The Big Truck That Went By was a nice addendum to the foreign aid politics that we began last week in The Rise and Fall of Hunan Rights. Katz does an amazing job with revealing the truth about organizations like The Red Cross. For me, there has always been a hesitancy when it came to donating money through organizations. The reason for my hesitancy was because I questioned where exactly my money would be going. Does it go directly into the communities of Haiti? Does my money even reach the hands of the citizens I am supposedly funding? All of my inquiries prove to be valid as Katz dissects the expenditures of these organizations.

It turns out that most of the money doesn't even reach Haiti's communities, but goes into the hands of the rich and powerful so that they can help Haiti spend it "correctly." With this whole idea that Haiti is poor, and the reason they are poor is because they are lazy, and because they're extreme poverty can be fixed if they make the decision not to be lazy, they are unable handle money on their own, causes several questionable "charitable" acts that the west cause "aid" or "volunteer" work. It is sad that one of the biggest countries in the world is also the biggest bully. There is no doubt in my mind that of The U.S was to really help with disaster relief, without I'll intentions, they would be able to restore devastated communities.

Why is it that the oppression of smaller countries is a part of  U.S's underlying main political tactic? If we are one of the most powerful nations, why do we have to continually keep small countries under  our control? It is sad that the U.S. has the ability to truly help with countries who experienced a disaster, but, instead, they use it to further reinforce the stereotypes on people of color, nationally and transnationally. We heard about all of the "pledged" money and the successful fundraisers for the cause of the earthquake in Haiti; so, it seemed as if Haiti had a substantial amount of money to begin the rebuilding process. When nothing began to change, however, people began to ask if Haiti knows what it is doing and if they were truly able to run their own country. People didn't know that it was the U.S. that stopped them from being able to rebuild. Half of the money that was pledged was not actually given. There is a difference between a donation and a pledge. Also, the donations that were received weren't going into the community. It was being used to keep the volunteer foundations running.