Help for Haiti, remebering Katrina, still on an Avatar rant...

I've been watching the events of the earthquake in Haiti this week and I must say the images are disturbing and sad. I really feel for these people and I am profoundly happy that people are reaching out to help this nation.

As a black American, I always worry that devastation to a mostly black country will be ignored by the people of America. In general, I worry that Americans will turn a blind eye to any poor nation in need. We are a fickle bunch in that way.

When the tsunami hit Indonesia, Americans dug deep to help. I hope that America continues to exist. There are times when Americans take an attitude that we should not or don't need to help. I think this is because many Americans forget how wealthy we are compared to other nations.

We enjoy small things like clean water, electricity, a functioning government and in most cases, Hurricane Katrina aside, quick help when we are in danger from a natural disaster. Specifically, my worries about Haiti stem from the disaster that was Hurricane Katrina. I still remember a man hold up a one month old baby, shouting to the world that they had no food or clean water. I remember a man crying over his dead mother, still sitting in her wheelchair. He was forced to leave her sitting in the chair like garbage. There was an interview with a man describing his neighbor's body, bloated from flood waters, still lying on the sidewalk. The man had been dead for days.

Katrina was a sad story of America's failure to help the needy. These were locals, Americans, people who needed help and I was stunned at how many times I heard people saying they should have evacuated before the storm. These people obviously had never visited the 9th Ward and seen the unbelievable poverty. I visited this neighborhood years before the storm. I grew up poor and I was stunned at the urban decay in that area. I hope such scenes are never repeated.

On a lighter, but still serious note, I still have a bit of a rant about the racism in "Avatar." I am still angry that a few believe the film is simply about a white man saving native savages. That ignores the fact that the natives are actually more civilized than the humans. This also ignores the fact that the scientists are curious about this new world and even one of the military persons turns sides. The film is hardly about one white man saving a bunch of ignorant savages.

There are some very important elements that are ignored. In "Dances With Wolves," which Avatar is compared to, John Dunbar never fully joins the natives. He gets close, accepts the name given him, he does a buffalo hunt, helps find the buffalo, but he never joins the tribe. In the end, he takes his wife and leaves. The excuse is the soldiers will never stop hunting him, but he knew the soldiers would never stop coming anyway so why chose a life of solitude?

John Dunbar never truly went "native" as he is accused. Sully in Avatar does more than go native. He not only accepts the new culture and way of life, he gets immersed in their faith also. In the end, he actually chooses to leave his human existence behind and become a true member of the tribe. He has his wife and is ready to be a regular member of the tribe. To me, this is not a character who swooped in to save natives and either leave them behind or lead them like they were mindless children. Sully had redeem himself...that was the message I got.