Crime

It is really interesting that we chose to discuss crime this week because as of Saturday night I am a victim of street crime. I had my house broken into and my roommates and my own money stolen while we were in the house. This has all been really tough for me since I live on campus and was just downstairs. It has all been really tough for me as well to see first hand how the criminal justice system works. We didn't figure out that we had been robbed until about 8:00 the next morning but figured out that it happened around 1:00 am. When we called Public Safety hysterically crying they were very textbook not comforting at all. Shortly afterwards they came over and basically told me that a) it was my own fault for having that much money undeposited in the house and b) that they would do their best but they were all ready telling me that it was a lost cause and all of our stuff was basically gone. They weren't very sympathetic to the fact that I had just worked a 14 hour shift in which I made 300 dollars and it in one hour had just all gotten stolen.
All of this kept making me think about crime. It has all made me so angry that there is nothing they can do and really no evidence that they would be able to come up with to prove that if they were to catch him that it was him. So, why wouldn't they steal. They probably had a heyday with the money and they know they can't get caught.
I also found myself coming up with an image for my criminal and even caught myself in this blog referring to it as a he. In my head I have a picture of "him" when in reality I live with 11 people it could more likely be one of them or their friends, but of course none of them even close to fit the picture in my head. It's really awful how subconsciously prejudice we all turn out to be even when we don't admit it to ourselves.

Reaction to When the Levees Broke

I was a junior in high school when Katrina hit the New Orleans area. At the time I was sad but had no connection to the state of Louisiana or knew anyone from there. However, since coming to the College of Charleston and joining the Chi Omega Fraternity which is primarily made up of girls from the gulf coast and particularly New Orleans I have grown a greater knowledge of the culture there and the effect of Katrina. I have also visited the city and now feel a connection there as well because of the time that I spent there. So, seeing When the Levees Broke and knowing so much more about it I felt such a more severe reaction than I ever expected.
Sitting in class yesterday I was really emotional and kind of angry. I just never thought about some of the things that they were pointing out and I got pretty shaken up. I live with two girls from Baton Rouge and we sat down and discussed the documentary after class yesterday because they, being from that area, had also seen it.
When I visited New Orleans my roommates mother drove us in to the city and as we went under an overpass, she pointed out that that was the overpass that people were standing on and helicopters were lifting them of off because the water got so high. So remembering this, I asked the girls if there was any animosity towards the people that stayed, since in the video there is the clip of the girl saying, "they told me if I don't listen and get out of there, they won't help me." They said that of course there were people who said its their own fault they should have left but most people felt such connection to the city that they just wanted to help and rebuild it to what it once was. They also pointed out that no one could have predicted it to be this bad and that once again the city was not underwater because the hurricane was so strong, the hurricane was under water because the levees could not hold- this they said, is the most common misconception about the situation.
We haven't gotten to the other acts in the documentary but I am very curious to see the governments reaction and people's perspective to FEMA. Because I was in New Orleans with all Louisiana locals and we saw the mayor eating breakfast at our hotel. Every single one of those girls wanted to run over and scream at him. He was so hated I literally had to hold him back. I vaguely remember the press from my local area not giving him criticism, however I didn't realize how much they didn't like him.
In conclusion, I am so excited to see the rest of this because I really feel like I have a closer interest and connection than I would have years before.