Katrina: 5 years later

August 29, 2005 was a day that changed the lives for the people of New Orleans, LA and many cities along thee Gulf Coast as Hurricane Katrina waged its wrath on that region. This category 4 storm was one of the worst in US history, packing winds of over 100 mph and destroying homes and flooding communities in its wake. Hundreds of people fled the port city just days before Katrina made landfall, but those who stayed  or were unable to flee scrambled to seek shelter and help from local authorities. Many people placed blame on the government during Bush's tenure for his slow response as thousands, many of them African-American, basically had no where to go except to FEMA trailers and to the New Orleans Superdome. BET held a special telethon to raise money for the victims of this great natural disaster. What was rather mind-boggling was the media's role  on the crisis, with them stereotyping the black survivors as "refugees" as opposed to a politically correct term. However, I see the tragedy as a blessing in disguise. People who had a rough life and lost everything in New Orleans came to Houston, TX with a fresh start at life. Students who were attending college in the Big Easy came to Texas Southern and have become more than conquerors and have achieved many things such as graduating from college. About a couple of years after the storm, some heard the news from New Orleans officials that you can only come back if you plan to work. Now we know what that means....if you're black and on welfare, you're not welcome back. In fact, Kanye West said it best when he said the infamous statement "George Bush don't care about black people." But I digress.  Now that the 5th anniversary has passed, some say that New Orleans is all the way back, while others beg to differ. The question still remains will the Obama Administration learn from the mistakes from Katrina and have a more profound plan of emergency or will history repeat itself.