Oh my gosh, thank you! All the people who were suggesting that Jamaicans hop on a plane to evac Melissa. [Sound of eyes rolling loudly in head.] Stacey Patton’s post on this topic is spot-on, as her posts always are.
As if the entire population of Jamaica could even do that. But then also, even if they could, they would then be away from their home country, in some foreign country — something likely to leave them even more vulnerable than the hurricane itself.
(I say this even while thinking of our home as a potential evac spot for refugees of various kinds of disasters, from various places. And planning our home protocols accordingly. If our humble central Florida house can accommodate 11 Bike Week festival tourists and itinerant workers, which we did in March 2018 before the ink was dry on the title, we can certainly accommodate at least as many refugees!)
Another thing that really struck me, in the comments on various weather channel posts, was how many of us USA white ppl were making comments along the lines of, “What I’m really worried about is the animals.” Ummm, what???? Really, not the humans?
I’m not going to say I was surprised, because we EA’s as a group have a track record of worrying more about pets and other animals than about our fellow humans. (Fun fact: the ASPCC was founded after the ASPCA, when people noticed that animals were being treated better than children.)
I say this even as somebody who cherished a sweet feline companion for her 16-year life, and in one hurricane of 2017 evac’d on my bicycle with my beloved Starshine in a carrier on the back. (Fortunately we were just going a few blocks away, not to another country.)
But I would not have faulted anyone who just needed to escape the horrific Cat 5 storm in Jamaica with their own lives and could not take the animals. (And you know that would’ve been a devastating loss for the storm-afflicted Jamaicans as well, since the loss of animals likely would’ve included many animals on which their livelihoods depend.) Also, it’s possible that a lot of evac shelters don’t necessarily take livestock, pets, or other animals.
Quote from Stacey Patton’s post: “Evacuation isn’t just geography. It’s economics. It’s class. It’s colonial inheritance. The ability to flee disaster is a privilege that is built on wealth, mobility, and citizenship.”
Also please be sure and read the comment section on the OP. A lot of very important points, including how hard it is even within a country for people to evacuate.
BTW re animals — If you are one of those people who feel that humans suck, and only animals are lovable, that doesn’t mean you’re not a good person. But just recognize that if you feel that way, it’s because of the culture we’re steeped in. Supremacy culture is what sucks and needs to go. *Humans* do not inherently suck.
Supremacy culture, a.k.a. colonizer culture, not only doesn’t punish us for being shitty to each other and to the planet; it oftentimes actually rewards us for being mean, self-centered, and numbing-out our empathy.
(Some of us keep trying to tell this to our fellow Anglo/Euros in the doomer / prepper / collapse groups etc. We need each other. Humans are not inherently bad.)
PS. AND – Please watch this TikTok video from JadeThaGemini https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTM48nWQ6/
Some of my takeaways:
- Disaster-preparedness is a way of life in the Caribbean.
- Caring and community are a way of life. People come together and take care of each other there, unlike here where people fight each other over toilet paper etc.
- A lot of American people’s comments come across as disaster porn, morbid glee, performative fake caring, etc.
As she says: “Please watch your mouth when you’re talking about the Jamaicans.”