FEMA Trailers to Native Americans - Modern Smallpox Blankets for Indians?
According to popular legend, Andrew Jackson, infamous Indian-hater, helped poison the Native Americans by distributing smallpox-contaminated blankets among them. (Not true, by the way.) We do know that in his relocation of the Cherokee from the South to Oklahoma during the Trail of Tears, tens of thousands died from inadequate clothing and shelter as well as poor-quality food and contaminated water.
This was a travesty. Even Americans who hated Indians at the time agreed that this should never happen again when the truth came out. Today, the Trail of Tears and other cases of terrible treatment for Native Americans are among our most shameful national memories.
So why are we getting ready to do it again?
The Peculiar Trail of FEMA Trailers To South Dakota Indians
Senator Tim Johnson of South Dakota has been pushing to have unused FEMA trailers distributed among the Lakota and Dakota Sioux living there, who are counted among the most underhoused people in the country.
It sounds like a win-win: the FEMA trailers are just sitting there, fully furnished and unused. They have propane stoves, microwaves, air conditioning, and heat. They're not too hard to move (albeit expensive, perhaps at a price of $2000 each from their current location in Arkansas) and can be used as semi-permanent housing for people who don't have adequate homes of their own.
No problem, right?
Well, no problem except that people in New Orleans and other south Louisiana locations have been moving out of the trailers recently, opting to live in their vehicles or even outside in tents rather than the FEMA-provided lodging on their property.
You see, many of these $60,000 units (at least double the price of comparable new travel trailers available commercially) were build from substandard materials. To meet FEMA's demand for thousands upon thousands of these trailers, quick quick, trailer manufacturers worked people overtime. They ordered stock from suppliers who weren't prepared for the sudden run on pressboard and other critical materials.
This was a travesty. Even Americans who hated Indians at the time agreed that this should never happen again when the truth came out. Today, the Trail of Tears and other cases of terrible treatment for Native Americans are among our most shameful national memories.
So why are we getting ready to do it again?
The Peculiar Trail of FEMA Trailers To South Dakota Indians
Senator Tim Johnson of South Dakota has been pushing to have unused FEMA trailers distributed among the Lakota and Dakota Sioux living there, who are counted among the most underhoused people in the country.
It sounds like a win-win: the FEMA trailers are just sitting there, fully furnished and unused. They have propane stoves, microwaves, air conditioning, and heat. They're not too hard to move (albeit expensive, perhaps at a price of $2000 each from their current location in Arkansas) and can be used as semi-permanent housing for people who don't have adequate homes of their own.
No problem, right?
Well, no problem except that people in New Orleans and other south Louisiana locations have been moving out of the trailers recently, opting to live in their vehicles or even outside in tents rather than the FEMA-provided lodging on their property.
You see, many of these $60,000 units (at least double the price of comparable new travel trailers available commercially) were build from substandard materials. To meet FEMA's demand for thousands upon thousands of these trailers, quick quick, trailer manufacturers worked people overtime. They ordered stock from suppliers who weren't prepared for the sudden run on pressboard and other critical materials.
Comments
If it's been historically proven, cite your sources. Show me. The only mention I found that is legit, after extensive research, was a British officer just after the French and Indian War who proposed to infect Indians around Montreal as a means for winning the war. You can find a good reference here: http://tinyurl.com/3kd7ty. While Australian settlers apparently infected Aborigines in this manner, and germs have been used as a weapon of war for millenia, it is simply not proven anywhere that the US did this at any point to the Native Americans, at least not on purpose.
Rivkah
(Guest)
(Guest)
09/13/2008
You are mistaken. It IS historically proveable that the Indians were purposefully infected with smallpox-infected blankets. There are historical documents that clearly state that it was the intention to do so. You must be thinking that genocide couldn't possibly take place in our wonderful and caring world,. OH REALLY? Have you never heard of the Holocaust, or the extermination of the Kurds, not to mention other incidents? Learn your history next time before you start writing articles.
kok
(Guest)
(Guest)
01/11/2008
wtf
this is ridiculous that they would even consider this. excellent reporting
Agreed Carol -- and every time they're moved, we're getting charged as much as double normal transit fees for the moving. Contracts, you know. But no one hears about the ongoing costs of storage and transportation either. It's an enormous waste -- and $60K would have gone a long way toward reconstruction for someone's house, even totally rebuilt some of the shotgun models in the poor neighborhoods.
An taxpayers spent billion buying these things in the first place. Totally screwed up.
That is really crappy.
I see the problem quite clearly! This is horrendous. Whoever built these trailers should pay back the gov't the original cost plus pay to have them deconstructed and adequately disposed of. Grr.
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