Hurricane Katrina
I worked in Accra, Ghana's capital, during the Katrina disaster has occurred. The immediate reaction of one of my colleagues in Ghana has been to say, "America will rebuild New Orleans in no time!" With my natural cynicism, I asked, "Why are you convinced that America will respond quickly? "My colleague from Ghana replied," America is the richest, most powerful country in the world. You can even send a man on the moon. If America can spend billions of dollars on the wars in Iraq, it certainly can rebuild a city in no time. " He then proceeded to challenge me:
Of course, America is a country with a highly corrupt dirty history of oppression, injustice and slavery. While America loves to lecture on corruption in Ghana, all Africans know all about the no-bid contracts to Halliburton and its connections to your vice president.
He then qualified his initial statement, saying: "America could rebuild New Orleans in no time if she wanted."
When our conversation ended, I left with many thoughts in my head spins. I remembered outside the United States, people are often more aware of other countries, cultures, history and news that the Americans. This may be a reflection of America's education system, America is it incorporated into self-perception of exceptionalism or simply a negative side effect of America are so powerful. I remember the launch of the invasion of Iraq in 2003 and how pathetic, Colin Powell seemed to try to defend the invasion to come up with "evidence of weapons of mass destruction" that would not convince most students , let alone the rest of the world. I remembered the feeling of helplessness that the U.S. government insisted on a war with virtually no debate in Congress or in the media, while public protests have been actively suppressed. Finally, I reminded me of my grandfather's collection of front pages of newspapers. His favorite was the moon landing in 1969, as he insisted that the manned moon landing is the biggest event of all history, not only history of the United States. Mankind, he said, his eyes were fixed on the moon throughout history, and America will always be known as the first country to put a man in this country.
Five years later, I fear running into the same Ghanaian colleague. It would probably remember a poor government response to those suffering during Hurricane Katrina. He acknowledges the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers failures, questions of FEMA, the unnecessary death and the slow recovery of many parts of the city. It would soon swing the conversation to more recent events. He cites how the U.S. government can find so many billions of dollars to support banks, bankers and other financial and political elite, as well as pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but the way America is torn arguing about basic health care to all its citizens. He recalls the sad reality of American inequality has raised its head in the government's response to Hurricane Katrina. It reminds me of the obsession of the media for stories based on race in chaos and hooliganism, prominent images of armed National Guardsmen. Finally, he concludes that "any person, group or even the country's priorities are reflected in how they spend their time and money. America could rebuild New Orleans in no time if she wanted. "
My answer would be:
You are right that America can do almost anything, including the rebuilding of New Orleans in no time if she wants. We can not solve problems such as poor public education, incomplete and exorbitant cost of health care, high crime rates, imprisonment rates and huge massive inequalities that we want. It depends on how America choose to allocate its resources, including time and money. Remember, we were the first to send a man on the moon.
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