Re-reHash: Through The Eyes Of A Stranger.

It's the anniversary of Katrina and all is well with America, Right?

Right??? What it's not? Are you say'n your fearless leader George Bush hasn't resolved a thing in Louisiana? Oh !

I guess Kanye West was right "George Bush doesn't care about black people"!

All levity aside it's abysmal what being done in New Orleans and it's surrounding areas. What has Bush's Federal and The State Government of Louisiana done there anyway? It looks to me to be a ol'fashion "Land Grab"! New Orleans "new" residents are white, rich and buying properties in what was a black owned area. The City's so called "Brain Gain" is just a "Land Grab" orchestrated by the "Bush Government". The poor get screwed again. I wonder what the States around Louisiana have to say about housing all the orphaned families of Katrina? I know what Bush said this morning visiting New Orleans. Nothing! Again!!!

Some people say the best part of a vacation is coming home . "I dunno about dat I think I could have stayed another week "! Sun , surf and sand . What about that beautiful view "amazing" . Unless you leave the compound ! Then the view gets mighty bleak .
Our family went to the Dominican Republic this past week the hotel , the beach , the food , everything was great. Everything except the poverty ! This was the first time I've been to the Dominican but not the first time in the Caribbean and I've never seen sights like these . First I would like to say the people there are great , nice , hard working and have good family values . How do I know ? I talked to them . I found out most people who work , work in the service industry [ so please don't stop going there it could be worse ] others get by in less scrupulous dealings . Most of their teachers come from other country's but almost all children don't finish or even start school . Some of the lucky and talented kids get to go to art school but most become hotel staff or drivers [ drivers is a the only word I could think of ironically nobody on that island can drive ! If you have been there you know what I mean . "CRAZY" ! ] . Anyhoo... the wife and I decided to go on a couple of excursions . One was to take a catamaran cruise and snorkel with sharks and sting rays . If you ever get a chance to do this , do it ! My daughter had no fear out in the middle of the ocean swimming with nurse sharks , "she's nine" , brave little girl . We all had fun on that one . The other trip was a shopping excursion or was supposed to be a shopping trip . "What a fuck-up" ! First the van was late [ I know Caribbean time ] when he got there the van was a piece of shit Toyota half falling apart . I looked at wifey and said "ya gotta be kidd'n rite" ! " Wally I want to go shopping and get Christmas presents " . I'm like " Ahhh RRRR " ! Wifey looks at me " look you snob get in that bus 'NOW' "! " Besides we paid $70.00 and it's non refundable " " What da fuck ya talk'n about 70 bucks to buy trinkets " ? " Your fuck'n crazy "! Now guys who are married knows what comes next , you get on the bus . I figured eh " it's gonna rain anyhoo " . Sure ! And off we go . After about a hour we stop " nows peoples wes stop hears tos picks-up others peoples " our Guide mumbled . "Wa da fuck ya talk'n about , get me off dis bus now my f'n back is kill'n me " " Yous ca gets out and walks arounds" . " Thanx" ! As soon as I get out of the bus the smell hits me , waste , human waste , that smell is unmistakable . A little boy comes up to me " Mister , Mister I'm very hungry , very hungry " . I looked at his shoe box full of pop . " Mister do you want a drink " ? I dunno about you but I wasn't , nore will I be , that thirsty . I reached into my pocket and pulled out 5 bucks and gave it to him . " Ahh no pop thanx " . " Where am I " ? He told me the name of the village but I forgot what it was all I know it was poor , very poor . " Hey kid you want a job as a guide you speak better than ours " ! " He smiled and laughed he got the joke . This kids pretty bright , fuck did he get a rotten break . Just as I was gonna ask him about the area the guide chases the kid off " Vamos beggers " ! A half hour latter another piece'o'shit van pulls up and out pops eighteen very large black women . I look at wifey " Ya gotta be kidd'n rite " . " There's no way they'er gonna fit on this piece'o'shit " . " Shut The Fuck Up , they'll hear you " . " Sit Down And Shut The Fuck Up" ! My wife has a way of looking at things , a way most don't , she has real spiritual feeling sometimes . This was one of them , she said "We're here for a reason keep your mouth shut and learn a little " . I didn't get it at all . All I knew was these women couldn't get down the aisle . "Yous with di hat , Roots hat get up , moves ta do seat back " I think the guide was talk'n to me I look to the seat behind me and a large black women is sitting there and there wasn't much of a seat left maybe 4" . Ahhh Fuck , this sucks !!! I sit on my 4" piece of cushion and force a smile at the older lady. She smiles back " Honey you really got the short end of the stick today didn't you Mmmhhm" as she pushes her ass against the wall of the bus to make room for me . Her smile was real and not forced . I look over at the wife and she shoots me a look like don't say anything stupid you asshole . I look into her eyes and say " I'm Wally " . " Well nice to meet you Wally sorry I can't get over any further but as you can see I'm not a small person " . " Hey everyone Aida has a friend , son you're in for it , you are " the lady in the next seat piped up. " Oooooh Ha ha oooo !" the hole bus erupts with laughter . I didn't know if I should laugh or cry . " I'm Aida and this is all my sisters from our University's graduation class " . " This is our forty eight..." " Aida shuts you mouth it's our twentieth anniversary "one of the ladies yells. They all start laughing and off we go ...Again . About an hour down the road Aida and I are getting to know each other I've flirted with her and I've told a couple of off color jokes . Aida laughs at every joke with great vigor . She has a fantastic sense of humor with a great laugh , full of highs and lows . Aida told me all about her traveling adventures with some of the ladies . One stuck out though , when she went to China . Seems the Chinese don't see to many black people especially well endowed ones . The men would walk right up to her and stare right at her large bosoms . They would point at them and talk to their friends while looking down her top . That's f'n funny ! We are looking out the window at the sights , laughing and just as we come into the sugar cane fields I see a sight I've never seen before [ at least not in person ] ' real absolute poverty ' . Ran-shackled huts with no walls steel roofs , sugar cane and mud everywhere . The people are looking at us with downward eyes . I blurt out " Holly Shit My God " ! "Wa da fuck is this " ? Aida looks at me " LIFE" ! " Life for them" . " I look at that little girl over there and I see myself , I see myself as a child ". " Your kidd'n right it couldn't be that bad where you grew up "? " Child when I grew up we were segregated outside of Memphis , we had nothing " . " Yup when I look at dat child I see me " ! " You went to University, how could you afford the tuition " ? " My mother cleaned houses and did white peoples laundry" . " She worked very hard for me , also tuition's weren't that high then . I also borrowed from family and friends ". " Everyone chipped in for me to get an education " . I felt like shit . I blew my education when I quit school and left hockey . I didn't want to say I always had it easy . That I had schools after me to play hockey for them and I more or less told them to fuck-off . I was thinking I could have had a free ride through school just because I could stop a puck but I was to lazy , unmotivated , spoiled. As we drove through the sugar cane Aida told me about all the girls on the bus , how they are all doctors , social workers , lawyers , pharmacists ... all very successful women in their fields . Aida's field was school teacher for troubled children . Aida now lives in Los Angele's near Compton . If you don't know about Compton let's just say it's not Beverley Hills 90210 . I was about to ask why she moved to that area of the country when it dawned on my small brain , she moved there to give back . She could have gone anywhere but she picked a hard-luck area to help where it needed it most . OK now I know this is not your average woman . It took a bit , but now I'm there , now I understand . Aida told me about the south in the 1950's how blacks weren't even third class people that they didn't matter , they were around only to do menial labour . How most blacks who had any land , it was usually stolen with back taxes or sold at a very devalued price . Hood-winked . I guess I knew what the south was about but I never heard about it first-hand . " Yous given that boy a history lesson Aida " ? the woman in the next seat spying over ." No , not really we're just talk'n girl " . She wasn't given me a history lesson she was given me a life lesson I was think'n . The rest of the ride was rather dull except a river or two and a village built to emulate a village in Italy [ that was pretty ] but I couldn't get that sugar cane fields out of my mind and what Aida said . On the way back da wife looked over at me and whispered " How's your girlfriend " ? " Great I think I'm gonna take her on a motorcycle trip to the Grand Canyon " . Aida pipes up " I'm not go'n on any motorcycle and I've already seen the Grand Canyon" . I think Aida's seen more than the Grand Canyon I think she's seen and felt everything life has to offer the good , the bad , and the very ugly . She has reached up grabbed sky , reached down and pulled others up with her . It was a real pleasure meeting , talking , sharing life stories and I'm better for it . As we got off the bus I shook Aida's hand good-bye I felt bad that she wasn't going with us . Aida said " take care " . " Aida the pleasure was all mine ". I looked over at wifey " See I told you we were here for a reason ". " You learned a little something today didn't you " ! Fuck , is that woman ever wrong ? Love Ya Hon Da Wallycrawler .