Home > The Superdome: Monument to a Rotten System
There is nothing “unnatural” about the disaster of New Orleans. When politicians
by Dave Zirin
Nowhere is this personified more painfully than in a monument to corporate greed that has rapidly become the earth’s most damnable homeless shelter, the Louisiana Superdome.
The Superdome is perhaps the most unintentionally appropriate name since Mr. and Mrs. Cheney looked at their newborn son and said, “Dick.” It was birthed in
1975 with pomp and bombast, as the largest domed facility in the world. It was also funded entirely on the public dime. In a case of brutal foreshadowing that would shame a B horror flick, the dome was constructed on an old cemetery for the poor. The burial grounds were dug up and discarded with a promise that the Superdome would the centerpiece of a New Orleans “Central Business District” that would benefit all. The results are certainly now in plain, ugly view. This past week, 25,000 people, walked through its doors, many for the first time. They entered a stadium where tickets go for 90 bucks a pop, season passes cost $1,300 and luxury boxes can run for as much as $109,000. The arena boasts of having a capacity that can comfortably seat 72,000 people, with 9,000 tons of air conditioning, and 88 massive restrooms. But for the 25,000 that can’t afford the oxygen, there has been no air conditioning and bathrooms without electricity, running water, or working toilets. Feces and garbage now pack the upper decks. The traumatized people finally emerging tell of dead bodies on the 50 yard line. One man even committed suicide, throwing himself off the upper deck. Democratic Governor Kathleen Blanco called the Superdome shelter strategy an "experiment", when asked if it could hold the storm or the flood. Chuck D’s line about Housing Projects comes to mind when he said, “What is a project but another word for experiment?”
Saints’ receiver Joe Horn has looked at the place where he has set receiving records and said that football couldn’t be farther from his mind.
"It’s devastating to us. I’ve cried three or four times. Seeing kids without any food, elderly people dying and the government saying that help is on the way - that’s the most shocking part.”
He’s right. That is the most shocking part. Leading this carnival of disgrace is “Mr. Shock and Awe”
himself, George W. Bush. Everyday, President Bush doles out comments that signal his removal from any basic notion of humanity. Perhaps the most galling, "The good news is — and it’s hard for some to see it now — that out of this chaos is going to come a fantastic Gulf Coast, like it was before. Out of the rubbles of Trent Lott’s house — he’s lost his entire house — there’s going to be a fantastic house. And I’m looking forward to sitting on the porch."
But happy visions of mint juleps with Trent, while Mamie and Prissy tighten Scarlett’s corset, just will not sell. The discussion instead, from right wing editorial pages in New Hampshire and Mississippi to an vocal, angry, Civil Rights community, is about the racism, profiteering and vile hypocrisy at the heart of this system.
As Norman Solomon wrote, “The policies are matters of priorities. And the priorities of the Bush White House are clear. For killing in Iraq, they spare no expense.
For protecting and sustaining life, the cupboards go bare The problem is not incompetence. It’s inhumanity, cruelty and greed.”
Frederick Douglass said it even better a century ago in his speech, “What to the Slave is the 4th of July,”
“[Y]our national greatness, swelling vanity; your denunciation of tyrants, brass-fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are, to Him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy - a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages.”
I would amend the great Mr. Douglass just to say that we are not at present a nation of savages. The unreal outpouring of both aid and the furious call for answers are not the actions of beasts. But it is now clear that savages rule our lives. The echoing cry from the Gulf Coast is that we deserve better than living under a system that weeps over spilled oil, and rolls its eyes at our spilled blood.
PLACES WHERE YOU CAN HELP
NAACP Disaster Relief Efforts
The NAACP is setting up command centers in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama as part of its disaster relief efforts. NAACP units across the nation have begun collecting resources that will be placed on trucks and sent directly into the disaster areas.
Also, the NAACP has established a disaster relief fund to accept monetary donations to aid in the relief effort.
Checks can be sent to the NAACP payable toNAACP Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund4805 Mt. Hope DriveBaltimore, MD 21215Donations can also be made online atFYI, the NAACP, founded in 1909, is America’s oldest civil rights organizationSet up by native New Orleans rapper Master P and his wife Sonya MillerYou can mail or ship non perishable items to these following locations, which we have confirmed are REALLY delivering services to folks in need....Center for LIFE Outreach Center121 Saint Landry StreetLafayette, LA 70506atten.: Minister Pamela Robinson337-504-5374Mohammad Mosque 652600 Plank RoadBaton Rouge, LA 70805atten.: Minister Andrew Muhammad225-923-1400225-357-3079Lewis Temple CME Church272 Medgar Evers StreetGrambling, LA 71245atten.: Rev. Dr. Ricky Helton318-247-3793St. Luke Community United Methodist Church c/o Hurricane Katrina Victims 5710 East R.L. Thornton Freeway Dallas, TX 75223atten.: Pastor Tom Waitschies214-821-2970S.H.A.P.E. Community Center3815 Live OakHouston, Texas 77004atten.: Deloyd Parker713-521-0641
Dave Zirin’s new book "What’s My Name Fool? Sports and Resistance in the United States" is published by Haymarket Books. Check out his revamped website edgeofsports.com. You can receive his column Edge of Sports, every week by e-mailing edgeofsports-subscribe@zirin.com. Contact him at whatsmynamefool2005@yahoo.com.
Forum posts
7 September 2005, 01:26
Perhaps you should be asking Governor Blanco and Mayor Nagin why they waited so long to begin evacuating New Orleans? They only ordered an evacuation only when Federal officials asked them why they were dawdling in the face of Katrina. While you are at it, you might ask why THEY did not evacuate the poor souls who were too poor to either buy a coach ticket or drive out themselves.
After all, it the responsibility of local and state government to do so—ans aask for further assistance when needed. The elected officials of Louisiana did nothing.