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Oct 07, 2008

A LETTER FROM MEMPHIS, by Kim Hayes

 

The words I spoke as Kim and I talked on the back of that U-haul were statements of my disbelief and utter disgust of the governments' treatment towards not only black Americans, but also to the poor and under privileged as well. My son, whom I spoke of in the movie, never joined the armed forces but, went on to college at the University of Memphis where he is now a sophomore.

All the hurt and aguish I felt for Kim and Scott, was magnified by my own struggle as a single, working mother , barely able give her own family their necessities. I too, who had been repeatedly let down by the government, felt their pain. The words that were said by our leaders at that time couldn't negate the years of frustration felt by all of poor America and now the victims of Katrina. The films delivers a slap in the face to the politicians of that time and still today who continue to throw the covers over their unthinkable mistakes. The Roberts' account of the tragedy they turn into triumph will uplift your spirits and give you hope in the midst of the many crisis's all of America now faces...

Allow "trouble the Water" to flood your disappointments with her message of truth.

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#1

Katrina is more than a memory to a lot of people, even up here in Iowa. I became involved with several Katrina refugees who were literally put on a plane and shipped here not even knowing where they were going to land. To say that they have had a hard time adjusting to unfamiliar surroundings is an understatement. Abject depression, financial hardship, and difficulty with work because of cultural differences have all been commonplace. Were it not for kind individuals and the Red Cross, they would have been pretty much abandoned. Nevertheless, they are coping, and in another generation, this area might seem like home. The contrast between aid to the flood-stricken (mostly white) Midwest and the flood-stricken Southern coast and New Orleans could not be more stark. Either the government has learned a little, or it’s true that they did abandon America’s poor and black.

Posted by Shelley Stewart in Des Moines, IA | 10/10/08, 07:45 PM EDT