I was thinking about what to post as an update for our Katrina trip today. Drove for two hours, stopped to go to the bathroom, drove for two hours, stopped to buy gas, drove for two hours, etc. There. Done.
Alright. I’m lucky I downloaded a Kanye West album to listen to in the car on the way down. Here’s the connection: a couple of years ago there was a fund raising effort on a national broadcast television station to help victims of Katrina. This was right after things happened and the whole FEMA flub-up was still fresh on the minds of many people. Kanye West was one of many people who thought that the relief effort was less than stellar and attributed that poor response by FEMA to underlying institutional racism. Rap artists are often very prophetic. He straight up called it out on national TV. This is old news but you can watch the clip below.
Please, realize that he was speaking off the cuff, like you were sitting in his living room. He wasn’t using the teleprompter; he was just calling it out. Whatever YOU think, Mr. West’s comments reflect the frustration of many of the poor residents of New Orleans. [Update 6/25/08: as I was rereading this post, I realized how the use of the phrase “the poor residents of New Orleans” betrays my own prejudice. If I were to write this again, I would leave out the word “poor”. The use of that phraseology reflects a subtle racism that reflects my association of poverty with the African-American population in New Orleans. There may be evidence for making that association, but I’m sure Mr. West’s comments represent the opinions of a much broader demographic.]
It’s interesting that he admits his own compulsion to consumption in his comments. I have to admit that I am the same way. I went shopping before I pitched in to help with the relief effort. In fact, I’ve been shopping for almost three years since Katrina occurred. While many vulnerable people were being exploited and taken advantage of by insurance adjusters, I was shopping. When they start kicking people out of their FEMA trailers on July 1st, I’ll be shopping. My allegiance to a tame “Jesus” that sits at a desk and studies the Torah is reflected by my willfully-ignorant hands-off response to the catastrophe. Somewhere along my way I lost my connection to the real pain of people on the street. While I was at a committee meeting discussing how to tell people about “Jesus”, the real Jesus was living in a trailer parked in front of a washed through house. I had lost my streetness.
A few weeks ago, that changed in me for long enough to commit to going to New Orleans for a week. I’m grateful for the impulse to be a part of the rebuilding effort. I’m glad that my impulse to be self-absorbed and shopping stayed in bed that morning.
I want to share some lyrics from a song I heard for the first time this morning on my new Kanye West CD. I don’t want to be so into a mild likeness of a classroom Jesus that I forget His streetness.
Good Morning (3rd stanza)
by Kanye West
Good morning
Look at the valedictorian
scared of the future
While I hop in the Delorean
Scared-to-face-the-world complacent career student
Some people graduate, but we still stupid
They tell you read this, eat this, don’t look around
Just peep this, preach us, teach us, Jesus
Okay, look up now, they done stole your streetness
After all of that, you receive this