A small piece of the big tragedy, but it's MY small piece. And democracy isn't really a small thing, anyway.
Louisiana officials yesterday postponed local elections scheduled for Oct. 15, citing a lack of equipment and manpower.
"Right now, because of Hurricane Katrina and its resulting aftermath, we don't have the machines, personnel, or electorate in place to properly conduct a fair election in these affected areas," said Al Ater, Louisiana's secretary of state. "We will reschedule these elections at the appropriate time."
9/11 was an election day for me and it felt like a very right thing to be doing. It was election day in New York, too, and they postponed two weeks. But this tragedy is very different because of the sheer displacement of people. Who "lives" in New Orleans? Who's coming back? It's a very thorny question, and as everything about Katrina is it's a racially charged question too.
UPDATE: Some of the Uprooted Won't Go Home Again: "Fewer than half of all New Orleans evacuees living in emergency shelters here said they will move back home, while two-thirds of those who want to relocate planned to settle permanently in the Houston area, according to a survey by The Washington Post, the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health..."
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