Important Lessons from Katrina

Dear Friends,

I just finished reading a book entitled Zeitoun by Dave Eggers. (I apologize. I do not know how to underline so I italicized the title instead.)  It tells the story of struggles faced by one New Orleans family just prior to, during and after Katrina struck New Orleans.  Mr. Eggers writes with a nice story telling style that at the beginning of the book masks the terrible truths about America that are revealed towards the end of the story.  The family struggles to prepare for the storm, has to decide to stay or leave, endure the separation caused by the wife/mother leaving with the kids while the husband/father stays to do what he can and the uncertainty and anguish caused by a lack of communication.

But the important part of the story and the important lessons that we need to learn from Katrina comes from the fact that the husband/father (referred to most often by his last name "Zeitoun") is an immigrant from Syria and a Muslim and the wife/mother ("Kathy") is a white Christian American born woman who prior to meeting Zeitoun converted to Islam.

Kathy faces a very difficult relationship with her family who have a hard time accepting her conversion to Islam.  Kathy prior to her exploration of conversion had many misunderstandings and misconceptions about Islam.  Kathy studies and finds many similarities with her Christian upbringing but prefers Islam because it lacks many of the problems she had with the evangelical Christianity she was raised in.  The important lesson from this part of the book is clear.  A lack of knowledge and understanding can lead to irrational fear and even rejection of those you love. 

A very similar lesson is learned from the issues that Zeitoun faces in the aftermath of Katrina where he is arrested in a building he owns by police and military personnel who are heavily armed and scared.  He is really being arrested because the "authorities" believe that he could be Taliban or al-Qaeda for no other reason than he looks and speaks different.  Zeitoun is mistreated physically and emotionally, and he is denied all rights to which he is entitled under our Constitution. 

There is no law.  There is no justice system.  Fear is the major driving force.  Man's inhumanity to man is clear everywhere particularly as it relates to those who are not white.  By now, we should be prepared that after any national trauma, people are afraid and it brings out our bases instincts.  We need to keep in mind the suspension of habeas corpus by President Lincoln during the Civil War, the internment of the Japanese after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the treatment of people of middle eastern descent after 9/11, etc.  It is in times of national trauma and great fear that we need our Constitution more than ever.  Unfortunately, it is in times like those that we are most apt to ignore our Constitution.

The President of the United States along with many other Federal officials including military officers in their oaths of office pledge to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic.  Nowhere in their oaths do they pledge to keep the American people safe by ignoring the Constitution but that is what happens.  You hear politicians of all stripes saying that their job is to keep the American people safe.  Apparently, they were not listening to themselves when they took their oaths of office.  It is the Constitution that comes first.

How can we learn from Katrina and all the national traumas that have led us to ignore the Constitution?  We need to investigate all the claims of breaches of Constitutional rights, we need to hold those that were in power accountable for their actions (including the breach of their oaths of office), and we need to teach the real history of the United States.  America is a great country, and I love it.  But it is not perfect and if we don't remember and teach those parts of our history where we have failed to meet our best intentions then we will repeat our mistakes over and over again.

Thanks for reading and please comment,
The Unabashed Liberal