When the Levees Broke...

So, I hope everyone with HBO got to see the first part of Spike Lee's documentary When the Levees Broke. The controversial part came early on when people started saying that they heard an explosion before the levees broke. Some nice people think that Spike is foul for giving these people a platform to share their theory that the levees were bombed. Someone told me this earlier in the day before I watched the documentary and I was like, hmm.. that doesn't sound like something George Bush would have a motive for, other than the fact that he loves to blow shit up. So, I wasn't really buying it. But in the documentary, there's a strong case for this.

First, Spike had several people who lived near the levees on camera saying that they heard a loud boom and a series of explosions. Then they explained that New Orleans or "someone" bombed the levees back in the 20s or 60s to protect the French Quarter and affluent parts of the city from flooding. The fact that the levees were bombed is kinda like an urban myth, right? But lots of people believe it happened that way, which made me more willing to accept the theory that they could have been bombed in 05, for the same reason. It's a provocative look at the hurricane. They also had some great colorful people telling their Katrina stories. One lady explained that the heat during Katrina was hotter than "Africa hot" and she's like, they're always saying "Go back to Africa," hell no! But for real, she doesn't seem like she's ever been to Africa, she couldn't even leave New Orleans when the hurricane was coming. What you know about African heat? Another lady was a white woman telling her story with a deuce deuce in her hand standing in a pile of rubble. At one point she was like, "That ain't this talking [taps on her beer], it's the truth!"

Other than moments like that, I was just somber and disappointed by the way people were allowed to suffer and die after Katrina. Spike showed lots of dead bodies floating in the water and laying in the streets, and the worst part is that you know for every body we saw there were at least two more. I think the documentary did a good job telling the story and backing up people's stories with images.

I think that man who told the story of his mother dying in her wheelchair while waiting on the bus, is the same man who's suing the city of New Orleans and several state agencies for willful misconduct. Oh man gosh, he talked about his mother waiting in the heat and asking him every five minutes if the bus was coming. I got the sense that she couldn't see. And he said that she went about 10 min. without asking and when he went to wake her up she was gone. Then her body sat outside in the heat for four days!

OMG! Did anyone see the people from Gretna trying to say that those people weren't shot at on the bridge and that the people standing there weren't police? Wow. The nerves of some folks.

Part two of this comes on tomorrow and I'll be watching. But let me get this straight: If the President lies about getting head in the oval office, that's an impeachable act. If the President leaves thousands of Americans stranded and dying, then lies about his knowledge of how serious the situation was.. that's OK, right?

In closing: George Bush does not care about black people. -Kanye West