We brought up some really interesting things in our discussions of the Civil War and Reconstruction last week and this week. For instance, was the policy of total war waged by Sherman in Georgia (burning houses, killing livestock and destroying railroads in their march towards Savannah from Atlanta in the fall of 1864) justified against the Southern people? In other words, should the Southern people be stopped from helping the Confederates by providing food, clothes, and other material that could prolong the war? Why or why not? And how much is too much? Do you start killing civilians?Another burning question we ran into was one about whether or not the South should be forgiven or punished for rebelling? What do you think?
A third question we examined is: who is really to blame in the Hurricane Katrina debacle? The federal, state or city government? All three? The people who stayed? What about the people who couldn't leave? Why did it take so long for help to get to the Gulf Coast region when FEMA got help to Florida rather quickly in 2004 after their four huge hurricanes?
Lastly, what about the N-word? Should it ever be used? By whom? When and why? Consider the history of the word and the power behind it. Even though the NAACP held a burial for it this summer, does that mean it's really dead?
Pic 1 - a "Sherman necktie" - a railroad tie superheated and then bent out of shape by Union soldiers in 1864, usually wrapped around trees.Pic 2 - Flooded New Orleans from BBS News - http://bbsnews.net/bbsn_photos/topics/hurricane_katrina/uscg_new_orleans_under_water20050829.jpg
Pic 3 - NAACP funeral in Detroit for the N-Word - http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19680493/
Pick one of the three questions to answer and dig deeply. I think you'll need at least 200 words to answer this one. Due Wednesday, Sept. 19.
66 comments:
Lastly, what about the N-word? Should it ever be used? By whom? When and why? Consider the history of the word and the power behind it. Even though the NAACP held a burial for it this summer, does that mean it's really dead?
I chose this question because I feel very strongly about this topic. I feel that the "N word" is mis-used and mis-interpreted. African Americans believe that since they were racialy abused by the word back in the day and now, that it is okay so use it as a saying such as a greeting and such. The phrase is over used and many people, both African Americans and white people take offense to the word. Most elder African Americas take more offense to the word, because so many young teens these days use it and it tends to bring back hurtful memories to the elder, who went through all the pain and agony when segregation was a big deal. I think that no one, African American or white, should not be able to use the word. If a white person uses the word it is taken to heart in a different way than if an African American person said it to another African American person. The point of the word is being used in the worst possible way of criticizing the African American race, and should be banned. Even though the NAACP held a burial for the word this summer, I don't believe that the word is really dead. I believe it's not dead because, I've heard it been used countless of times since the burial went on. I've heard it used at school and in public places, and some times by my friends, supposidly in a "funny" way. I think that the "N word" should be gotten rid of for good and forever.
Mary Mc Keon
“Should the Southern people be stopped from helping the Confederates by providing food, clothes, and other material that could prolong the war? Why or why not? And how much is too much? Do you start killing civilians?”
I think that the total war waged by General Sherman was justified because I feel that it was necessary in order for the Union to win the Civil War. Things that go along with total war such as burning houses, killing livestock, and destroying railroads I feel caused the war to end quicker than if total war was not used. These sacrifices of total war were necessary in order to tip the scale in the Union’s favor. Also, these tactics of total war weakened the Confederate army indirectly by destroying some of the resources that they needed in order to fight sufficiently. These strategies of destroying some of the materials that the South needed, led to a decrease in time spent on the battlefield, which is many times a good thing. However, I would consider things to be out of hand once innocent civilians are being killed. In my opinion, it is never necessary to start killing innocent bystanders.
David Mohan
3rd
I believe Sherman’s march during the war was a good thing because it helped shorten the war. Grant gave orders to Sherman that the northern army should destroy as many war resources as possible. Atlanta produces ammunition for the Confederate Army. To win the war Sherman needed to damage all of the South’s war resources and anything that had been used to support the wars effort. Sherman was fighting for two reasons, to win the war, and to inspire respect to build up our nation’s power. Sherman was doing all this to end the war quickly because people were dying, and to stop property from being destroyed. The northerners wanted to end the war quickly because if it had dragged on the north might have lost its desire to fight. By ending the war quickly less people would die, less property, railroads, and factories would be destroyed. I believe that women and children should not have been killed during the Civil war because they were innocent and not partipating in the war. If the men were participating in the war then they were targets. I believe that war should stop when the enemy is defeated.
Justin L
5th hr
Another burning question we ran into was one about whether or not the South should be forgiven or punished for rebelling? What do you think?
I think that the south was punished enough from the war. The South had already been burnt down and ruined. There were things that you could do to punish them more but none of these punishments would be equal to what had already happened in the South from the war. The war had destroyed many people’s land in the South, so therefore they weren’t even able to grow food for a living. There slaves had also already been freed so they had no one to work there farms for them. They had to rebuild many of their large cities and towns and small villages because of the war. The rebuilding took lots of money, energy, and resources. This is what I think that the South did not deserve to be punished anymore than it had already been during the war. The war had left the South in an economical crisis and would have had a much harder time if the North had punished the South more.
Phil Bolton 5th Hour
Who is really to blame in the Hurricane Katrina debacle? The federal, state or city government? All three? The people who stayed? What about the people who couldn't leave? Why did it take so long for help to get to the Gulf Coast region when FEMA got help to Florida rather quickly in 2004 after their four huge hurricanes?
I think everyone is to be blamed for Hurricane Katrina. Everyone knew the Hurricane was coming but some people did not act. The city and government could not believe how fast the shelters had filled up. The government should have had a plan after the shelters filled up. They should have a back up plan for things like that. Some of the people should have tried to evacuate faster then they did. I don't think anyone was prepared with food, water and shelter. Government officials should had tested and watched the levees. If the levees hadn't broke I do not think the flooding would had been as bad. People were asking for help and no one was giving them help. The New Orleans National Guard Post and the NOPD took so long because they were trying to save themselves from the flood. They didn't know the levees were giving way. If they did I think they would have been more prepared. I think the president should have been able to walk down the streets and see what it was really like. Flying around the area does not give you the full view on things. If he would have actual saw the people and the need that they were in, I think he would have took more action.
A third question we examined is: who is really to blame in the Hurricane Katrina debacle? The federal, state or city government? All three? The people who stayed? What about the people who couldn't leave? Why did it take so long for help to get to the Gulf Coast region when FEMA got help to Florida rather quickly in 2004 after their four huge hurricanes?
Even though Hurricane Katrina was a natural event there are many people that are held responsable for the things that did happen. FEMA is who annoys me the most becuase they jsut made up excuses and lies as to how much help those people needed. The people in the Hurricane are not to balme becuase they were in a state of shock and had lost everything down to their families. They needed help and didnt get it. FEMA's job should have been to get the people help and at least the resources to help them hang in there until help could arrive. Because it was an unexpected event everything of course was going to be a little out of hand, but they had no one helping becuase everyone made up excuses.
Allie Wolfe 5th hr.
What about the N-word? Should it ever be used? By whom? When and why? Consider the history of the word and the power behind it. Even though the NAACP held a burial for it this summer, does that mean it's really dead?
I think that this is a very important piece of history that should be looked at more closely. I don’t think that the n-word should ever be used at any time, because it is a harmful word that makes African Americans feel like there is still racism. I am applaud at how many black people still use the term on their own, though, it is not cool to call someone the n-word. Many African American rap artists refer back to this word, and that is one of the reasons why I absolutely despise rap music, because the artist uses harmful words that really don’t need to be said. The n-word was used back in the times of slavery, when someone would refer to a black person (males in particular), and they would laugh and use this word to cuss out a black person and make them feel like crap. It makes me wonder why people think this term is so bad, because so many people use it and they sometimes themselves are black kids that are just fooling around, but I don’t believe that it is right in any way shape or form to use this word on anyone. No one in the world should have any excuse when it comes to this word, and they should be given a warning about what the word really means, and how hurtful it is to black Americans.
Matthew Whitney
5th Hour
A third question we examined is: who is really to blame in the Hurricane Katrina debacle? The federal, state or city government? All three? The people who stayed? What about the people who couldn't leave? Why did it take so long for help to get to the Gulf Coast region when FEMA got help to Florida rather quickly in 2004 after their four huge hurricanes?
When people were in need during Hurricane Katrina, they really were in need. They needed shelter, food, drink, and many more supplies. I think that the federal, state, and city government are to blame for not helping the people who were in need during Hurricane Katrina. The director of FEMA, Michael Brown, stated that they only just heard about the disaster FOUR DAYS after it actually struck. This is inacceptable and inexcusable. FEMA and the national guard should have been there to help those in need right away. Our taxes go towards the government helping us out when we are in need. I can understand that the National Guard had their own problems to deal with but they should have been more prepared, they should have been prepared for anything and should have had a backup plan for everything. FEMA found out about the hurricanes in 2004 more quickly and were more prepared. After Hurricane Katrina, they didnt want to make any more mistakes. The people who couldnt leave the Gulf Coast region were definitaly not to blame because they couldnt do anything to help themselves. The government should have been there and could only come up with bad excuses as to why they were´nt there.
1st Hour
I think that the south should have been forgiven for rebelling because they had suffered a lot from the end of the war. Many southern areas had been burned and destroyed, and they lost their slaves, tons and tons of money, and lost a lot of food. The south had to clean up all of the dead bodies and fix and clean all of the destroyed houses and buildings. Since the southerners had lost their slaves a lot of production of goods and resources had declined which affected many people. The south was going through an economic catastrophe which as going to be very hard to pull out of after losing money, having their slaves freed, and they already had to reconstruct the south. I think that if the south was further punished it would be unfair due to all of the problems they had already faced from the affects of losing the war.
Stefanos Thomopoulos 3rd Hour
The question that I am doing is whether or not the South should be forgiven or punished for rebelling?
I think that it could go either way because I feel that the South should be forgiven and punished at the same time. Here are some reasons for why the South should be forgiven: If there is too much punishment, there might be more fighting that is unnecessary. Killing the people in the South would be counter productive. It would speed up the economic healing, and speed up the uniting process. Since there was already so much damage to the South, that they don’t need anymore punishment than that. Reasons for why the South should be punished: They did horrible things and they shouldn’t get away with it. Slaves should have rights, to live in freedom, and get jobs wherever they want. Also slaves were given land- 40 acres and a mule. Which is means that each Family got 40 acres and the use of a mule. The south brought it upon them and it was a real pickle to get out of. See, there are two ways you can put it and I believe that the South should be both punished and forgiven for rebelling.
Annie Sovran
5th hour
I believe that the Mayor of Katrina, FEMA, and the Government were to blame. Mayor Ray Nagin did not evacuate people soon enough, he waited till just hours before the storm hit to warn people. He also did not plan in case of future hurricane so there was no food, water, medical equipment or connections to help if New Orleans was hit by a hurricane. Also after the Hurricane hit he did not specify what help New Orleans needed. FEMA is suppose to be thinking of not just disasters after they happen but to think ahead and plan for future disasters. When Hurricane Katrina hit the head of FEMA Michael Brown knew about it hours after it hit. But choose to wait days before doing anything about it. He then lied on national TV about only finding out about it a couple days after it hit by the news reports. He confirmed his lie 3 times and when confronted about it said he chose the wrong words and was sorry. Also when Mayer Ray Nagin asked for help, FEMA didn’t help because they said they didn’t know what help meant. It’s ridiculous because it’s not that hard to figure out what the people need after being hit by a hurricane. President Bush spent 4 days flying (in his private plane) over Katrina only seeing the water damage and damage. Not seeing people stranded on rooftops, dead people all over, diseases, looting, starvation and the mental break down of people. Instead of arranging food, water, medial materials sent there he took 4 days relaxing on a plane when people were dying. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice went shoe shopping, saw a play, and played tennis when people were dying of starvation and diseases. She isn’t required to help the sick people but you would think that she would care and want to help. But instead she goes and pampers herself, and then wonders why she is being verbally attacked. It’s very hard to just get up and leave your house and all the memories and not being able to take anything. The people who stayed might of not realize the danger they were in and thought they would be okay to stay. It was never stressed how dangerous this would be and even death could come to them. Also many people of New Orleans were homeless or very poor. Not all of them could afford to leave or the people who were hospitalized. People said that they had vehicles to get all those people out and would get them somewhere safe to stay. But that was never really an option, it should have been but it wasn’t.
It took five days for FEMA to go and help Florida after Hurricane Andrew hit. A lot of people didn’t take it seriously that a hurricane could hit. After Andrew hit, they looked at Miami and saw barley any disaster and were relieved that it just hit the coast of Miami. But they didn’t look at Florida and see the horrible damage and disaster Florida was in. They waited and waited, not getting the resources to people in time.
Emma Schwartz
5th Hour
I think the South should be forgiven because bad things could happen if we didn’t. For instance if we didn’t forgive the south and we punished them instead they could get mad and start a second civil war which wouldn’t help us at all it would just make things ten times worse. We would then have to win the war all over again without Abe Lincoln’s help. Then yet again choose if we should punish the south or forgive and hopefully we would choose right that time by forgiving the south. Also it helps reunify the country instead of pushing the southern states further away. Once we reunified it would strengthen our military because it would add all of the great confederate soldiers and generals to the union army. Also, if we reunite America it would help us cooperate so that we can fix the economy problems from the war and help us move on to new and better things. By reuniting we could also gain the natural resources in the south and use them for our benefits. Plus, by reuniting the states we could work on the goal to help make African Americans equal and give them more equal opportunities in America.
Katie R.
3rd hour
When it comes to who I think should be blamed for Hurricane KAtrina I would say everyone. When I say everyone I mean George Bush,Micheal Brown and FEMA. All these people should be blamed in my opinion because they all deal with the government and are responsible when it comes too things like Hurricane Katrina. I also say them for the simple fact they were the first people to know and did not do anything,and the same questions that everyone else has is the same ones i'm asking. Why did it take George Bush 4 days to fly over and not even help just fly over. Why is it that Micheal Brown is suppose to be head of FEMA and while doing press sonferences about something he claims he doesn't even know about. Why is it that everyone is pointing the finger at everyone but themselves. Hurricane Katrina probably could not been stopped,but it surely could have been a lot smoother and less deaths than it was it the 'so called' GOVERNMENT would do their job.
Alyssa
3rd hr.
I think that the N-word should not be used by anyone. It is offense in many ways to alot of people. Its a racist term to many African American people. It symbolizes when they used to be in slavery and it's the 20th century. We are all friends should not consider one person to be less than the other. No one is higher than anyone and by using that word it is saying that we are higher power than them. It is derogatory, and insulting to them. Saying that the NAACP buried the word does not mean it is really dead. It is a symbol that we should stop using it in mean terms. No one should be aloud to say it. I still hear it in our school today so it really is not dead it just is saying that we should stop using it all together.
Jessie best
5th Hour
Another burning question we ran into was one about whether or not the South should be forgiven or punished for rebelling? What do you think?
I think the south should be forgiven for rebelling because of the reasons I will explain. If they are punished then they will feel that they need to start another war. It will definitely help them with natural resources and to start their economy. To start their economy they need to bring people together and cooperate. It will make military stronger so incase another event happens they will be well prepared. If they were to punish the south it would punish everyone. I also go on the other side to the South being punished. If they were punished it would do good things for the slaves, like education. It would be a good punishment for the south to have to clean up damaged cities, roads, or railways because it was their fault for starting the war so they should clean up what they did. It would also be good to be punished because for making the slaves work so hard for so long that they should be the ones paying higher taxes and get something a little in return for what they did to the slaves. A good punishment that has to go along with slavery is the Owners should swap places with the slaves for a good amount of time and feel what it’s like to go through with the pain and humility that they gave people.
Fran Wanetick
3rd hour
About hurricane Katrina, I think that mainly, the federal government is to blame for this catastrophe. The government and FEMA should’ve been there on day 1. If they truly knew what they were doing then they would have been in New Orleans the day before, trying to evacuate as many people as possible before it even happened. I think that one of the reasons that this storm and its aftermath were so unpleasant was that the people weren’t evacuated before the storm. In class, we read an article about a hurricane chaser who went to New Orleans before the storm got there. He and his camera crew went to their hotel that they had reservations at. When he got there, he was appalled at the sight. There were so many people there. They gave away his room. The city and state governments didn’t evacuate many. He knew then that it was going to be a disaster. This is why all three are partly to blame for this bash of unorganization. It took so long to get to the Gulf Coastal region because most of the National Guard was in Iraq. Our National Guard was helping another country while a great city in our own country drowned. Think about that.
Sam C. 1st hr.
The N- word is a wrong no matter who says it. However I believe if the N- word is said in a way were it is not meant to intentionally hurt anyone it’s just another word. I look at the N-word as another cuss word , if a person uses it in a nasty racists way them I have a major problem. I think that no one should use the N-word, but I myself as an African American amongst other African Americans do use it, and I do not believe that its fair I say the N-word and other races cannot. It is in my nature to say it because it is excepted among my culture , but that doesn’t make it ok and I am making a conscience effort to STOP. I do consider the power behind it, as I say it. I remember my ancestors were called it in a nasty way ,and think what would they say now ? When African Americans say to each other. I do not believe that the N- word is dead. Us, a the younger generation should try and put it to rest, but until we all come together to stop the use of
the word then it will never be dead.
Lauren Babb
1st hour
The question i picked was who is really to blame in the Hurricane Katrina debacle? The federal, state or city government? All three? The people who stayed? What about the people who couldn't leave? Why did it take so long for help to get to the Gulf Coast region when FEMA got help to Florida rather quickly in 2004 after their four huge hurricanes?
I think its alot of peoples fault. First its the mayors fault because he raised it to a mandatory evacuation, and he didnt get everyone out even though on saturday night, 2 days before it hit, it was said that this Hurricane will be the WORST ever. It is also Bushs fault because for one he is the one who elected Michael Brown, who was in the oil ring, Brown didnt have any previous training with National Disasters, yet he was still elected. Also, its Browns fault or lying to the public and others we might now know about. Lastly, it is alittle of the Publics fault who didnt get out even if they could.
Michael Treacher
5th Hour
Hurricane Katrina was one f the most devastating storms ever to hit America.
It was a category five hurricane, which is the strongest there is. Katrina caused so much damage to New Orleans. Is there really someone to blame for the way people responded to this? I don’t think there is on person to blame for the way people reacted to this event, but I definitely think more could have been done. The federal government could have done so much to help the victims of Katrina. They didn’t do anything about for four days and then the President said that they just found out about it four days after it happened. That is very hard to believe because it was all over the news. The federal government could have easily sent rescue troops and supplies into New Orleans but didn’t. In my opinion, they didn’t make saving the victim’s lives and rebuilding New Orleans a top priority. The state and local governments are also to blame. The state didn’t send any resources or rescue troops either. The state didn’t even have a plan for a disaster like this. They didn’t warn the civilians to evacuate, they didn’t help the people that couldn’t evacuate, and they didn’t even put a mandatory evacuation into play. FEMA was made for these kinds of emergencies. They should have been right on sending troops and resources in to help people but they procrastinated and claimed that they weren’t informed, and didn’t know what supplies to send in. Even though those were lies.
Now the people of New Orleans should have been ready for this, and should have taken precautionary procedures to get ready for a hurricane like this. They knew it was going to hit, so the people should have taken more measures to escape New Orleans and the hurricanes path.
Jason S.
1st hour
I don’t believe that the South should have been punished for their actions. The North won the war and it was time for unification. If a kid falls down do you laugh or make fun of him? No, you would heal his scrapes. That is what needed to happen with the South. No good ever comes from fighting. If is the North bullied the South it could have triggered a second war, and neither sides would have been prepared for that. There were also some benefits in forgiving the South. One thing that could have benefited was the economy. By striving to fix the post war economy people would have been brought together. Also the North received natural sources from reuniting with the South. The military became stronger by combining Northern and Southern generals. In addition I believe that the south had already been severely punished by the war itself. They lost slavery, which was the drive behind their economy. Since the Union was back together if you punish the south, you’re punishing all of the country. One of the main reasons the North went to battle was the preserve the Union. They accomplished the goal, but had they punished the South it would not be long until it broke again.
Barbara Moore
3rd hour
I think that everyone is to blame for Hurricane Katrina. The federal, city, and state all knew that the hurricane was coming and that it would be a category five meaning that it would be one of the largest hurricanes ever in the United States. Although they had this information, there was no evacuation. The city, state and federals should have helped the people evacuate, but they did not. The people in the city evacuated if they could but this caused chaos. The people who were not able to evacuate tried to take shelter. I believe that there should have been planes, busses and many other means of transportation to get the people out of the city and into safety. This was not done, so the people who were unable to leave the city were stranded in the hot and humid weather with little food, and only the clothes on their backs. FEMA did not get to New Orleans quickly because they said that the help was not specifically asked. The organization needed a list of specific needs instead of just asking for ‘help’. This is unacceptable and the people should have been helped instead they were stranded for days. If another disaster like this happens again, we should be better prepared.
Allison K.
3rd Hour
Blog Question #3: Hurricane Katrina
A third question we examined is: who is really to blame in the Hurricane Katrina debacle? The federal, state or city government? All three? The people who stayed? What about the people who couldn't leave? Why did it take so long for help to get to the Gulf Coast region when FEMA got help to Florida rather quickly in 2004 after their four huge hurricane.
Even though nothing could have been done about the disaster itself, the way certain people responded should have been different for Hurricane Katrina. One of the biggest problems was FEMA. FEMA is a group that is supposed to help people in disasters, and be prepared for disasters, and give them recourses. They were definitely not prepared at all, and they shouldn’t have made up excuses for not being prepared. They kept saying that they didn’t know about it, but they should have. Another person to blame was President Bush. If I was one of the people in New Orleans and I saw him fly over me while I was suffering like those people were, I would be furious. President Bush should have been more involved with Hurricane Katrina like he was for 9/11. Also, the only reason why Hurricane Katrina was such a big deal was because of when the levees broke. Somebody in New Orleans should have known how strong they were and if they would break. The town was in a state of disaster and nobody knew what to do. They started putting people in shelter, but the shelters filled up quickly and then they had nothing to do with them. The last person to blame is the National Guard because they were just trying to save themselves, when their job is to save others. There are so many reasons why the Hurricane was such a disaster but I think theses are the main reasons.
Sara Dziubek
3rd hour
What about the N-word? Should it ever be used? By whom? When and why? Consider the history of the word and the power behind it. Even though the NAACP held a burial for it this summer, does that mean it's really dead?
A n...r is a name for a black slave from 100+ years ago.
It was said out of hate because hate was a lot of what was given to them, but... there were those who, still refer to Afrcn. Amcn as "N...s", that dont not hate them.
And, just because there are no "N" Today, doesn't mean that the word should be banned, but of course, people are going to take offense for something that didn't happen directly to them.
Everyone's using nigga now, we gotta stop the people that are allowed to use it, so that the people that can't stop also!". I mean, come on ? What do you actually expect? For us to erase the word completely from everyone's brain? It's obvious that's impossible.Get a grip, a n***r isn't an object, and a n***a isn't a substance. They are both WORDS.
ashley davis
5th hr
Lastly, what about the N-word? Should it ever be used? By whom? When and why? Consider the history of the word and the power behind it. Even though the NAACP held a burial for it this summer, does that mean it's really dead?
I don't think the N-Word should be used at all. No matter your race. It is a hateful word that was created by racists to distinguish how blacks were diffrent from whites. It is just a reminder of the past. It shouldn't be said by blacks whites, english, french or anybody is my point. It is shocking how many times you can hear it. I have heard it on tv I have heard it in school, I have even heard it in public places like restaurants, stores and baseball games. It should be put to rest. Which it was by the NAACP. They had a funeral for the word. But I don't think it will stop with just that. Teens are so used to the word it wont die that easily. Specialy when people are so influenced by music and it is used a lot in songs.now look at it from living ancestorys it hurts them so much to hear it because it was so hate full back then and now they hear their grandsons and daughters hearing it This truly is a discrace. I for one think no one should ever say it again.
Carter. K
"who is really to blame in the Hurricane Katrina debacle? The federal, state or city government? All three? The people who stayed? What about the people who couldn't leave? Why did it take so long for help to get to the Gulf Coast region when FEMA got help to Florida rather quickly in 2004 after their four huge hurricanes?"
I think that All three levels of government are to blame, the federal, state, and city. Obviously the city and state is to blame because they could see all that was going on in New Orleans during this time and they saw all the people who needed help. Although the federal government might not seem to be responsible for a single city, they should be because that city is still apart of the country and when one part of the country is in trouble, it’s the responsibility of the rest of the country to help. I think that one of the big problems that wasn’t taken care of was that they needed to get the people in New Orleans evacuated before the storm hit. They knew a hurricane was coming and they even knew it was going to be big, but they still didn’t make evacuation mandatory. FEMA says that the reason they could not get help to the Gulf Coast region as fast as they got help to Florida in 2004 was because they didn’t find out about the crisis until it had been a few days after the hurricane hit which is hard to believe since most people knew about the hurricane and all the damages it had from watching the news just a few days after.
Hurricane Katrina was a devastating day for America and hopefully the government will have a more efficient and helpful way of dealing with Natural disasters for in the future.
Rachael Tyndall
1st hour
I think everyone was to blame for Hurricane Katrina, George Bush, Ray Nagin and FEMA. They all new it was coming and if they didn’t they could’ve found out. Ray Nagin could’ve evacuated most of New Orleans in early enough time but he decided to contact the business community to see if he would get sued for getting rid of their customers in case the hurricane wasn’t so bad. They knew how bad the hurricane was. They also know that New Orleans is below sea level and if a hurricane came through there it would be destroyed. About George Bush, I have no idea what to say about him. 4 days after finding out about the hurricane he decides to fly over New Orleans. Yes flying over to see what it looked like was swell but there was so much more he could’ve done. Also Dick Cheney, Carl Rove and Condoleezza Rice, what was up with them? Fly fishing, Broadway and shoe shopping! Yes I know it is Condoleezza’s job is to deal with foreign affairs but this is the country that’s government she is apart of. Police officers and firemen and just regular people from all over the country including Michigan were down there helping out when they didn’t need to. Couldn’t she stop mid jimmy choo to take a trip down there. And honestly I don’t even think the fact that she is black should have to do with it black or white she should be down there helping out. Michael Brown, what to say about him? There are lots of things to say. The only word I can think of is imbecile or even miscreant could be an appropriate word. What was going through his mind during that time? I’m sure he was overwhelmed, who wouldn’t be, but this is his job he needs to be ready for this. Also his lame excuse to all the reporters, Soledad O'Brien's reaction was priceless; she almost blew up on him, actually she kind of did! And to the people that didn’t believe the hurricane was going to be a huge thing so they decided to stay at home, as I mentioned before a) you are below sea level and b) It is a hurricane you have to do whatever it takes to get out of there! After watching that documentary by Spike Lee (I never really paid much attention when stuff about Katrina was on the news before) I wish I was more aware of it. It was just a horrible thing that happened and I wish I could’ve done something.
Theresa 3rd hour
A third question we examined is: who is really to blame in the Hurricane Katrina debacle? The federal, state or city government? All three? The people who stayed? What about the people who couldn't leave? Why did it take so long for help to get to the Gulf Coast region when FEMA got help to Florida rather quickly in 2004 after their four huge hurricanes?
Who's to blame for Hurrican Katrina, well honestly i think that FEMA has a huge part in the blame. When Michael Brown was interviwed he has said three times that he found out about Katrina a couple days later. He shouldn't even been interviewed if he had no idea what he was talking about. FEMA should have been out there the day Katrina struck New Orleans. FEMA really shows how much they can handle natural disasters. This is their job and they should be taking care of what they should be doing. Also, George Bush should be blamed for this too. He ONLY flew over New Orleans and did nothing to help. He didnt have resources such as food, clothing, water, etc. sent to them. If he was the actual good president that he should be, he would have sent them resources to them on time. At that time, the government was very disfuntional. I feel bad for the people in New Orleans. They must have been very dissapointed, frusturated, dehydrated, and very angry. Why did it take so long for help to get to the gulf coast? Probably because FEMA doesnt even have a clue what was happening and they weren't in the country. The Hurrican was a huge disaster and it still hasnt been cleared up, but if we did have a FUNCTIONAL government we would have had so many more lives saved.
HURRICANE KATRINA:
I think that there were many people who are in the federal government to blame, but I think most of all, FEMA was held most responsible. Many people have jobs that require certain things, and require providing certain needs to other people. In this case, FEMA’s job was to attend service and help New Orleans citizens. The fact that FEMA didn’t know about Hurricane Katrina till 4 days later is pretty ridiculous. They helped Florida in 2004 when 4 hurricanes hit, and that’s a big issue to deal with. Yet FEMA wasn’t dependable, they did eventually support and send troops out. If FEMA could help after 4 major hurricanes, I don’t see how they wouldn’t be able to immediately achieve helping a community after 1 hurricane. FEMA’s representative lied, and was sketchy because he lied repetitively, 4 times on national television saying different excuses each time. From what I hear, FEMA was a great success when 9-11 hit, but I also hear that FEMA is now, not very reliable. When Hurricane Andrew hit in 1992 in Miami, Florida, FEMA didn’t provide help until a few days later and they clearly said that they needed specific requirements to help the community. Because they did not receive specific details and information, they didn’t help till days later. This kind of FEMA crisis also occurred when Hurricane Katrina struck. In conclusion, FEMA seems pretty unreliable when it comes to their job. This is a problem for the country because we cannot control natural disasters, but we can try to fix the mess it created with the right people in charge.
3rd hour- Casey Harrelson
Honestly I feel that The Federal Government is to blame for hurricane Katrina. I feel that George W. Bush and Mike Brown are the main ones. George bush us supposed to be the president of the United states when one of the states was in need he couldn't get there but when the Tsunami hit we were there and helping within to days.That was almost half way around the world but when New Orleans needs help he can't get there until 4 days later. When New Orleans Is not even half way across the country. As for Mike Brown he really did'nt have any idea what he was doing . Also i Blame the people who built the levees because the levees were supposed to be able to take a type four hurricane but these ones broke at a strong type two hurricane. I feel that the people who were in charge felt like this type of thing could NEVER happen to New Orleans and when it happened I think that they felt stupid cause now it is costing the govenement all this money when they could have just built the levees right the first time!
I believe that teh Federal , state and city government are to blame for Hurricane Katrina debacle.I believe they are responsible because , they took to long to respond to the situation. Also the state should have taken better precaution to hurricanes especially to a city that sits below sea level. I also think that when a city sit below sea level they should be smart enough to know to be prepared and have a plan foe evacuating in such circumstances. I believe that it is a major part of the mayor and governors job to pretect and do what is best for their city /state, which means that they should have evacuated even if the national government and weather experts told you not to. They should have taken it into thought that they cant evacuate last minute because there are people who are in hospitals, inured , preganant,elderly , infants etc... people that cant travel at least not on short notice. Also i believe that certain things shouldnt have been a problem like with the buses , the mayor said that they had enough buses but not enough drivers, i think that was stupid because they should have planned to have enough drivers and i can promise you that there was somebody out there who was capable of driving a bus.Also just because you dont have enough drivers doesnt mean that you can not use what you have, by the time they realied it , the buses were on flooded land , which wasnt smart on their part, because they should have been on higher ground. So I think that no one particular is at fault for Katrina it should have been a group effort ,which it proved not to be. There was a lack of communication.BUt in the end there were many people that stepped up to help where the government didnt.
Symonne M. Smith 3rd
I think that the South be forgiven and somewhat punished even though if we punish them then that could start another conflict between the North and the South. I believe that the South should be forgiven because the South is a major place where the North gets its resources that it wants and needs to use. The South also has a higher percentage of men killed or wounded in the battle from the North. I believe that the South should also be punished because slavery is just wrong and they should be punished for letting it happen. Also the South started the war and cause many deaths. The South also succedded which left the Union doing something illegal which made them look bad. If anyone should be punished in the South it should be the slaveowners because they basically started the war by having slaves.
That is why i think that the South should be both punished and forgiven.
Ian Perfitt
U.S. History 1st hour
No i do not think that the south should have been forgiven for what they did. One reason that i think they should not be forgiven is because they did not give the slaves a second chance or in other words they didn't forgive the slaves when they.Plus they had many chances to abolish slavery and they did not take the north up on those offers.Forgiving the south for slavery is like forgiving O.J. simpson for repeatidly doing the same crime over and over again knowing that it is wrong and knowing the consequences of his actions.So this is why i think we should not forgive the south for slavery.
1st hour
Andrew K.
"Hurricane Katrina"
The way I see it is that everyone is at fault for the Hurricane Katrina disaster. There is not just one person to blame. If one person passed information on to another person who that person said a different thing to another person..etc, you see my point. Its just like the game telephone. There are ways that things can be misinterpreted. It is FEMA's fault that they weren't ready with supply's for the victims. It was the National Guards fault that they didn't have enough time to get there to help evacuate people. The same goes for the Army. When all the people were asking for help, to me it was like, why didn't you help yourself when you knew you had the chance to? I do understand that there are some people who couldn't help themselves and evacuate, but the people that could have no excuse on not leaving when they had the opportunity to.
The state knew about the hurricane, so why wasn't there any coordination, no planning ahead of time? even though everyone is at fault for this, the thing that was confusing was why did it take so long to get help the New Orleans?
after watching the movie and reading about it, I don't think that anyone could really explain or answer this question.
Brooke Hunt
1st hour
Should the South be forgiven or punished for rebelling? What do you think?
I think that the South should be forgiven because they have already gone through a lot of troubles, they’ve had their slaves freed, they’re land has been burnt down along with their livestock, and now if they want to have workers on their farms they will have to pay the workers. With having to the pay the workers, they’re profits will go way down because they used to have to pay nothing for their work to get done. You also can’t really punish the South for what they believed in. It is a smart idea to forgive the South because they have resources that the North needs. The North has just as much blame to take as the South does for the Civil War starting and the South rebelling. Forgiving the South is the best way to heal the situation for reconstruction and shortens the process better than war would. When the war had ended, it left the South such a catastrophe. With these problems of coming back to the South and trying to start up a living again they had to rebuild mostly everything they had before, there was no slavery for them to have free labor, and most of the southern land had been burnt down. This is why I think that the South has already been punished enough and that they have learned from their mistakes.
Derek M.
1st Hour
I believe that the south should be forgiven because they were told that it was ok to miss treat people (southern African Americans) cruelly. The southern people meaning their governments have made it clear that they can do what ever they want to different races of culture under their illegal servitude! But I also believe that they should be punished for their inhuman methods. They most likely knew that what they were doing was not right. They had a choice, as to were they could perform these heinous acts or NOT! My overall statement is that when Andrew Johnson was president he could have easily stopped racism in the south but he chose to protect it. To me that is poor judgment on the president’s account! Thankfully Johnson’s term was about over but it would have terminated earlier. Johnson fired secretary of war Edmond Stanton from office this was just another way to make the south much more powerful. Luckily Ulysses S. Grant was appointed president. Before Lincoln died he passed the 13th amendment, which gave the slaves freedom, and it finally abolished slavery! However Grant passed the 14th amendment and that gave the southern African Americans the right to vote! And to me that to me is a very good thing.
Bryan Marburger
3rd hour
The question I chose, was question three, because, it has the greatest impact on me. I think that all governments should be to blame, because the government official closest to the situation wasn’t informing the higher government of what needed to be happening. The city government was telling the president what needed to be done, but the president was acting as though nothing terrible was happening in disaster area. The city government was telling the state government what needed to happen and that message was not being passed on to the next government level. I think that main person to blame is the federal government because, they were acting like nothing out of the ordinary was going wrong, it took the president four days to even fly over the disaster area, and see how great the damages were. Still I think all three governments were to blame for how the response efforts went. I think the people, who stayed, were advised to get out and didn’t take that advice and they had to suffer the consequences of their poor choice. The people, who were physically unable to leave, had no choice but to stay because they had no way to get out besides assistance, which was the police’s job to handle and they didn’t handle that correctly. FEMA’s answer to why the relief efforts took so long, was that the government officials were not asking the for the right supplies. Their excuse was, yes they were asking for help, but FEAM apparently didn’t know what they needed. I think FEMA just didn’t really care if they helped Louisiana, they obviously knew that the basic supplies were needed such as water and food but didn’t even put in an effort to get the supplies to Louisiana.
Megan Kemper
5th hr
Another burning question we ran into was one about whether or not the South should be forgiven or punished for rebelling? What do you think?
i think that the south should be punished for rebelling because they made it so hundreads of thousands of people died and they also made it so that we have to rebuild almost the entire south. They made bad things up like racism and a hate for other parts of the country. SO i think that they should have to find a way to fix it by themselfs as a punishment.
Josh L.
5th hour
Who is really to blame in the Hurricane Katrina debacle? Is it the federal, state or city government? Is it all three? The people who stayed? What about the people who couldn't leave? Why did it take so long for help to get to the Gulf Coast region when FEMA got help to Florida rather quickly in 2004 after their four huge hurricanes?
Hurricane Katrina was one of the worst disasters, and chaotic failures and humiliating failures our country has had to face, and we handled it very poorly. The federal and city governments are the ones to blame, along with FEMA. The federal government, which includes the National Guard Post, didn’t do anything at first, because they were to busy thinking about themselves and trying to save themselves to help anybody else. The city government is at fault because the first thing the mayor did is consult with his lawyers on whether or not he would get sued by travel businesses if he made everyone evacuate too early. He though about his business standpoint before he even thought about his own city and his own people. FEMA is especially to blame because they acted like a bunch of idiots. Michael Brown, said multiple times on TV that they “just found out” about the situation, but in an interview with CNN he says he “misspoke”. How the heck does somebody “misspeak” that many times over a course of a day and a half? The woman from CNN told him that they have known since the beginning, and that their 23-year old intern set up a folder for her with more information than FEMA had, and she asked him how CNN had better Intel than FEMA. Obviously FEMA was a mess, and it caused the deaths of thousands, and put thousands more through much more than anyone should go through. But also that the federal and city governments were thinking too much about themselves when they should have been thinking about the people who were affected more disastrously by Katrina.
Ben Goddard – 3rd Hour
Blake Bogart
3rd hour
I think that the policy of total war was justified when Sherman used during his march to Atlanta. The Civil war was costing hundreds of thousands of lives on the battlefields. The North was trying to end the war quickly by demoralizing the South rather than to continue fighting traditionally, which would cost many more lives. The Union leaders knew that wars are not won or lost on the battlefield, they are won or lost inside the opposing factions. When you destroy, one side’s will to fight then they will lose. It doesn’t matter how many battles you’ve won or what strategic positions you control if, your people have given up due to the hardships of war. Therefore the South’s people had to be stopped from supplying the war in order for the war to end. There is a point however, when total war goes too far. Peaceful civilians should not be caught up in total war because more often than not they are just innocent bystanders in the conflict. Unfortunately, many civilians are killed accidentally or maliciously by the invading army because war is not a clean or controllable thing.
Jumi Cadmus
3rd hr.
I think the N-word should not be used by anyone at anytime because of the meaning of the word. This hateful word is the word white plantation owners used to call black slaves. Using this word may be an insult to anyone. Also many people, both black and white, take offense to this word. African Americans usually get very offended by this word when a white person uses it.I don't believe the word is dead because it is still there and I still hear it being used. I also, I believe that it is impossible to forget such a deep and powerful word. To try to ignore it, will be truly difficult. The only time people use it today, is when they have changed the meaning or if don't know the real meaning of it. In other words, they "mis-use" it. These are the reasons why i think the N-word should not be used.
When disasters and tragedies like Katrina happen, it is always hard to establish who’s to blame.
Three months after the hurricane there were still questions that people kept wondering :
Why wasn’t a faster evacuation possible?
Why were so many people left behind?
Where was the national guard? And the army? Why did US military wait so long?
People that were living those horrible days started wondering whether there was anybody out there who was listening or anybody who cared about their situation.
We can’t find the real source of aids’ delay, but beginning from the New Orleans National Guard Post, who didn’t take the Hurricane’s violence and power as a serious threat, we can just see people literally were stopped by lots of bureaucratic walls. There was a big failure of the communication system in the city after Katrina’s impact.
Because of rivers floating across the city, people were lucky if they could make emergency calls. Most of them weren’t able to pick up the phone and ask for help. Those scared people were not just hungry, frustrated and angry, they needed food, water, medicines and as much resources as the government could send.
However, the bureaucrats need paper work not just calls for help. They needed to have what the New Orleans’s populations needed written down exactly, which was quite impossible.
FEMA’s director denied having received request for help. However documents and papers show that he did get received request so he was clearly lying.
Maybe one of the main cause of this misunderstanding was because during 1980s and early 90s the president nominated, as heads of these associations, friends (not qualified people) who paid him back by helping him getting elected.
Marta Elia
3rd hour
Although I disagree with the South in many ways, in the situation of forgivness and blame, I think the South should be forgiven for rebelling. Although I think they got what they deserved, the South did suffer towards the conclusion of the war. Many areas in the South were harshly destroyed and burned down. It was an adjustment to lose their slaves because that meant a decrease in money, food, and any economical future they once had. To add to the loss of money and slaves, the South had lost a great deal of the population and all the benefits that went to that. The dead bodies that remained after the war were taken care of by the Southeners. There were no troops and no FEMA to send it just because the going got tough. This was a time of union indepenence, and the South was not in any time soon going to recieve the aid they truely did need. Its unfortunate the South had to endure such a loss, and because of that I think they should be forgiven.
Julia Henning 5th Hour
(New Version)
“Should the Southern people be stopped from helping the Confederates by providing food, clothes, and other material that could prolong the war? Why or why not? And how much is too much? Do you start killing civilians?”
I think that the total war waged by General Sherman was justified because I feel that it was necessary in order for the Union to win the Civil War. Things that go along with total war such as burning houses, killing livestock, and destroying railroads I feel caused the war to end quicker than if total war was not used. These sacrifices of total war were necessary in order to tip the scale in the Union’s favor. Also, these tactics of total war weakened the Confederate army indirectly by destroying some of the resources that they needed in order to fight sufficiently. These strategies of destroying some of the materials that the South needed, led to a decrease in time spent on the battlefield, which is many times a good thing. I know that many people would agree with me when I say that anything that can cut down the amount time that soldiers are spending on the battlefield, is surely a plus. However, I would consider things to be out of hand once innocent civilians are being killed. In my opinion, it is never necessary to start killing innocent bystanders, even if it is key to gaining an edge on the opponent.
David M.
3rd
The N-Word
The N-Word has been used for several years by all races. The meaning of the word usually signifies a racial term, that was used by former slave owners and whites who felt that African Americans were beneath them and because they thought that African Americans were ignorant. The N-Word is usually said as Ni*$r of N*gg@.
The N-Word should never be used because of the meaning of the word. I believe that it should also be used by no one because it’s a hurt full name to call some one. You’re also calling that person ignorant and no one wants to be called ignorant. Even though the word refers to blacks it shouldn’t be used by blacks because you’re calling another person what people referred to you many years ago.
The word shouldn’t be used at anytime I think besides discussing the word maybe in history that the word is pertaining to such as slaves and racism. The burial that was held in Detroit I believe was a good start for people to stop using the word. It signified that people wanted to get rid of the word and that maybe this could be a start to end racism. Although the word was buried doesn’t mean that people will stop using it.
I believe the reason behind that is that people have became accustomed to using that word, referring to their friends or family. The word is usually heard in rap music that many of blacks listen to so I think that has something to do with other people using it. I don’t think people will ever stop using the word.
Channel
1st Hour
I think that all three governments are to blame for the tragedy in New Orleans. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, seems to be responsible for part of the castrophic event. If he had gotten involved earlier, then there wouldn't have been as much damage. He claimed that government officals did not know that such a storm could occur and cause the amount of damage it did, even though officals were warned that the leeves were built only to with stand a catergory 3 hurricane while Katrina was a catergory 4. Michael Brown, head of FEMA, is also to blame for the delayed response to this disaster. Throughout the whole time he kepting claiming that they were carrying out a proceedsure designed for a situation like this instead of admitting that they had to make up a new plan to deal with this situation. If they were following a previously designed plan, wouldn't it have been more effective and put to use way sooner?
I think that the main reason that FEMA was able to get help to Florida way sooner than it did to New Orleans, is because Hurricane Katrina caught them completely off guard. It seems that since Florida had four huge hurricanes in a row, FEMA had time to plan out what they were going to do in order to make their help more efficent. So after the hurricanes cleared, they could get right to it and start helping out all the damaged cities. Where as for New Orleans, they claimed that it would be fine during a flood so they didn’t worry about it as much. Also Hurricane Katrina happened so fast that didn’t have much time to plan out how they were going to fix it.
Amanda
1st Hour
I think that the N-word can be used but only by the right people. The N-word should be able to be used by African Americans. I don’t see why not. If a white man, or Latino, or Muslim, says it to a black man than it’s a racial insult. If a black man says calls another black man n****r it does not mean anything. In today’s Hip-Hop world and its culture n****r is a greeting to fellow African American brothers and sisters. I mean its not proper to say it all the time, cause no African American wants to be called a n****r the rest of their life, but I don’t think it should be banned. Even though the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) buried the N-word last summer, that doesn’t mean n****s not going to say n****s no more. I think the NAACP is doing a good job of making a better verdict on colored people, but you have to ask if they burry n****r don’t they have to burry “Negro”, “Jew”, etc. I think its good that people are trying to break racial barriers, but I never think their going to prevail over the status quo of racial terms.
Gabe
2nd Hour
Who is really to blame in the Hurricane Katrina debacle? The federal, state or city government? All three? The people who stayed? What about the people who couldn't leave? Why did it take so long for help to get to the Gulf Coast region when FEMA got help to Florida rather quickly in 2004 after their four huge hurricanes?
I think that all three are to be blamed, they didn't do anything about it, it seems like they didn't even care. For example, it took George W Bush 4 days to fly to the disaster area and plus, he hasn't done anything. I think he just went there to make a good impression. In my opinion, I think he should have walked on the streets and seen directly how people were, what the needed... so he would exactly know the situation. By flying over the disaster, he couldn't really realize what happened. But I think that people had to evacuate faster than they did,not just wait for the help that didn't even come.
Stephan 5th Hour
Question # 2
I think that what the South did in the Civil War was terrible. Its' one thing to fight for a just cause, but the Southerners had no good reason for secession. I realize that yes, we would have to forgive the South at one point, but I also think they got off to easy. The South fought for slavery, which is wrong, they also cost America a lot of money and the lives of good men. At the time of reconstruction, I think that the Union should have punished the South by either taking land away from them, not letting them vote, or somehing. My point is that the South should have been punished.
TJ Hyland 5th Hour
Total War is when you destroy everything in your path. For example: burning down buildings, destroying crops, and destroying means of transportation. The question is should Sherman have used total war against the south?
Ulysses Grant knew that the war would only end when the
Confederates supplies were cut off General Sherman was smart to burn down all the supplies and transportation in the South. It was bad to ruin everything in the South but it did make the war end sooner. This kept people from suffering longer. When he ruined the South by burning farms, killing animals and ruining the railroads he was trying to get the war over faster and win it by cutting the South's supplies. Sherman thought this would be the only way the war would end. His strategy worked and the Union did win the war.
The Southern people should not be killed for helping the confederates, they were trying to help the people that they wanted to win the war. If you start killing innocent civilians that is crossing the line, cutting the supplies for the Confederates is one thing but killing innocent people who aren't even hurting you are wrong.
Pat R.
5th hour
In 2005, the third largest hurricane to hit the U.S. devastated the New Orleans region of Louisiana. Not only was it one of the strongest storms in years, but also it was heading for a city below sea level. Once the levees broke, 80% of the city was under water. Around 2,000 died from the storm. For the many unlucky, or unprivileged people who could not evacuate, if the storm didn’t kill you then there was a good chance the miscommunications, and waiting around for help would. During, and after the storm, the superdome was sheltering thousands of people. There was no food, water, or any clarity that help was coming. In other hurricanes, organizations like FEMA were there immediately to help. This was not the case for Katrina. I think the government involved with tragedies are at fault. Things should have been running much more smoothly. It has been discussed that there was not much motivation because of the people, and the economy in New Orleans. In my opinion I do not think the locals are at fault. I think help was asked for in a number of ways, and the government became too overwhelmed with the problem. In the heat the thousands of injured, starving people should have been taken care of way faster then they were. I was not in the south at this time, but to me watching these events on TV I thought much more could have been done by FEMA, and assisting parts of government with supplying water, and food. The whole thing looked like a big mess that the rest of the country just didn’t want to deal with. I do believe however that because of the mistakes that were made, that there will never be another disappointment as severe as this one again.
Paige D. 1st Hour.
A third question we examined is: who is really to blame in the Hurricane Katrina debacle? The federal, state or city government? All three? The people who stayed? What about the people who couldn't leave? Why did it take so long for help to get to the Gulf Coast region when FEMA got help to Florida rather quickly in 2004 after their four huge hurricanes?
I think that federal, state and city governments are all responsible for certain things that went wrong. However I do think that the federal government was the one who truly messed up. They are in charge of FEMA, the organization specifically designed for situations such as this. FEMA did not even arrive at the Katrina site until the fourth day. I personally find it a little ridiculous that the organization wasn’t there. That would be like not showing up for your job for four days, except for in their case, people are dying. I also think that these people must have been idiots to stay. I realize they were not properly evacuated but they still knew a hurricane was coming. I personally would have been out of there along with everyone I knew. I think that it would have been a easy decision. If it was a matter of whether or not I thought the storm was going to be that bad, I still would have left just in case. The part I do understand is the people who physically couldn’t get out. I think that falls under the responsibility of the city government. Overall FEMA was under much worst leadership than in 2004 and it cost New Orleans thousands of lives.
Sarah Zamler
In my opinion, the people who I think is to blame of Hurricane Katrina are all three governments. I think since everyone knew about this horrible hurricane in advance that the federal government could’ve woken up and realized that they need to start preparing for this because it is going to not only effect the city of New Orleans but also almost everyone in the United States. It affects everyone because people could have families or businesses down there. The state is to blame because they didn’t realize how strong and treacherous these winds and how much damage it really could do. In the city of New Orleans half of the people that could have left wouldn’t leave, they didn’t realize how bad it was going to be. I think the city mayor needed to tell everyone that it is extremely important that they evacuate immediately, rather than warning them a few hours in advance. I don’t think FEMA had an excuse as oppose to why they were not there right away. FEMA is supposed to be the organization that is always prepared for disasters far in advance. People involved in FEMA claim that they had no communication with anyone that had any relevance towards the hurricane. The Head of FEMA Michael Brown said that they found out through the media, I find that hard to believe that news stations would find out more information about disasters before FEMA.
People in Florida waited five days before FEMA came and realized how damaging the 2004 Hurricanes were. Local residents’ waited and waited to receive the resources and supplies they needed in order to survive. The fact that they could not get it for five days when everyone in the nation knew about these hurricanes before they hit, is just ridiculous.
The question I will opinionate on is about the N-word. I believe this term was first used back when white owners used to call their slaves that. It was a word that was used to call black people. Back in the days it was used regularely to define a person of black descent.
Nowadays the N-word is more offensive to African Americans. Usually people don't make a big deal if an African American used the word. But I think it is unnecessary for anybody to say it.
I don't think just because the NAACP held a burial for the word that it will never be used again. Of course it will. It does mean something that the city wanted to abolish the term, but that doesn't affect what people say. I have heard this term degrading as the months go on; in songs, movies, etc.
The N-word is a word of racism that will go on for a while until it is gone for sure. Hopefully one day it will have a real burial and will be forgotten by the Nation.
Anthony Deza
1st Hour
Lastly, what about the N-word? Should it ever be used? By whom? When and why? Consider the history of the word and the power behind it. Even though the NAACP held a burial for it this summer, does that mean it's really dead?
I don’t think the n-word should be used by anyone. It shouldn’t be used by African Americans or Caucasian People. The origin of the word was bad. It was used to put black people in their places and I am appalled that black people, white people, and rappers are still using that horrible, ugly word that use to put people down and keep blacks in their place. I am especially sad that black people are using it. I have never used that word. African Americans have worked long and hard to have equal rights and now we’re using the word it took so long to get rid of. Our ancestors worked to fight that word and here we are using it like it’s nothing. No body should be able to use that word. Rappers shouldn’t use that word either. It is not good. The NAACP buried that word, but I still do not think the word is gone from everybody’s lips and mind. It will not truly be buried until we as a Nation finally discover that it is wrong to use no matter who you are and what you look like. It is a bad word in all respects and aspects.
Whitney S.
1st hour
There are many people to blame for the tragedy of hurricane Katrina. First off it was not a good situation to start off in anyway because with a hurricane the big there aren’t many good ways it could turn out. The damage to al the house and property can be rested on no one at all it was just something that couldn’t be stopped. I think some blame could go on the people the built the city of New Orleans under sea level knowing that something like this could happen. Another blame could be the people that said the levies could hold category 5 hurricanes when they knew it couldn’t.
The blame for the injured and killed people is mostly on the government, specifically the sate government. At a city level they can not do too many things to get people out of the city and it wasn’t just one city that the hurricane hit. The state government could at least put out a warning of the hurricane and warn people how sever it will be. In the section of the book we herd it said that days before the hurricane was in there were still people checking into rooms at hotels not getting out of the sate. Another blame should go on the people that had the ability to get out of the state because they are just stubborn, lazy, or just have no common sense. Those people deserved what they got because they are stupid. The people that couldn’t get out have to blame the government because they had nothing to do but sit there and be devastated. The government should have sent transportation or something to get the people out of harms way.
With all the people that could have been blame set aside, we have to stop pointing fingers and find a way to prevent it from happening again. So the bottom line is we can’t point finger when there are more important things to do.
Chris Elliott
After one of America's cruelest and gruesome wars, American Civil War, it left the south devastated and needed more help than punishment in my opinion. The South had lost the war and lost money in their economy and really didn't need numerous. I can agree with some punishment but they are part of our country and when we punished the south we also punished our selves. I can understand if the U.S punishes former slave owners by giving land to former slaves and paying higher taxes for African American’s education, but the U.S would want the confederate's economy to heal rather than ruin it. Also punishment would have prevented much of the violence that white southerners caused against African-Americans. If such punishments didn’t exist maybe the Ku Klux Klan wouldn’t have been created back then. Although for the most part punishments were bad they were also good, like sending federal troops during reconstruction because there was less violence when they were in the south. Still whether or not there was extensive punishment or forgiveness it still wouldn’t have solved racism, segregation and discrimination in the south, but maybe less punishment would have taken America into a better direction to quickly heal the wounds of war.
Collin P. -3rd
“Lastly, what about the N-word? Should it ever be used? By whom? When and why? Consider the history of the word and the power behind it. Even though the NAACP held a burial for it this summer, does that mean it's really dead?”
I do not think that the N-word should ever be used. Not by African Americans, and not by whites. I absolutely hate when African Americans use the N-word. African Americans should use it so much less then they do. Their ancestors worked way too hard, and were in slavery way too long being called the N-word all day long for African Americans to run around saying “N-word, this” “N-word, that.” African Americans even use the N-word while singing. When white people say it though they could get beat up or worse. I think it is a very over used word and that it is not dead. Sure, it had a “funeral” but that cant stop people from saying it. Burying a word isn’t the same thing as burying a person. It isn’t going to stop people from saying it, and obviously hasn’t.
-Jenna
1st hour
In my opinion, the people who I think is to blame of Hurricane Katrina are all three governments. I think since everyone knew about this horrible hurricane in advance that the federal government could’ve woken up and realized that they need to start preparing for this because it is going to not only effect the city of New Orleans but also almost everyone in the United States. It affects everyone because people could have families or businesses down there. The state is to blame because they didn’t realize how strong and treacherous these winds and how much damage it really could do. In the city of New Orleans half of the people that could have left wouldn’t leave, they didn’t realize how bad it was going to be. I think the city mayor needed to tell everyone that it is extremely important that they evacuate immediately, rather than warning them a few hours in advance. I don’t think FEMA had an excuse as oppose to why they were not there right away. FEMA is supposed to be the organization that is always prepared for disasters far in advance. People involved in FEMA claim that they had no communication with anyone that had any relevance towards the hurricane. The Head of FEMA Michael Brown said that they found out through the media, I find that hard to believe that news stations would find out more information about disasters before FEMA.
People in Florida waited five days before FEMA came and realized how damaging the 2004 Hurricanes were. Local residents’ waited and waited to receive the resources and supplies they needed in order to survive. The fact that they could not get it for five days when everyone in the nation knew about these hurricanes before they hit, is just ridiculous.
Melanie
5th Hour
Blog #1
Winston Churchill says “History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.” I think he means that the history of the United States of America will have alot written about him. I think he thinks that being the prime ministor of Britin he will have alot to say in the history of today and because he wrote it, history has to be kind to him. He would only write thinks that he wants people to remeber. Winston thinks that the many things he did will be reckonized and talked about. He wrote an unforgetable speech about Pearl Harbor and faught aganist the nazi's in World War II.
Jenna K.
1st hour
A third question we examined is: who is really to blame in the Hurricane Katrina debacle? The federal, state or city government? All three? The people who stayed? What about the people who couldn't leave? Why did it take so long for help to get to the Gulf Coast region when FEMA got help to Florida rather quickly in 2004 after their four huge hurricanes?
There are plenty of people to blame for the disaster of Hurricane Katrina. The city government was to blame because should have provided transportation for the people left in New Orleans. Their was a mandatory evacuation and the government is responsible for providing means of transportation for those who couldn’t afford to leave. The state government should have prepared better. The federal government wasn’t doing anything much about Katrina, they were just going on with their everyday lives, acting as if nothing happened. The federal government and FEMA should have provided the people with many basics needs like food, water, and clothing. FEMA should have gotten the food and water to places like the Superdome much quicker. FEMA helped Florida quicker because their was better communications between Florida and FEMA. Many people died because of the 3 government’s mistakes. They should have worked together and known what each side needed to do. That way many people would have been saved.
robert 5th
I would blame all three federal, state, and city governments because they all were apart of this. The City government should have realized that New Orleans was under sea level and it could get flooded any time with a hurricane. The city government should have sawn this hurricane at least a day before and started an mandatory evacuation of the city. The state government should have sawn the hurricane and told the city government to think about evacuation. If the the city government couldn't decide then the state government should have just evacuated New Orleans themselves. The Federal government didn't really pay attention to the hurricane because they had other things to worry about. The people that couldn't leave were stuck in their homes or in the hospitals or in the nursing homes. If the government would have announced a evacuation earlier then they would have had time to evacuate all the elderly people and the injured people. The reason it took so long to get help to New Orleans because the director of FEMA apparently didn't know about the hurricane until day 4. The major of New Orleans said that he sent lists of what to get down here to FEMA but they said they never got anything. It took FEMA only a day to get to Florida when four huge hurricanes attacked in 2004. This was because there was bad communication between government and FEMA.
Ryan Feist
3rd hour
The n-word can be used in two ways in today’s society. It can be used in the way that it was invented, as a nugatory term against African Americans. Or, it can be used by African Americans as a way to greet and talk about other African Americans. In my view, the word shouldn't be used at all. Obviously it shouldn't be used as a derogatory word against blacks, but it also shouldn't be used in casual conversation due to the true meaning of the word. It's like me and my friends all of a sudden deciding that we are going to use the f-word as a way to greet each other. It's still a derogatory word, no matter what context it's being used in. Just because the NAACP officially buried the word doesn't mean it's not going to be used. People will still use the n-word no matter what. It has been branded into young African Americans vocabulary. I hear it everyday; it's just part of their everyday conversation, which I think is extremely ironic. I mean, you have a word that is suppose to demean black people, but is being used by black people as a way to identify other blacks. Even thou they mean no harm, I still think that the word shouldn't be used in any context.
Jake B,
5th hour
Hurricane Katrina was one of the deadliest disasters in the history of the United States and the World. It was even worse because of the help the people didn’t get before and after the hurricane. And many people are to blame for the horrible things that happened.
The federal, state and city government were all equally responsible for the problems that happened. First, all 3 could have done a better job of knowing what was happening and finding ways to help the people as soon as possible. Next, the federal government should have made the National Guard buildings safer and stronger and in places where they wouldn’t have been destroyed. Also, both the state and city governments should have prepared better. Because they knew that a hurricane would it and that it was going to be a deadly hurricane. They could have evacuated the people before hand or protected them in some way. They also should’ve worked together to send supplies for people who needed it. And FEMA, you could put a lot of blame on them but it was the leadership that was the problem. And from that movie that we saw we found out that people were just chosen in the past to lead FEMA, and then Michael Brown was chosen who really didn’t have any leadership skills in these kinds of situations. And some of the blame could go to the people themselves. Because they knew Katrina was coming, and you really don’t need anyone to tell you leave. So really the blame is on everyone, FEMA, the federal, state and city government, and the people themselves.
-Maher Abou-Rass
1st Hour
I think that total war was a smart idea at the time it was being used. But I am not sure if the outcome of it justified against the Southern people. Many southern people were terrorized by what Shermans army had done in their march from Savanah to Atlanta. They were burning houses, destroying the railroads, and killing livestock.
By doing this the Southerners were stopped from providing materials for the confederate army. So by not doing totlal war the war could have went on longer. I think that shermans army just went a little too far with this. I think they should have toned it down a bit for the sake of the innocent southerners who were just being terrorized. Evan though this only took place in Georige, it probably affected everyone in the south. I think that this was a good outcome for the civil war. And the tactic of total war was sending a message to the country saying that they just wanted to end this.
Matt B.
5th Hour
Ryan L.
5th Hour
I think the south should be forgiven for rebelling because if the union punishes the south too much it could lead to another war. if the south isn't punished it could also speed up the reconstruction process and punishment would be counterproductive to reconstruction by restricting or putting southerners in jail because work would need to be done by many people to continue with the unions plans. another reason is because slavery was probably one of the united states biggest economic boosters and slavery also supplied cotton, one of the biggest exports to other countries from America. another reason that the union should forgive the southern states is because it would also speed up the unity process by showing a reason for the confederacy to stay with the union and keep the peace among the two.
Who is really to blame in the Hurricane Katrina debacle? The federal, state or city government? All three? The people who stayed? What about the people who couldn't leave? Why did it take so long for help to get to the Gulf Coast region when FEMA got help to Florida rather quickly in 2004 after their four huge hurricanes?
I believe all mostly the federal government is to blame in the Hurricane Katrina debacle. I think this natural disaster shows the world, and hopefully important government officials that they may think the U.S. can handle a natural disaster, but can it really? Obviously Hurricane Katrina is an example of how not ready the governments were. I believe this lack of preparedness may be caused by a lack of money. I believe the governments didn’t have as much money set out for natural disaster relief as they really needed. Without money, no matter how many people who tried to help, the relief, saving the city and reconstruction would all be at a standstill. Also the fact that so many people stayed during the hurricane didn’t help at all either. There were so many people in need, the rescue crews couldn’t save them all. The damage was just so widespread it would take great communication, and help from so many people to rescue everyone possible. Hopefully in the future, we will be sure to update and repair important things such as levees that could save the city from a flood. I think it took so long for the FEMA to get help to the Gulf Coast region because of a lack of communication. They didn’t keep track on the widespread damage, the unaffected areas, and how to save as many lives as possible. They waited until the disaster was over then took awhile to think of what to do, and to get the necessary equipment down to the region to help out. The federal government showed how unprepared they really were, and as a result a lot more lives were sacrificed.
David Rogers
2nd Hour
Post a Comment