FEMA Trailers

I am utterly disgusted, but not in the least surprised, to hear about the high levels of formaldehyde contamination in FEMA trailers in trailers provided for refugees of Hurricane Katrina.

I am less critical of FEMA than many commentators; I think the problems emanate from the highest reaches of the federal government. But not just from there. They also stem from our own indifference to the poor. A natural disaster is just another event in the news cycle. One week it's a hurricane, the next a school shooting. We see news as entertainment and we need something new to keep us sated. But it takes a long time to fix people's destroyed lives. We don't elect a government that will take the necessary measures to find permanent housing for Katrina refugees. It's 2 1/2 years later and tens of thousands of people are stuck in trailers. Tens of thousands more are scattered to the winds and are struggling as well.

Whenever natural disasters strike in this country, the poor pay the price. As Mike Davis pointed out in his provocative piece, "The Case for Letting Malibu Burn," half the nation rushes to help the wealthy movie stars of Malibu when fire strikes but no one could care less when fires break out in the horrific tenement housing of downtown Los Angeles. It's the same in New Orleans. Corporations, especially casinos, received a massive influx of money after Katrina and Rita and the poor are breathing in formaldehyde.

As a country, we have an out of sight, out of mind mentality. We didn't care about the poor of New Orleans before the hurricane. Then the storm struck and they were in our sight and we were supposedly horrified at their plight. Then we forgot them by the end of 2005. It's 2008 and we keep forgetting.

Sarah J has more.