Excerpt from | Oral History Interview with Bert Pickett, December 18, 1999. Interview K-0285. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) |
Pickett articulates the deep sense of despair in his devastated community and the frustration with the government's unwillingness to fully compensate people for their loss. He wants the government to "make us whole," in part because the community suffered so greatly that community members lost their capacity to help one another.