by David Sassoon -
Aug 6th, 2008 
Hurricane Katrina will see its third anniversary on August 29th, a cataclysm whose meaning has yet to inform the national politics of present-day America. But a new report released last month and a documentary film going national this month just might help transform that.
The report and the film are highlighting issues of environmental justice, economic opportunity, and racial equality and they are bumping right into a counter-effort the denialist machine has launched -- a fear-mongering campaign aimed at scaring the poor and minorities about higher energy prices.
It's the naked truth about Katrina and climate and race in America versus a cynical and nauseating brand of ugly politics orchestrated by the fossil lobby whose message was something like this: "Climate action is nothing less than a war on the poor."
And so, as the race issue briefly erupted front and center in the presidential campaign last week, with McCain accusing Obama of playing the "race card", it also emerged in the climate debate at the same time. Curious.
The good news is that in this nation of rampant visual consumption, the argument may just start and end with the film, called Trouble the Water.
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