In class the other day we were talking about flashbulb memories. These are memories that are seared into our minds in catastrophic events. We talked about being able to vividly recall what we were doing when 9/11 happened. One of my students thought that Katrina should be the new 9/11. I remember bits and pieces of the unfolding story of Katrina.As we talked about it, I admitted that it didn’t have the same impact as 9/11, and I wondered why.
Did 9/11 eclipse Katrina because of the scope of the tragedy was so much quicker on the timeline of the actual event? 9/11 lasted a number of hours, Katrina stretched on for weeks Was it because the class and race of people affected? Was it that one made us feel more vulnerable?
I think we felt vulnerable when the planes flew into the buildings. I remember looking at the sky and wondering what else was going to happen.
Katrina was horrible for the cost in human life and misery. It was telling in how it ripped off the scab of our society and gave us glimpses into parts of ourselves. It may be something that we as a nation may be working hard to forget because it is a side of us that we don't like to admit. But it didn’t make me feel vulnerable. 9/11 did that. When I think of the Mississippi Gulf coast devastation, I think of the dangers I face in the region I live in, and the dangers I don’t face because I don’t live somewhere else.
9/11 revealed the dangers I face being an American. And I wonder if African-Americans look at Katrina and feel vulerable as well?
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I think I have to agree that 9/11 was something that truly made everyone in America feel vulnerable. I hate to even say this, but with Katrina it was like, "Oh that's awful" but with any hurricane you expect death. Of course it was disguisting the way the residents were and are still being treated. However, with the Tsunami not too long before that and the devestation that caused I think we were all just "tragedy" worn out. We were angry and upset at our own government but we didn't feel vulnerable. When you get on a plane, or head off to work, or are simply walking down a street you don't expect the sky to fall. And on September 11th that is what happened. The sky fell, and it didn't care who it fell on. And what's worse is we had no warning and someone else made it happen. They said, "Those people need to get hurt" and it happened. I am heartbroken at what happened on the Gulf Coast...but I can tell you that I felt the same way when I was walking in NYC this July for the third time in less than a year and walked passed where the Trade Centers used to be...even though I've walked passed that quite a few times already. The feeling never goes away and, unfortunately, neither do the images.
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