When the Levees Broke
Some experts predict a significant rise in the death toll in Burma, possibly up to 1.5 million people from the 100,000 estimated already dead in the aftermath of the cyclone if clean water and sanitation is not provided soon. The Burmese government has frustrated many attempts at foreign aid, even politicizing what little foreign aid has been allowed in: “government officials were seen handing it out from boxes on which the names of prominent generals had been written.”
In light of this natural disaster and the humanitarian crisis caused by the lack of a coordinated government response, it’s hard not to draw direct parallels to what happened in New Orleans (and what is still happening) in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina almost three years ago. I just finished watching parts one and two of Spike Lee’s When the Levees Broke, a monumental four-part film that documents the collapse of a city and the mind-boggling failure of our federal government to help people in need. If you haven’t already seen this documentary, I cannot recommend it highly enough.
Most people think that it was Katrina that brough about the devastation to New Orleans. But it was a breaching of the levees that put 80 percent of the city under water. It was not the hurricane…If you go New Orleans, only one-fourth of the population is there. So hopefully, this documentary will bring this fiasco, this travesty, back to the attention of the American people. —Spike Lee
