Given the disastrous response in Jefferson, St. Bernard, and Plaquemines I’m having a hard time believing that it was the race of the people who delayed the federal response. It appears it was a staggering level of incompetence. That said, there is such a strong relationship between race and class, the impact of poverty and one’s ability to be safe are critical issues to address.
I don’t believe those responding at any level are racist, though some are pretty fricken incompetent.
I agree that class and race are related in this country and that the response was probably not intentionally trying to neglect African Americans but…
The perception is understandable given this and other Republicans’ past performance on race. Here are some things from Katrina that add to the perception:
1. People were herded into the Superdome and convention center with no provisions for food, water or bedding.
2. People watch CNN for five nights in a row seeing images of people of color begging for help while news crews and reporters move freely in and out of the city.
3. AP photos provide racially biased captions.
4. Bill O’reilly and other right wing blowhards scream about the looters (“shoot to kill…etc.) (where were they during looting in Iraq)
5. While the city is in desperate need of immediate help and while Republicans pour hundred’s of billions into Baghdad, the Speaker of the House says that rebuilding NO “just doesn’t make sense”
6. The president surveys destruction and shows concern for Trent Lott’s porch
7. Young black youths boarding buses at the superdome are frisked by National Guard.
This list could go on and on and rightly or wrongly the perception of bias grows.
Agreed that the perception is a problem. I actually made a point about that to a friend–and I don’t want to dismiss concerns over how we treat people by either, but the point is a more narrow one that no one intentionally let this happen because they viewed people as inferior, they just didn’t know it at all–which in itself is a tremendous problem and an example of the gulf between people in the US.
Yeah, I agree but I just have to believe that had the Super Dome and the Convention Center been filled with white middle class families that the response might have been a little more urgent (your Jefferson and St. Bernard examples not withstanding).
One interesting test will be that I heard that the NAACP is asking for a compensation package for Katrina survivors similar to the 911 victim compensation. When this is denied the perception again will be that these people just don’t matter — I would be interested to hear your thoughts.
I also believe that to hold this administration’s feet to the fire that every progressive law maker should have a chart that would contain two collumns — on one side would be the amount spent to date on New Orleans reconstruction on the other side would be the amount spent to date on Baghdad… I think the contrast would speak volumes about this administration’s priorities.
There may be hope for the right wing machine. I just read that radio host Neal Boortz is donating the profits from his book, The Fair Tax, to the victims of the hurricane.
I hope more celebrities will step up like that.
Boortz can be reached at highpriest@cox.com
Most white people hesitate to label anything as racist. I think its a real mistake that most people want to limit the definition of racism to someone who does something deliberately harmful because they hate people of color. Racism is more than that, as is the case in New Orleans.
Yee, it was incompetence, but would that level of incompetence been allowed to happen had more white, wealthy, and influential people been at risk? Probably not. That is racism, even if the decision makers involved don’t overtly hate black people.
I agree we have an overly narrow conception of what racism is- so as not to encompass the invisible, unthinking things we all simply absorb from the culture and regurgitate.
But I do feel the problem of why people were stuck there is one of class and the problems with the response are primarily about raw incompetence.
Frankly, I think as long as things get cast in racial terms people who don’t want to talk honestly about urban and rural poverty have an easy way out.
Obviously racism led to the conditions that allowed so many to perish—but the larger point is if you look at the federal response in areas that are largely white–it sucked as much if not more.
The catastrophic failure of FEMA and others wasn’t only because they didn’t value the lives of the people in New Orleans, but also because FEMA uniformally didn’t do its job period.
There’s a whole set of issues related to longer term problems including institutional racism that led to the proportion of African-Americans being affected.
“incompetent”
I would like to remind people that the oil companies and arms manufacturers are making record profits. BushCo is quite efficient at doing what they want to do.
The incompetent label is a nice cover for the current fascist takeover. It feels good to say it, it seems to make sense, but one has to keep in mind that OUR goals are quite different from THEIR goals. They are pretty good at getting what they want.
It’s all about class. Let’s face it, available funds decided the difference between who got out and who got left behind. As for FEMA, if I were charitable I would feel that the new bureaucracy of being under Homeland Security screwed everything up. I don’t believe it though. I think that to those who matter, poor people of whatever color were acceptable losses.
What a load of guano. Here are the FACTS:
1. The liberal Democrat mayor of New Orleans failed to follow the plan that was created for just such an emergency. The plan called for busing poor residents to higher ground where they could be reached by relief organizations. Instead, Mayor Nagin herded thousands of people into the Superdome and the convention center.
2. If the predicted 30′ deep flooding had occurred, MOST of the people herded into the Superdome and the convention center would have died.
3. The City of New Orleans and its school districts own a fleet of buses sufficient to move 22,000 people…more than enough to have moved every one that was herded into the Superdome and the convention center.
4. The buses sat unused 1.2 miles from the Superdome.
5. Democrat Mayor Nagin only ordered the “mandatory evacuation” after President Bush called him and suggested it.
6. The federal government is legally precluded from acting until requested by local authorities. Federal aid was mobilized BEFORE the storm hit…and awaited such requests from the mayor and the governor.
7. The federal response to Katrina was THREE TIMES faster than the response to hurricanes in “white” Florida.
You leftists really need to stop swallowing all the propaganda that comes down the pike. You particulalry should stop playing the race card in an attempt to smear the president. It’s this sort of chicanery that is why liberal Democrats are, and will remain, in the minority. These antics simply turn people off.
So much bullshit in so little space
==liberal Democrat mayor of New Orleans
Actually he’s not that liberal and was a Republican until 2002. And he gave Bush $1000 and endorsed Bobby Jindal over Blanco.
=== failed to follow the plan that was created for just such an emergency. The plan called for busing poor residents to higher ground where they could be reached by relief organizations. Instead, Mayor Nagin herded thousands of people into the Superdome and the convention center.
Wrong–read the main page of this blog so see how wrong. You might bother to know even a basic fucking fact before being an asshole.
===5. Democrat Mayor Nagin only ordered the “mandatory evacuation” after President Bush called him and suggested it.
No, read the transcripts of the Press Conference
“BLANCO: I want to reiterate what the mayor has said. This is a very dangerous time. Just before we walked into this room, President Bush called and told me to share with all of you that he is very concerned about the citizens. He is concerned about the impact that this hurricane would have on our people. And he asked me to please ensure that there would be a mandatory evacuation of New Orleans.”
They’d already made the decision genius.
—7. The federal response to Katrina was THREE TIMES faster than the response to hurricanes in “white” Florida.
Funny, I just talked to a woman who was in Floridafor Andrew–which was considered poorly responded to and she had troops on the ground and tents for temporary shelter up in 48 hours.
==6. The federal government is legally precluded from acting until requested by local authorities. Federal aid was mobilized BEFORE the storm hit…and awaited such requests from the mayor and the governor.
Not true, read the National Response Plan. BTW, the only potential preclusion is on law enforcement. Nothing stops the Federal Government from delivering assistance to its citizens.
=You leftists really need to stop swallowing all the propaganda that comes down the pike
I’m not going to say all wingnuts need to stop swallowing propoganda, I am going to say you personally need to get your facts straight.