The Purpose of this Blog...

Why was this blog started?

On August 28th, 2005, my family and I went to the New Orleans International Airport to seek shelter from Hurricane Katrina. What we didn't expect is the aftermath of Katrina's wrath. We thought that while our city would have extensive flooding and damage, we would still have a city to go back to and that all those stranded and marooned by Hurricane Katrina would receive help. We did not expect to see our city's poorest citizens ignored. We didn't think that the most powerful nation would leave its citizens to suffer and wait as red tape, classicism and racism stalled relief efforts. This blog was started to track the "progress" of the recovery and rebuilding process of the Gulf South with most emphasis being on my hometown New Orleans.

New Orleans, usually spoken in the context of fun and revelry, has become a symbol of this current administration's ineptitude. While our military, the strongest in the world, could conquer the countries of Iraq and Afghanistan within weeks, New Orleans citizens suffered for days as relief efforts were blocked. While the victims of the tsunami in South East Asia received aid, south of the Mason-Dixie line, law-abiding, taxpaying citizens who followed the instructions of law enforcement officers were abandoned. This blog is a series of e-mails, articles, stories, links and thoughts of an native New Orleanian and Muslim evacuee. More news to come, insha'Allah.