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Ntfs_encryption
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Ntfs_encryption
Post Number: 641
Registered: 10-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, August 27, 2006 - 03:54 am: | 
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Spike Lee Did Wrong Thing For New Orleans New Orleans.
Author: Jeff Crouere
I spent the last two nights viewing the four hour Spike Lee documentary “When the Levees Broke” on HBO. Lee, who is known for his controversial films and his passion for New York Knicks basketball, certainly poured his heart and soul into this project. For an outsider, Lee was able to at least partially grasp the uniqueness of New Orleans. However, his documentary was ultimately a very flawed piece of work.
Spike Lee focused primarily on the Lower Ninth Ward and the African-American victims of Katrina. So, viewers were left with the clear indication that the New Orleans area is almost solely comprised of African-Americans and the victims of Katrina were almost all African-American. However, the metropolitan area of New Orleans was 63% white prior to Katrina and 47% of the storm fatalities were not African-Americans, and of that group the vast majority was white.
Katrina was an equal opportunity destroyer and the flood waters did not discriminate. Incredibly, Lee found no time to investigate the damage in Old Metairie or Lakeview, two primarily white areas of that were decimated. Was that just an oversight or an example of racial discrimination? Lee also completely bypassed the devastated Mississippi Gulf Coast, another primarily white region, which bore the brunt of the high winds and storm surge of Katrina.
Lee highlighted a number of hurricane victims, including some who were interviewed a number of times, and often used foul language to express their disgust about what happened to them during the storm. One star of the documentary, Phyllis Montana LeBlanc, displayed anger at almost everyone. Although she undoubtedly experienced tragedy, she did not seem to appreciate the incredible charity that was shown toward the victims by so many people, groups, charities, churches and entire cities. Billions of dollars of aid has been given by private charities and foundations and billions dispensed by the federal government. Although it is not enough, the donations show the true generous spirit of the citizens of the United States of America, the greatest country on the earth. Unfortunately there was no appreciation for that generosity shown in the documentary. Instead a variety of complaints were examined, including some interviewees who were angry that they were dispersed to cities throughout the United States after Katrina. Yet, would it have been better for them to stay in a flooded city with no services? The vast majority of victims were welcomed in their new citie with open arms, food, water and shelter, typical of good old fashioned American generosity.
Lee interviewed a number of politicians, academicians, and pastors who lived outside of New Orleans, and showed very little understanding of real New Orleans. Viewers were left with the distinct impression that there are horrible race relations in New Orleans, when in fact the city enjoys more integration and better race relations that most American cities. Besides the Mardi Gras Indians and passing references to the city’s food and culture, the many wonderful attributes of New Orleans were missed by Lee, who obviously was pursuing an agenda in his documentary.
One item on Lee’s agenda was to focus on the preposterous charge that the levees were blown up after Katrina. Lee interviewed several Lower Ninth Ward residents who claimed they heard explosions and expressed their opinion that “they blew up the levees.” Yet, Lee did not examine some important questions such as who, how, why, when, with what? Are viewers to believe that during the height of a monster hurricane government officials went out to the levees with sticks of dynamite to blow them up? Give me a break. It did not happen and there is not one scintilla of evidence that any levees were purposely destroyed. The loud explosions heard by area residents can easily be explained by the huge super tanker of a barge that busted through the flood walls on its way to its final resting place in an adjacent neighborhood.
Lee claims that he wants his documentary to be the definitive examination of Katrina. However, it cannot reach such a status, because Lee missed so much of the local flavor of New Orleans and the true impact of the storm. Katrina was a disaster and left misery in its wake, but it also exposed the best in human beings. True heroes emerged who exhibited qualities such as courage, genuine caring for their fellow man, and love for their city, state and region.
Many New Orleans residents stayed behind to help those in need. Firefighters, police, doctors, nurses, and average citizens who piloted boats all risked their lives to help others. While Lee focused on Hollywood publicity hound Sean Penn who visited New Orleans with cameras on hand, he totally missed the story of the local citizenry who saved scores of people trapped in their homes. While Lee berated FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers for four hours, he failed to give proper credit to the agency which performed best in this crisis and rescued thousands of people, the U.S. Coast Guard,
While Lee focused on the tragedy and the poor federal response, he neglected to mention all of the billions that have been allocated, and for months idling in the State Government treasury. Lee pointed plenty of fingers at the Army Corps of Engineers, but he totally neglected the responsibility of the Orleans Parish Levee Board for maintenance of the levees. While Lee blasted President Bush throughout the documentary, he exonerated the man who exemplified poor leadership, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin. Is it because Nagin is an African-American or is it because he is a Democrat? Lee overlooked almost all Republican office holders in his documentary. He could have interviewed State Senator Walter Boasso, who used his own boat to rescue people in his beloved St. Bernard Parish or Congressman Bobby Jindal who has been a tireless advocate for increased oil and gas royalties for Louisiana. Instead, Lee focused on Democratic elected officials and angry activists.
Will this documentary help the recovery of the Gulf Coast? I hope it does, but I have my doubts. The anger shown in the documentary and the one-sided nature of Lee’s reporting display a skewed picture of Hurricane Katrina. His documentary is an incomplete work, brilliant in places, flawed in many others. Incredibly, Lee still doesn’t understand New Orleans or the real effect of Hurricane Katrina. I’m still waiting for a documentary that will provide the true picture of what really happened on August 29, 2005.
Jeff Crouere is a native of New Orleans, LA and he is the host of a Louisiana based program, “Ringside Politics,” which airs at 8:30 p.m. Fri. and 10:00 p.m. Sun. on WLAE-TV 32, a PBS station, and Noon till 2 p.m. weekdays on several Louisiana radio stations. For more information, visit his web site at www.ringsidepolitics.com. E-mail him at jeff@ringsidepolitics.com.
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Tonya
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 457
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, August 27, 2006 - 10:52 am: |
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hmmmmm, Ntfs...
DO YOU MEAN THIS JEFF CROUERE:
Jeff Crouere is a Conservative political commentator in the New Orleans area. He has held several positions within the Louisiana Republican Party--Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
THE GUY IN THIS PICTURE:
http://www.ringsidepolitics.com/index.php?pageID=5
THE GUY WHO WROTE THIS ARTICLE:
http://www.bayoubuzz.com/articles.aspx?aid=7926
???????????????????????????????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
Ntfs_encryption
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Ntfs_encryption
Post Number: 642
Registered: 10-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, August 27, 2006 - 11:45 am: |
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"DO YOU MEAN THIS JEFF CROUERE:
Jeff Crouere is a Conservative political commentator in the New Orleans area. He has held several positions within the Louisiana Republican Party--Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia"
Yep, he is a conservative. The article was forwarded to me and I in turn posted it. Let the readers make up their minds whether they agree or will dismiss his premise.
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Tonya
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 461
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, August 27, 2006 - 12:41 pm: |
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I believe in letting the readers make up their minds too but I also believe in giving the full story.
Btw, this Jeff Crouere guy is really making a name for himself--good for him! Before Katrina, he was just another political nobody. 'Course now, if he keeps up with the persistence, he'll be like the great Anderson Cooper: on his way to having his own show! Boy he's gellin! Two thumbs up and Kudos to him!!!! |
Abm
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Abm
Post Number: 6277
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, August 27, 2006 - 02:33 pm: |
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Crouere: While Lee berated FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers for four hours, he failed to give proper credit to the agency which performed best in this crisis and rescued thousands of people, the U.S. Coast Guard...
I don’t know what Crouere means by Spike failing "to give proper credit". But I recall several people lauding the Coast Guard in Spike’s film, including former New Orleans’ mayor Marc Morial and New Orleans' resident and Katrina survivor Douglas Brinkley, author of "The Great Deluge". |
Kola_boof
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Kola_boof
Post Number: 3109
Registered: 02-2005
Rating: 
Votes: 5 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, August 27, 2006 - 02:36 pm: |
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You know....
Spike has been the BRAVEST black filmmaker I've ever seen, and though it's controversial----his greatest worth to me is that he puts "US" first (as I would and do in my own work)----he leaves it to the WHITES/OTHERS to care for their own shit and he does what he's a SUPPOSED to do----represents, illuminates and affirms his own people.
Nothing's perfect, but in film, he's the closest that Black people have.
I will always love him unconditionally.
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Abm
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Abm
Post Number: 6282
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, August 27, 2006 - 03:19 pm: |
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I JUST watched the section of “When The Levees Broke” that focuses on speculations about the levees. It starts about 23 minutes into the film (during Act I).
Here is what I observed:
@ Several Black foks say they heard several explosions, some saying they sounded like exploding electrical transformers.
@ Of all the opinions express, only ONE person (older Black man) explicitly asserted that the levees had been intentionally blown up. Just ONE.
@ There were references to prior issues, questions and politics about the construction and management of the levees when prior hurricanes occurred, including mentioning the levee system alleged being dynamited during the 1965 Hurricane “Betsy”. Presumably, the levees were destroyed to sacrifice poorer part of New Orleans to save the richer, tourist sections.
@ A BLACK man quite eloquently said he does NOT believe the levees were blown. He, instead, believe the explosions foks heard were that of the weight and power of water destroying the levees.
@ BLACK and WHITE foks said that the levees were NOT built as necessary. A White guy said they’d been working on the levees for FORTY YEARS and hadn’t finished them.
@ A WHITE man (local radio host) asserted that the levees should NOT have failed because they were supposed to be capable of withstanding the force that was being exerted against it from Katrina.
@ The primary, prevailing sentiment conveyed in Spike's films was that the levees failed because they were inadequately constructed, NOT that they’d been willfully, intentionally blown up.
@ And this constituted ONLY 10 minutes of a 240 minute film.
It seems there are foks who are just as interested in mischaracterizing Spike’s film as there are people who are allegedly interested in mischaracterizing what happen in New Orleans last August and September. |
Mzuri
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Mzuri
Post Number: 1397
Registered: 01-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, August 27, 2006 - 03:23 pm: |
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NTFS - Hurricane Katrina was a disaster beyond measure. And I admit that the federal govt didn't do all that it could have done. Mainly not having an evacuation plan set up well in advance.
As to the speed of the National Guard response - people don't seem to realize that National Guard troops are not some elite military special forces unit like the Navy Seals, the Red Berets, or the Rangers. The NG is comprised of ordinary citizens with military training, citizens who are called to active duty as necessary and who are given a specific time frame (I believe 24 hours) to tend to their personal affairs - notifying their civilian employers, placing their children with caretakers, etc. - before they must report to duty and then they prepare their equipment to deploy.
They had to overcome numerous logistical problems such as the roads being impassible due to debris, dealing with the flood themselves, no communications with local govt officials, etc. So when people like Spike Lee complain of the slowness of the response I have to wonder what their basis of comparison is.
And I don't blame the residents of NO or the surrounding areas for the flood but they were ordered to evacuate and warned that the levees would breach DAYS before it happened. The government did its part by (1) having a branch of the federal govt - the NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE with the ability to predict severe weather patterns and (2) warning residents days in advance to get out! And it's not as if this is the first time there was a flood in this area - it has happened before. The citizen bears responsibility to follow directives and secure himself and his family. For Christ's sake - you are situated in below sea level terrain surrounded by water on all sides - GET THE FUCK OUT!
On Spike Lee's documentary one interview stuck in my mind. It was a gentlemen who said something to the effect of "They knew it was going to happen and nobody did anything." Hello! You are the citizen resident - you're the one who ought to know and if the shit isn't working it's your responsibility to take your behind to city council or whoever and demand a change. Don't blame others for your lack of initiative/involvement.
All of this hindsight, who did what when and who didn't do this or that, is irrelevant now. We need to get to the business at hand. All that the Spike Lee documentary does is enable people to wallow in self-pity and blame this mess on the federal govt.
And as usual, nobody ever does anything until after some shit goes down. What else it new. |
Tonya
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 465
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: 
Votes: 3 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, August 27, 2006 - 04:22 pm: |
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Crouere: "Although it is not enough, the donations show the true generous spirit of the citizens of the United States of America, the greatest country on the earth. Unfortunately there was no appreciation for that generosity shown in the documentary. Instead a variety of complaints were examined, including some interviewees who were angry that they were dispersed to cities throughout the United States after Katrina. Yet, would it have been better for them to stay in a flooded city with no services? The vast majority of victims were welcomed in their new citie with open arms, food, water and shelter, typical of good old fashioned American generosity."
He chose to overlook some of moments of the film that touched me the most. After having their families split apart (by a white government) and having them displaced, several of the victims got an eerie feeling similar to that of chattel slavery. I cried the most during these parts because I knew exactly what they were talking about....I felt their pain for it is my own. So it is this insensitivity which Crouere displays that leads me to believe he either does not know what he's criticizing, or he simply does not care. Whichever way, I find him offensive. |
Tonya
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 466
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, August 27, 2006 - 05:20 pm: |
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That happens to be the reason why they were "complaining," by the way, so I'm completely baffled as to why he chose to leave it out. |
Kola_boof
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Kola_boof
Post Number: 3112
Registered: 02-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, August 27, 2006 - 05:35 pm: |
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Another thing I deeply love about Spike Lee...is that he always INCLUDES "Africa" in his films about AAs.
Even if it's Black Americans in the ghetto---"Crooklyn", etc.---he finds a way to LINK them to Africa.
He has enormous sensitivity and CLARITY to his knowledge...and that I love.
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Kola_boof
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Kola_boof
Post Number: 3114
Registered: 02-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, August 27, 2006 - 05:38 pm: |
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He chose to overlook some of moments of the film that touched me the most. After having their families split apart (by a white government) and having them displaced, several of the victims got an eerie feeling similar to that of chattel slavery. I cried the most during these parts because I knew exactly what they were talking about....I felt their pain for it is my own. So it is this insensitivity which Crouere displays that leads me to believe he either does not know what he's criticizing, or he simply does not care. Whichever way, I find him offensive.
OUH TONYA!!!
You took the thought right out of my head.
I agree 100%
Why did that escape him?
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Tonya
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 467
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, August 27, 2006 - 05:49 pm: |
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Kola,
I thought that was the most gut-wrenching part of the documentary, honestly.
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Jmho
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Jmho
Post Number: 165
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, August 27, 2006 - 07:31 pm: |
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And I don't blame the residents of NO or the surrounding areas for the flood but they were ordered to evacuate and warned that the levees would breach DAYS before it happened
Was this stated on Spike's documentary?
I don't think anyone knew for sure the levees would breach, especially in so many places, though it was a common held belief, or at least, the possibility existed.
Read more about the levee failures:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levee_failures_in_Greater_New_Orleans,_2005
The evacuation (voluntary) was issued by the Mayor on Saturday. On Sunday at 10 am, Nagin issued a mandatory evacuation. Many who hadn't left the city by then couldn't. The hurricane hit land just after 6:00 am Monday morning. The city did fairly well against the hurricane, but it was the flooding, that caused the most damage.
As was said, hindsight is always 20-20. |
Renata
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Renata
Post Number: 1241
Registered: 08-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, August 27, 2006 - 09:29 pm: |
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Not everyone has someplace to go. Many southerners still live in towns where ALL of their known relatives live and they don't have a link to other places (via friends, family, etc.). Also, people keep overlooking that this is the COAST. The governments ALWAYS telling people to evacuate. I lived through two big storms on the coast.....so many come and go that "leave town due to storm" starts sounding more like "get some candles and some bottled water and couple of board games because maybe the lights will be out for a couple of days."
Also, a LOT of the people living near the quarters are really "paycheck to paycheck" people with 2 and 3 kids and no transportation. They seem a whole lot poorer than the poor people of Atlanta and Birmingham. The houses they typically live in are "shotgun" houses that are older than their grandparents. SERIOUSLY. What we see in travel magazines and call "rustic" (old buildings with no air conditioner, kudzu that's basically eating entire lots) is how the people there really live.
My grandmother can remember being a YOUNG GIRL (she's in her 70's now) and everyone freaking out because a "big storm" was predicted in N.O. and the town was supposed to go underwater.
Basically, people hear it for so long that they don't really take it seriously.
I lived in Mobile during Hurricane Georges. We were told to evacuate. Those of us (including me) without transportation and no money to leave just basically stayed inside. Friends of mine who had lived on islands before and native Gulf Coasters drove around and basically did what they normally do.
You know, that thing about 'crying wolf'.... |
Renata
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Renata
Post Number: 1242
Registered: 08-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, August 27, 2006 - 09:37 pm: |
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That storm MUST HAVE hit BEFORE 6 am. I was all the way up in JACKSON, MS, and we woke up at about 7 and the storm had already hit.
Of course, maybe it just moved really fast. I don't know. |
Renata
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Renata
Post Number: 1243
Registered: 08-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, August 27, 2006 - 10:02 pm: |
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BTW, before the storm, it was possible to find not ONE but a FEW houses REALLY CRAZY CHEAP.....2 bedroom houses near the quarters for 20 to 30,000 dollars.
That gives you some idea of what kind of houses the people there lived in. And most of those living in those houses inherited it from a parent or a grandparent. |
Renata
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Renata
Post Number: 1244
Registered: 08-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, August 27, 2006 - 10:06 pm: |
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oh....kudzu = the vine that ate (is eating) the south. |
Arejay
First Time Poster
Username: Arejay
Post Number: 1
Registered: 08-2006
Rating: 
Votes: 1 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, August 28, 2006 - 08:32 pm: |
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Here is a letter I wrote to Mr. Jeff Crouere.
While I have received responses to most of my
letters to columnists, I have yet to hear back
from Mr. Crouere.
The text of my letter follows:
Mr. Crouere:
With regard to your apparent opinion that Spike Lee's Katrina documentary focused too much of its time on the African-Americans of the Lower Ninth Ward: I couldn't disagree with you more.
I had heard this criticism of the documentary before I had a chance to actually see the documentary, so I was expecting that the documentary provided very little in the way of the opinions of whites and those who lived outside of the Ninth Ward.
But, as it turns out, this was all sour grapes. If you ask me, Spike Lee bent over backwards providing a wide variety of opinions-- Given the people who were undoubtedly the most affected by Hurricane Katrina: New Orleans' African-Americans, who continue to suffer greatly from the aftereffects.
I think you are a spoiled gentlemen. Your have a kind of "center of the world" privilege that spoils way too many white Americans. So spoiled, that when a big budget American documentary fails to makes whites the center of attention, you go into conniptions and start launching unfair and farfetched criticisms of the documentary as a whole.
This may have been the first major American documentary on a disaster to finally put things
in their proper perspective. And this drives people like you crazy. To paraphrase Mr. Lee in response to a journalist who raised similar criticisms: "Did you ever complain about not seeing enough BLACK people in a film?" If not, then you are not a serious critic or intellectual.
I have grown tired of seeing all of the African-American pundits, reporters, and just plain black folks "disappear" from the airwaves every time America faces a crises. It's as if the focus groups for CNN and MSNBC have indicated that whites are only capable of listening to other whites when it comes to news and opinion on a major event. Perhaps these focus groups were accurate-- given the "color" of the national Sunday morning news programs.
With regard to Lee's coverage of the charge that the levees were "blown up": You have become so spoiled with American-style censorship that you seem appalled at the fact that Spike Lee would not edit out this segment. Maybe this is why whites prefer white pundits and reporters: they can rely on them to give the "right" spin to a story, and protect the sensibilities of the powerful. This kind of conformist "censorship by omission" is perhaps the most appalling aspect of modern American media; a kind of high and mighty, "Let's not let this issue be discussed, and if it is discussed, let's go on the attack and try to discredit the person who raises the issue."
Is the idea that the Levees were blown up far-fetched? Who cares? The Levees have a documented history of being blown up, and besides, people have a right to their non-censored opinions. The reason why Blogs have become such a phenomenon is because of the dumbing down/immoral censorship that takes place within mainstream American news media. That, and the preponderance of "career oriented" news people who are afraid to even raise a simple question. Isn't that how we ended up in Iraq?
The "Conspiracy Theorist" accusation is beginning to sound a lot like Sen. Joseph McCarthy's "Communist" accusation
RJ
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Jmho
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Jmho
Post Number: 166
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, August 29, 2006 - 12:19 pm: |
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Renata, I am not going to quibble over an hour. But I looked back in Dyson's Come Hell or High Water.
Page 61 At 6:10 A.M. CDT, Katrina made lethal landfall as a Category 4 storm south of Buras, Lousiana, along the Mississippi. (29) The eye of the storm brushed the eastern outskirts of New Orleans around 9:00 A.M. as six to eight feet of water covered the Lower Night Ward, among the city's poorest and most vulnerable communities.
footnote(29) http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/lookingatearth/katrina_trmm_0828_0829.html
By the way, how far are you from Buras, Louisana?
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