Tale of two cities

The scenes of suffering witnessed in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina are not only the result of the failure of Lake Ponchartrain's levees but the lack of our nation's anti-poverty efforts. New Orleans is indeed two cities. One showy middle class and white and the other poor downtrodden and largely low-income black. It is a city that did not wait for a disaster to happen, the poverty and neglect had already wreaked that disaster on thousands, Katrina only added to the misery.
There are many lessons to be learned from this tragedy. The biggest lesson is the immediate evidence of the different treatment of rich and poor, white and black and the fact that we continue to tolerate such differences in this country. Everytime we cut taxes for the rich, everytime we do nothing to raise the wages for the poor, everytime a child grows up with out a decent education, we only add fuel to the divided society.
Fingers can be pointed in many directions, we need only look in the mirror to cast responsibility. The answers don't lie in a government that failed to play it's role. The answers are in the fault lines of class and race. Those fault lines were there long before Katrina. America needs to be brutally honest and say the problem is not just FEMA and government policy. The problem is much deeper than the flood waters that engulfed New Orleans, it is in what we do and don't do everyday.
We need to go beyond charitable relief and use our wisdom to set policies and programs that help the poorest become self sufficient, that is the best protection from natural disaster. Nature's power will remain beyond our control but we can control the path of mercy. That is a choice we must make.