The state of emergency caused by Hurricane Katrina is testing the integrity of our nation’s character.

A similar test occurred following the Sept. 11 attacks in New York City and Washington D.C.

After planes crashed through the World Trade Center towers, Wal-Mart stores across the nation began to order excess shipments of Americana memorabilia and Americans bought flags, bumper stickers, coffee mugs, rugs and T-shirts by the thousands.

Now, even though the Wal-Mart orders have become lax and the purchases for red, white and blue bandanas have subsided, what of the pro-American, love-thy-fellow-neighbor ideologies that became certain war cries in defense of Eastern terrorism?

Last week, Hurricane Katrina swept through parts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

Debates linger on the seemingly slow reaction by the federal government to intervene and send aid to hard-hit areas.

Even more people wonder if government officials, particularly at the federal level, know the exact damages caused by the storm, the extent of suffering and the state-of-emergency still surrounding those who lived out the natural disaster.

On CNN Thursday, Michael Brown, Federal Emergency Management Agency director, said things were going “reasonably well” in New Orleans.

Ironically, Brown’s statement came only a few hours after New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin declared a “desperate S.O.S.” in his city.

CNN began airing dead bodies in the streets of the ‘Big Easy’ the same day.

Nagin has said it’s highly probable New Orleans alone has suffered causalities in the thousands.

CNN’s Anderson Cooper got testy with Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu after she used time during her interview with Cooper to thank government officials for their help concerning Katrina.

“Senator, I’m sorry,” Cooper cut in. “For the last four days I have seen dead bodies here in the streets of Mississippi. To listen to politicians thanking each other – I have to tell you – there are people who are very upset and angry. When they hear politicians thanking one another, it just cuts them the wrong way right now.”

President Bush cut his month-long vacation short by two days to visit the aftermath of Katrina.

He surveyed the scene in Mississippi and gave a press conference which focused more on restoring gas lines than human lives.

Bush limited his view of New Orleans and greater Louisiana to the confines of an air plane.

National newspapers continue to carry headlines describing “chaos,” “desperation” and “anarchy” in Louisiana.

Few go on to relay the conditions causing such desperation.

The convention center in New Orleans, a main point of refuge that housed medical supplies and families who obeyed the first calls for safety, was unsanitary and unsafe.

Carcasses of the less fortunate are stacked in back of the center while food and water supplies were short for the 15,000 to 25,000 people calling the center home.

On an episode of Nightline Friday, a black New Orleans man, who admitted he took food from stores following Katrina – when asked his opinion of the press claiming many residents were senselessly looting local businesses – said, “It’s all about how you look at it. What do you call someone who’s trying to eat because he’s starving? A looter?”

Many Internet bloggers were incensed by two photographs published on Yahoo News last Tuesday.

One of the images shows a black man wading through high waters carrying what looks like a case of Pepsi under one arm.

A second picture, shot by a different photographer for a different photo agency, shows two white people in similarly high waters. One of the subjects in the photo is carrying in tow several loaves of bread.

The only difference between the two pictures is the caption, which claims the black man looted his food and the whites found theirs.

The devastation and magnifying effects of Katrina are so much more than gas prices.

At a time when some people experience situations many Americans can’t even fathom, it is heartbreaking to know these unfortunate people are being reduced to gun-toting, ignorant, opportunistic, looting refugees.

Where’s the American spirit now?

Katrina’s wind storms have brought to the forefront of national news America’s continued issues with race and class and if Katrina is any indication of current American sentiments towards other Americans, we’re failing the test.

Columns reflect the opinion of the author and not necessarily that of the Northern Star staff.