Tuesday, October 04, 2005

90. Mississippi Gulf Coast: The True Victim of Katrina


Pictured: Beauvoir - the historic last home of Jefferson Davis on the Gulf Coast in Biloxi, Mississippi - before & after Katrina

by Cheli Strumila - Gulf Port, Mississippi

My heart is deeply saddened
As I read poems from this site
And listen to the news coverage
On the tv night after night

They all talk of New Orleans
The story's tragic this is true

But New Orleans was a victim
Not of Katrina and her wrath
But of bad decisions in their state government
Who did not put their levees as their Top Priority and task!!

The true victims of Katrina
Lie just to the northeast
Where the entire coastline of the Mississippi Gulf Coast
Has been leveled and destroyed

Beautiful Antebellum homes
Thriving businesses and elaborate casinos
Are nothing but debris and slabs
Or they've floated up the beach
And now call land their home

Lives shattered, loved ones killed
Dreams put on hold as they try to figure out
How will I feed my family, how will I pay the bills!!

We have no one here to help pay our bills for months on end
No one is giving us $2000 just to help get by
If we stayed to help rebuild our coast
We must depend on each other, family and friends!!

Oh but let us not forget, New Orleans evacuees have been given money freely
Set up in housing to help them through
We here on the Mississippi Gulf Coast are told we can take out an SBA loan
Which will help keep us even more in debt
Are you getting the picture of who the true victims are yet?

Only parts of New Orleans were flooded
Our entire Mississippi Gulf Coast coastline is destroyed
The French Quarter is back up and running
Our Beautiful Casinos are no more

It will take us years to rebuild
Everything we all worked so hard to build
Over the last 14 years!!

We were the ones hit by Katrina!!
Katrina did not HIT New Orleans!!
Waveland, Pass Christian, Long Beach, Gulfport
Biloxi, Ocean Springs, Gautier and Pascagoula
REMEMBER THESE NAMES OF OUR CITIES...
REMEMBER THE LIVES LOST...
REMEMBER THE HOMES DESTROYED...
REMEMBER THE BUSINESSES RUINED...

Remember that those of the Mississippi Gulf Coast
Were the Victims of Hurricane Katrina!!
And of the Media who put more emphasis on a levee
Than the destruction of a Hurricane!!

Hellicane category: SURVIVORS' Tales

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I understand your anger, beautiful Beauvoir in tatters...I love your area, I am from South La.(Slidell - home gone) but I take trips to the beauty of the Gulf Coast regularly, just to clear my mind. I weep with you at the misery of your pain, but please search inside yourself and see we were ALL hurt, you AND ME. Peace be with you and yours. Blessings your way.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for remembering us on the Gulf Coast. The media only reports on New Orleans. The people of Mississippi were smart and evacuated when we were told, unlike the ignorant people of New Orleans. NOBODY would have died if you would have listened to the warnings. Mississippians immediatly picked up their lives and started to rebuild. We didn't wait around and try to place the blame on the mayor, governor, or president. We thanked God for keeping our families and friends safe instead. The people of the Mississippi Gulf Coast are amazing, strong-willed people.

Anonymous said...

To Diamond--you should have listened to the authorities and evacuated. Don't say you didn't have a car. The city was taking people out by bus. The Super Dome was having trouble finding parking for the people who came there. And by golly...the Mississippi Gulf Coast lost more than "a damn casino, a beach, a boat." We lost everything. Miles of destruction. Everything from churches to homes to schools.

Anonymous said...

I am from mississippi I live about 120 miles or a little more from the gulf coast and I am on your side the gulf coast was the victims not new orleans and the sad thing is some people on the coast are still living in tents and it has been almost a year and the new hurricane season is already here!!

Anonymous said...

wutz up im from gulfport mississippi and ifeel yall new orleans didnt get nuthin but da water from katrina but the all ways get water in they city we got the water and the wind and who ever got a problem e-mail me at diamonddomashell@yahoo.com holla