Oh, Joy! Mark Your Calendars…
…Spike Lee is coming to New Orleans to do a documentary on the collision of race and politics in the aftermath of Katrina. Spike, if you want to know how the poor of New Orleans (noticed I said the poor, not the black poor) got hit so hard, do a documentary on how a city under sea level faces a death threat for 200 years and no one does a damn thing about it. There’s your story…
Lee’s move comes as the Pew Research Center’s latest poll shows Bush’s approval rating among blacks at 12%. Small wonder, when black leaders are spouting the following nonsense:
Amid criticism that the administration of President Bush was slow to respond, leaving thousands of black and low-income people stranded amid violence and lawlessness, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan has suggested the levees in New Orleans were broken as a way of “getting rid of the poor.”
Activist Jesse Jackson compared the New Orleans convention center, where evacuees gathered, to “the hull of a slave ship.”
“I wouldn’t put anything past the U.S. government when it comes to people of color,” Lee said in an interview with Reuters.
We should never allow statements like these to stand without challenge, and we should never lend legitimacy to paranoid fantasies of this sort. Race relations aren’t helped by those who fan the flames for their own personal gain…
So where does Spike say he’s donating all proceeds to the poor black folk of N.O.?
Years ago, back when Spike Lee had a career, I remember seeing a profile article (in, where else, the NY Times, IIRC) where his sister talked about the trials Spike’s family had faced in a racist society. “We weren’t that well off, we know what discrimination is all about,” she said. [I’m paraphrasing here.] “I mean, we went to Europe once, but it’s not like we could afford to go every year or something.”
Spike always used outrage and sensitivity on race to boost his Hollywood profile, but it’s been a while since that worked for him. Maybe he and Michael Moore can pool their talents on this one, but as solo acts I’m guessing both of them are pretty much finished.
Given Lee’s close ties to Farrakhan, I suspect Lee’s latest joint will spend at least some time peddling the absurd claim that the military blew up the levies on purpose.
In other words, it will be so full of lies it’ll make Farenheit 9/11 look like a documentary.
Michael Lewis had a fascinating story in the New York Times magazine this past Sunday about how misinformation and insularity helped lead to the confusion in New Orleans. What’s striking is how Spike Lee et al are mouthing the same paranoia that led to scenes like this:
“On St. Claude Avenue, just below the French Quarter, there was a scene of indigents, old people and gay men employed in the arts fleeing what they took to be bombs being dropped on them by Army helicopters. What were being dropped were, in fact, ready-to-eat meals and water in plastic jugs. But falling from the sky, these missiles looked unfriendly, and when the jugs hit concrete, they exploded and threw up shrapnel. The people in the area had heard from the police that George W. Bush intended to visit the city that day, and they could not imagine he meant them any good – but this attack, as they took it, came as a shock. “Run! Run!” screamed a man among the hordes trying to outrun the chopper. “It’s the president!”
I’m guessing no one will come up with a documentary on how promoting this kind of wild-eyed rumormongering hurt more people than it helped.