As many of you know, the 2nd installment of this 4 part/2 night documentary Spike is doing on Hurricane Katrina survivors aired tonight on HBO. Several of you have asked me to talk about it here due to my being from New Orleans and
my experience with Katrina. However, I honestly don't feel ready to watch
this documentary seeing that I still have issues from dealing with this
hurricane incident first hand. It has affected my life in more ways
than I realized when everything first happened, and it is still very difficult
for me to relive everything by watching the documentary. I do know
that several of my friends and family who have watched speak very
highly of it and I encourage everyone to watch (if you have HBO) to
get the true effect of what happened to our people. Not what the
"other" media has fed you up until this point. The full documentary
re-airs on August 29th. I will definitely be watching soon.
So here is a letter from YBF reader Lynn who conveys the importance of
"us" learning about the exact happenings of this tragedy--especially if you
were not personally affected by it:
Hello Natasha I’m a fan of your site and a religious reader and pass it on to others daily, b/c never have I consistently read a blog that sounds exactly
like my daily conversations shared between my friends.. fabulous and hilarious! You are too much, and the topic of daily “uh-huh girl” convos.
I just wanted to take the time to see if you were going to comment on
Spike lee’s documentary, I watched the first acts and was almost undeniable changed in my personal life and perception of empathizing and sympathizing with others, words can’t express the pain I felt to see my people being
treated in such a manner and how all the events played out.
Understanding that you are a citizen of New Orleans and I don’t mean to upset you in anyway by bringing this up but I think it’s important that we as black people not look at this as just a “tragic event” but to always and constantly be proactive in the efforts to help those affected and not just make it something we read about, cried and then moved on. Black celebrities in my opinion still should be talking and dealing with this issue b/c the historical reference it gave is a painful reminder of how blacks are still being treated “on the low” by
whites and others and that we kind of glaze over issue I guess to get through, but it’s hard to move on when things haven’t been dealt with. It almost pains me that people have just seemed to have just moved on, Of course life continues, but never should we forget, it keeps you humble as a race, thankful and most of all helpful to our own. (I still wear my S.O.S. shirt I ordered from BET around the office just so “they” know!)
I just hope you’ll take the time out to offer up an acknowledgement of his documentary and a reminder that we all still have to remember after all these years, some things are still the same so be mindful, prayerful, caring and always uplifting to your fellow brother or sister in any way you can. Good luck in all your efforts and I commend you on what awareness you bring to the African American community in your own way. Peace and Love. Lynn
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