What Is A Conspiracy?

For nearly two years, there has been talk of conspiracy related to the breaching of the levees and the poor response to the poor people of New Orleans. Conspiracy is something which makes me terribly uncomfortable, as I suppose it should. It is contrary to my nature and to my sense of the importance of unconditional humanitarian efforts. Having done other missions, I don't believe I walk through life looking through the proverbial rose colored glasses. I have seen the poorest of the poor; I know what it is to go to bed hungry; I have lived in a mud and dung house with no potable water. I believe in the basic good of mankind and have tried very hard to believe in my country and her commitment to the people she serves.

After experiencing only the surface issues in New Orleans, I am changed. I am disappointed in my government, and considering the Iraq war and the billions being spent there, I am ashamed. I am near to being embarrassed to be an American whose country has forsaken its innocent poor in the interest of what I have come to believe is power, industry, and taxation.

Although I have travelled far and wide, I have never experienced the deep south and what seems to be the absolute disdain that society there has for its poor people of color. I have had many questions since my return. Why are there thousands of FEMA trailers standing empty behind locked chain link fences? Whose bright idea was it give those trailers only to those who own homes? Why doesn't the school district find it economically prudent to bus 26, or so, kids from the lower ninth to schools in the upper wards? How would I advocate for my grandchildren if they had been kept out of school because of bus fare...out of school longer than they had been in school? How would I ever have the possibility of returning home if, after two years, no effort had been made in my neighborhood to restore power, water, and sewer? If I were the mayor, what would I do about the casinos which send payday buses with a free round trip ride and the gift of twenty bucks to the lower ninth, so desperate poor folk can gamble away their grocery money with the promise of doubling it? For me, the questions go on and on. My only logical answer is conspiracy. The state of Louisiana, New Orleans, and the United States government want their poor people to disappear...to become invisible. They're bad for business. If they aren't provided with services, homes, or an infrastructure, they will be forced to move on. In doing so, they will remove the blight from the "Big Easy". The land will become available for casinos, industry, the port, the refinery. State coffers will grow with more tax revenue and less demand on the welfare system. Why would they want the poor folks when they can have all of this?

Did I return a more cynical person? Or, did I return with the kind of righteous anger which has the potential for change? If the latter is the case, who has the time, money, energy, voice, and faith to pitch in and help? As Christians, let us not forget, "Blessed are the poor..." "...what you do for the least of these, you do for me..."