Tomorrow, Saturday, January 19, 2008 will be a big day in the history of the United States and in the history of my life. The same day will see my departure to Europe as I venture off to Scandinavia and Northern Europe for a semester in Copenhagen, Denmark among other places. It will also see the Nevada Democratic Caucus take place. Therefore I want to take this opportunity to reflect on my trip to New Orleans, Louisiana and the Gulf Coast region from the preceding 2 weeks and how I will connect it to tomorrow's election.

2008 began with a trip with 14 other University of Virginia students to New Orleans and the Gulf Coast region with Alternative Spring Break. Our aim in driving down there on a daunting 18-hour drive was to better ever so slightly at least one person's life or a family's by helping in constructing a home, providing comfort, and showing our love and concern for the thousands in the region who were ravaged by Hurricane Katrina in August 2005. We embarked on the journey two and a half years after Katrina struck expecting at least a substantial amount of the recovery and reconstruction effort to have already taken place. We could not have witnessed anything farther from the contrary.

New Orleans, Louisiana was ravaged by Hurricane Katrina. The racial divide in the city which stretches back to the days of slavery and plantation life seem to have been frozen in time since the 19th century. After such a catastrophic natural disaster as Katrina one would presume to see unity within the city of New Orleans across racial lines as what I witnessed in post-9/11 New York City. Unfortunately, this was not the case. I witnessed the flying of Confederate flags flying proudly in the mostly white suburb of St. Bernard. I saw the liveliness and economic activity of Bourbon Street and the French Quarter where mostly white tourists and New Orleanians held their beer bottles and displayed their intoxication on the streets as they celebrated the football game between the LSU Tigers and Ohio State Buckeyes. Yet about a 10 minute drive down over the bridge into the Ninth Ward there stands total decimation. The people suffering in this part of town and many others could care less about the football game. They care about getting their homes either reconstructed, getting out of their trailer and moving into decent living conditions, or obtaining any sort of housing as they lay homeless on the streets, under overpasses or under bridges. Homelessness soared after the storm and remains very high to this day. We witnessed the large makeshift homeless camps with hundreds of tents settled in little communities under overpasses. This lays just blocks away from the economic revival of downtown New Orleans creating an image of restoration and recovering, and turning a blind eye on so many who are being ignored by the local, state and federal government. I will never forget the graffiti on the outside wall of a building near a bridge stating “Wealth in the face of poverty is an affront to our dignity.” It cannot be said any more eloquently. I spoke to a man who served as a firefighter in the New Orleans Fire Deparment for many years who claimed “it is just the culture down here,” referring to the racial divide. It’s a shame.

Touring the Ninth Ward was gut-wrenching. The breaks in the levees that act as the only barrier between the raging waters and the neighborhood were clearly visible as barely a house stands in the entire site which stood at the forefront of the floods as the levees broke. It has been two and a half years and this entire neighborhood that housed hundreds of families doesn’t even have a trace of rebuilding. The scene looked like what I would imagine the aftermath of a nuclear explosion to look like. All that was left were phone line beams and wet mud that stretched for acres. A white man in a pickup truck rolls on by in this nearly entirely black neighborhood, stops by us, and states  something to the effect of “Y’all don’t stay here at night. This neighborhood has a lot of murders.”  The sense of anger, hopelessness, and utter despair in so many parts of the city could not be any more evident.

On our last day of the journey, we ventured into Biloxi, Mississippi which had a completely different situation. Although also totally decimated by the storm as the eye of Katrina passed over this specific region, it looked as though more than half of the city was recovered. We would find out throughout that day that the reason for the rapid recovery in this area was the economic incentive presented to the large number of casinos that existed in Biloxi and therefore created a necessity to rebuild to continue the flow of tourists to these casinos. These casinos poured in millions of dollars into the recovery effort as a way to quickly rebuild the neighborhoods around them for fear of turning tourists away and consequently losing business. Such an economic incentive did not and to this day does not exist in low income residential areas of New Orleans such as the Ninth Ward. There is no economic incentive to rebuild those areas. It is a shame that the only reason for improving people’s lives is to offset financial loss. We heard countless tearful stories from residents of the city who lost family members and their homes in the storm. They explained how their insurance companies offered absolutely nothing to them after the storm in reparative aid. Absolutely nothing. Insurance companies whether they be home insurance or health insurance have constantly turned a blind eye to Americans and nobody seems to do anything about it. When people pay thousands of dollars to have insurance and then when they actually need it, to be denied simple funds for recovery is immoral, unjust and un-American.  

What I witnessed in the approximately two weeks of my stay there frustrated, upset, and angered me. Yet it also motivated me to action. On our journey, we as a group learned that the most important component of being a citizen, a civil servant, and a human being is awareness. Being aware of the world around you, the struggles and inequalities that affect other people are critical to building a better society and a better future for subsequent generations.

This is what brings me to the Nevada Caucus held tomorrow. Many of my friends and family by now know I personally support Hillary Rodham Clinton for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States. Therefore, I would like to take this moment to connect what I observed and experienced in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast with this fight for the Democratic nomination and the general election of 2008. Nevadans will come to their respective caucus sites tomorrow and stand for the candidate of their choice. For me, the choice here is clear and simple. The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the lack of concern and aid that the region saw thereafter was the result of the lack of government accountability. Despite what others may say to the contrary, I still believe the Bush administration did not care about the people of the Ninth Ward not only for racial and socioeconomic reasons but also for political ones. Many of the areas devastated and left with no recovery were indeed also white middle class which brings up the issue of accountability. The administration washed its hands of the problem and left it to the state government in Louisiana and Mississippi to take care of the recovery effort. The Governor of Louisiana at the time, Democrat Kathleen Blanco was widely criticized for not doing a great job yet much was not in her control as the Feds were depriving the area with much needed funds. Nevermind the incompetence of FEMA Director Michael Brown who had no experience in disaster relief management whatsoever but was instead one of Bush’s friends from Texas. Probably due to a combination of stress, personal embarassment and disappointment, Kathleen Blanco decided not to run for reelection and was replaced by a Republican in November 2007’s gubernatorial election. Restoring government accountability and trust in the government is crucial in restoring America’s greatness. Not only are we great because of our novel principles of democracy and freedom, but our greatness goes back to Jeffersonian principles of the contract between government and the people. This contract was completely ripped apart and burned during the years of George Bush.

We need a leader who will bring government accountability back. A leader who has a plan on day 1 to restore America’s standing in the world and at home. We need a leader who will bring aid to New Orleans, a leader who cares to repair racial inequality, along with so much other inequalities that plague this country due to socioeconomics, gender, ethnicity, religion, and sexual orientation. We need a leader who has the experience and the passion for change. We need a leader who has the willpower to fight for progressive values of equality, equal opportunity, fairness, and social justice. We need a fighter. We need a leader who will protect us from those who aim to harm us at home and abroad. We need a leader who will get us out of Iraq, restore our credibility with ourselves and other nations. We need a leader who will put the bureacracy in check and manage it. We need a leader who understands the intricacies of the bureaucracy through which only then change will happen. We need a leader who will fight for all Americans - Women, Blacks, Latinos, Asians, Children, College Students, the LGBT community, Veterans, the Working Class, the Middle Class, and unions. These groups of people have all proved to be invisible to the Bush administration. Not anymore. Hillary Clinton is the person to get the job done and bring a better future for all of us. I hope Nevadans, South Carolinians and the rest of Democratic voters make the right choice in their respective primary.