Great Flood of 1927: A Metaphor for Our Times
Ninety years ago this month, the city of New Orleans was threatened by the flood waters which had already wrecked havoc all down the Mississippi. Fearing the destruction of their own city, New Orleans leaders decided to take matters into their own hands. They mined the levees that protected their neighbors in St. Bernard Parish and Plaquemines Parish, flooding other people so that they could stay high and dry. Turns out, the bombing of the levees was unnecessary. NOLA--and St. Bernard and Plaquemines---all would have survived the flood. The rich folks of New Orleans sold their souls---and lost their humanity--for nothing.
Up north, Blacks were conscripted to build levees. Those who tried to leave were killed. Landlords used the full power of the law to make sure that "their" sharecroppers did not run away. The American Red Cross tended the needs of displaced whites. Blacks were left to fend for themselves.
https://www.amazon.com/Backwater-Blues-Mississippi-American-Imagination/dp/0816679266/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
This is what is happening right now in Trump's America. We are so divided and conquered that we have been convinced that it is "us versus them".
