Here We Go Again...

Today, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that they will begin an evacuation of familes still living in FEMA trailers as a result of Hurricaine Katrina in 2005. There are over 40,000 families still living in these trailers (which amounts to anywhere between 80,000 and 160,000 people)!

Apparently, the CDC and FEMA have recently made the astonishing discovery that there are high levels of formaldehyde, creating unsafe exposures to cancer-causing agents. So, I could say that this is surprising but I'd be lying through the skin of my teeth. I am so disgusted with the US government pretending to care about black people! (Not to repeat the sentiments of Mr. Kanye West, but if the shoe fits...). How is it that the Government is unaware of formaldehyde levels in these trailers? With the CDC, OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration), and the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) spending nearly trillions of dollars on scientific research annually, do they seriously expect me to believe that they were unaware that these trailers are poisonous?!?!?!

Furthermore, when we put on our altruistic hat to assist developing nations in the aftermath of their respective natural disasters, why is it that no one ever comes back two years later and says: "Oh, by the way...the rice we gave you to feed your starving children was actually laced with arsenic...our bad, we really had no idea."

Now, I'm 10,000% biased on this issue being that my family is from New Orleans and was terribly affected by this hurricaine. My grandparents lived in one of these cancer traps for nearly a year and my grandfather recently finished a 7-week round of chemotherapy and radiation for stage 4 larynx cancer.

[Let me take this moment to pause my anger and say how GOOD God is! He allowed my grandfather to sail through these dangerous treatments and to be healthy enough and feel good enough to dance with me on my wedding day].

I am a public health professional by training (ongoing). It absolutely disgusts me that with all the research, knowledge, and technology out there in the world people can still be so careless. I sincerely hope that all the families that are about to be re-displaced (and all the children who have to endure another round of embarassment and become the new poor kid in school all over again) find peace in their lives soon. I pray that God will continue to keep his hand on my home city and its residents dispersed all over the nation. I know that we can do all things through Christ, but the good ol' USA is really making this road more difficult than it needs to be.