Why Did We Leave Them Behind?

I’m sitting on a plane crossing over the Pacific Ocean flying back home to Los Angeles, the images of CNN’s depiction of the mess in New Orleans are still burning in my conscience.

People axing their way out of the attics onto their roofs. Houses immersed in rows and rows of water. Oil burning on water. People crying. Some pointing an angry middle finger at the television camera. The looting. The madness. The sadness.

I keep asking myself. Why did we leave them behind?

I thought they were all gone before the storm hit. We saw the bumper to bumper line of cars streaming out of the city just ahead of the storms approach. It appeared that everyone left.

But a day later, now we know that wasn’t true. The poor, and the homeless were left stranded in a city that was being attacked by a monster from nature.

They had no car to drive out. Their only wish was to stay in their homes or apartments with hope that the coming storm was exaggerated. Unfortunately, the warnings were devastatingly true.

The images on the television are obvious. A certain race, a certain class was left behind in the waters of New Orleans. Is this a symptom of our society today?

Have we left behind a class of people to struggle with poverty and homelessness? Is New Orleans just an ugly sign of our country’s response to those who fall through the cracks of society?

When I look at the people here in Los Angeles, homeless on our streets, their faces and anguish mirror those in New Orleans. Perhaps this latest natural crisis will become a wake-up call for our country? Perhaps we will not only mobilize our resources to care for those homeless in New Orleans, but also mobilize our country to care for the millions of homeless throughout our country.

Let’s not leave anyone else behind again.