BlackCommentator.com January 28, 2016 - Issue 638: Surviving the Blizzard - The African World By Bill Fletcher, Jr., BC Editorial Board

January 28, 2016 - Issue 638

Surviving the Blizzard

"On the day that the storm hit i found
myself wondering about the homeless
people i ran across who were camped
out and where they would end up, or, for
that matter, whether they would survive."

Every so often the Washington, DC area gets hit with a mega-storm. Well, that certainly happened on Friday night and Saturday. It was more than intense.

If you were in New England in February 1978, by any chance, you have an idea as to what we got, though the winds, at least in Prince George’s County, were not nearly as bad as they were in Boston in ’78. But what awaited me when i went outside this morning was overwhelming.

I am not good at counting inches of snow, but it was more than two feet, and with drifts, something more. We shoveled for about half the day and there is still more that will have to be shoveled tomorrow. The street where we live has not be plowed, and actually, i do not expect it to be, at least any time soon.

The good news when a storm like this hits is that there is very little that you can do so you have to relax. That’s assuming that you can and that you have sufficient supplies and that you have not lost power. It also assumes that you have a home where you can find security during and after the storm. On the day that the storm hit i found myself wondering about the homeless people i ran across who were camped out and where they would end up, or, for that matter, whether they would survive.

What struck me the most, however, is how vulnerable we are as a society. Most of us get up every morning and make certain assumptions, e.g., that there will be power; heat (in the winter); transportation. You get the picture. But there are times when disasters strike that call all of this into question.

A final point. Just as in 2010, there will be those–particularly those situation in the Republican Party–who will argue that the blizzard points out there there is no global warming and that we are unnecessarily worrying. It will do no good to remind them that climate change does not mean that the entire planet becomes a desert. It means that we will have to expect unusual and extreme weather events. To put it another way, all bets are off.

Thus, the storm of January 22/23 reminded me that those of us not caught up in the delusional state of the majority of the Republican Party have a lot of work to do. And we do not have a lot of time.

Just a few thoughts after busting my a– shoveling all day.

Keep the faith.

BlackCommentator.com Editorial Board member and Columnist, Bill Fletcher, Jr., is the host of The Global African on Telesur-English, a Senior Scholar with the Institute for Policy Studies, the immediate past president of TransAfricaForum, and the author of “They’re Bankrupting Us” - And Twenty Other Myths about Unions. He is also the co-author of Solidarity Divided: The Crisis in Organized Labor and a New Path toward Social Justice, which examines the crisis of organized labor in the USA. Other Bill Fletcher, Jr. writing can be found at billfletcherjr.com. Contact Mr. Fletcher and BC.