not said anything about what really went on inside the Superdome during that week.

I also talked to one of my sister's today and she told me she saw a man being interview who had also been in the Superdome and he said people had arrived there in three waves. The first group were the people who came before the hurricane hit. The second group arrived after the hurricane passed and the levee broke. The last to come were "the bad people."

(This next part is very graphic and horrifying. If you are easily upset stop now.)

My brother then told me in a disbelieving, helpless voice that Lisa told them that the media were not telling people the whole truth about the rapes and murders. She said that some of the raped were nine and ten year old girls who then had their throats cut. My sister-in-law asked Lisa if this was a story she heard from other people or something she had seen herself. Lisa said this was something she seen (I think she meant she had seen the bodies-God I hope so). She also said that every evening when the sun went down and night came they were left in pitch black darkness. That is when she was the most terrified because she was not sure if she would live until the next morning.

As my brother told me these things I started shaking and felt weak and nauseous. I never imagined that we as a people could sink so low. At first I did not think I should write about this because it is so shocking and sickening. But I am tired of some people saying (which they have done on call-in talk shows across the country) that "those people" should have evacuated when they were told to, insinuating that they are responsible for what has happened to them. Tell that to those dead children. Tell it to their mothers.

This morning I listened to the "experts" as they discussed what needs to be done to rebuild New Orleans. I thought that one of the first things they should do is tear down the Superdome and build new housing for the poor. Now I think they should burn it down and then sown the ground with salt. It is a place of evil.