This is the second time that I have seen Spike Lee's documentary on Katrina and the images of so many helpless people during a national crisis still overwhelms me. The anchor women truly showed the insensitivity of the LA organizational structure when she reported a dead body in the same spot a day or two later. Of course this was just one example; to see dead swollen bodies floating in the water and other bodies lying in the streets showed the ugly colors of America once again. Not only were the visual images poignant in this documentary but the auditory images were just as powerful as we heard New Orleaneans crying to the national organization, "Does anyone care?"
The documentary allowed me to see how leadership, culture, and underlying assumptions coexisted on the local, state, and national level. In this instance, it was clear that the organizations were not working as collaborative teams to provide services for the residents. All of these organizations have to work as collaborative teams to serve children and adults in a more effective and humanistic way. Hopefully, this documentary will help America to be better prepared when another disaster hits our country.
Thanks Sheldon for your continued efforts to keep present and future leaders informed of the many sides of leadership. Thanks also to cohort members as you shared your comments.
Carol
2 comments:
The treatment of dead bodies...as if they were just other storm debris was shocking and showed an ugly side of America that I can't get out of my mind. So disturbing.
carol, do you remember the movie about a possible nuclear holocaust that came out some time in the early 80s? one line stood out: 'is anybody out there? anybody at all?' i couldn't help but be reminded of that line when watching the movie and reading your post. the answer, of course, is no--in both the fictional story and the real one.
when the chips are down, we're on our own.
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