Tuesday, September 13, 2005
Race & Katrina
I have heard a lot over the last few weeks about Katrina and race. It seems to me that this is a great opportunity to open a dialogue about race in this country. I heard this morning on CNN that some poll recently taken shows that 18% of whites (I'm assuming they mean nonblacks but who knows) feel that the response time would have been different if it were white people standing outside the Convention Center in New Orleans looking for help, while %60 of black people felt that race was involved.
Which means ultimately that %60 percent of black people feel that we would rather watch them suffer than get help to them. Wow.
There is a huge difference in the perceptions of white people regarding black people and visa versa. White people I know like to say that black people should just pull themselves up by their bootstraps and work it out. What they don't fully appreciate, however, is how institutionalized racism still rules this country.
Many of us were blindsided. Well-meaning of course, but blindsided by the fact that all those people didn't have transportation out of the city, or that when they did own a car they might not be able to afford gas, and if they could afford gas, where would they go? They hadn't even entered into my equation of how to evacuate a city. Of course I'm not a paid city planner, I'm just a news junky schmuck who likes to think about stuff.
Do I believe that it was conscious discrimination. I can't. I just can't and consider myself an American. I won't believe that we would turn our back on our own, in a crisis that is none of their making.
I really think in the minds of many Americans, and in fact, it was more a matter of poverty than race.
I also know that one of the worst fears of white people, since slavery, are angry gangs of armed black people running around the countryside.
Would we have called it looting so quickly if it were white people breaking into stores for supplies to feed their families, and white militias running around with arms? I doubt it. They would be survivalists who were protecting their own families.
By the same token I know (thanks for pointing out the obvious, Mr. President) that the coast guard rescued merely those in need. But do I think if it were white faces standing outside the Superdome Mr. Bush would have gone to bed Tues. night? I just don't know.
Which means ultimately that %60 percent of black people feel that we would rather watch them suffer than get help to them. Wow.
There is a huge difference in the perceptions of white people regarding black people and visa versa. White people I know like to say that black people should just pull themselves up by their bootstraps and work it out. What they don't fully appreciate, however, is how institutionalized racism still rules this country.
Many of us were blindsided. Well-meaning of course, but blindsided by the fact that all those people didn't have transportation out of the city, or that when they did own a car they might not be able to afford gas, and if they could afford gas, where would they go? They hadn't even entered into my equation of how to evacuate a city. Of course I'm not a paid city planner, I'm just a news junky schmuck who likes to think about stuff.
Do I believe that it was conscious discrimination. I can't. I just can't and consider myself an American. I won't believe that we would turn our back on our own, in a crisis that is none of their making.
I really think in the minds of many Americans, and in fact, it was more a matter of poverty than race.
I also know that one of the worst fears of white people, since slavery, are angry gangs of armed black people running around the countryside.
Would we have called it looting so quickly if it were white people breaking into stores for supplies to feed their families, and white militias running around with arms? I doubt it. They would be survivalists who were protecting their own families.
By the same token I know (thanks for pointing out the obvious, Mr. President) that the coast guard rescued merely those in need. But do I think if it were white faces standing outside the Superdome Mr. Bush would have gone to bed Tues. night? I just don't know.
