Katrina
I’ve been running around crazy all week with the start of
school. My plans for returning to North Carolina were pretty last minute, which
allowed me to visit more with friends and family (in three states, woo!) but
didn’t allow me a lot of down time. I also switched around my course options
this semester at least five times before I finally settled. Between shopping
for courses, catching up with NC folks and figuring out my research
assistantship I’ve been pretty busy. Too busy to really sit down and watch the
news and give sufficient time online to the situation.
Luckily being back at school you just naturally pick up on grave occurrences in the world (the world being Louisiana at the moment) through osmosis. I’ve heard bits of conversations in hallways and peered over at classmates laptops’ in the rows next to me as they zoom in on google earth images of the disaster area.
As a kid you know that when the adults lose control, something really bad has happened. As an adult somehow that same logic applies to other power relationships. Yesterday a professor ends class early after repeating at least three times “I’m sorry I’m so disorganized, things are just crazy.” He’s coauthored a book on how cities recover from disaster situations, and has been on the phone 24-7 with reporters and on NPR. He warns us that, if and when we publish, should our random topic become relevant to the popular media, this will happen to us too.
So after a pretty hectic week I finally sat down this morning to let myself take it all in. Since there’s not much on my flist on this topic, and I don't have the Amherst Drinking Liberally group to vent at in person, I figure I may as well just post. This is the type of unjust situation that has me really upset.
Let’s be clear, all the people who didn’t leave are poor and black. Can we please say that and talk about why it is? FEMA’s response to the situation is to say, “those residents who chose not to heed warnings to evacuate before…bear some responsibility for their fates…when evacuation warnings go out, people should realize it's for their own good (CNN).”
OK, I’m a single mother with two kids who’s been living off minimum wage and can’t afford to own a car let alone fill it and drive out of town in time. And you think that’s my choice? And now it is somehow my fault?
This is the real tragedy in my opinion: the failure of the government and of journalists to properly address the real issues of inequality. We like to think that when a natural disaster hits, that it affects us all, equally, and carries no race or class prejudices. But when a government sets up an evacuation or emergency relief plan that is inherently based on class status and then chooses to blame its victims…well, there’s tragedy here that eclipses the one that happened in September four years ago.
So will someone please go help the poor black people?
Edit: I emailed makaer this article from Slate and he suggested I link to it here. In large part an inspiration for my own post.
Luckily being back at school you just naturally pick up on grave occurrences in the world (the world being Louisiana at the moment) through osmosis. I’ve heard bits of conversations in hallways and peered over at classmates laptops’ in the rows next to me as they zoom in on google earth images of the disaster area.
As a kid you know that when the adults lose control, something really bad has happened. As an adult somehow that same logic applies to other power relationships. Yesterday a professor ends class early after repeating at least three times “I’m sorry I’m so disorganized, things are just crazy.” He’s coauthored a book on how cities recover from disaster situations, and has been on the phone 24-7 with reporters and on NPR. He warns us that, if and when we publish, should our random topic become relevant to the popular media, this will happen to us too.
So after a pretty hectic week I finally sat down this morning to let myself take it all in. Since there’s not much on my flist on this topic, and I don't have the Amherst Drinking Liberally group to vent at in person, I figure I may as well just post. This is the type of unjust situation that has me really upset.
Let’s be clear, all the people who didn’t leave are poor and black. Can we please say that and talk about why it is? FEMA’s response to the situation is to say, “those residents who chose not to heed warnings to evacuate before…bear some responsibility for their fates…when evacuation warnings go out, people should realize it's for their own good (CNN).”
OK, I’m a single mother with two kids who’s been living off minimum wage and can’t afford to own a car let alone fill it and drive out of town in time. And you think that’s my choice? And now it is somehow my fault?
This is the real tragedy in my opinion: the failure of the government and of journalists to properly address the real issues of inequality. We like to think that when a natural disaster hits, that it affects us all, equally, and carries no race or class prejudices. But when a government sets up an evacuation or emergency relief plan that is inherently based on class status and then chooses to blame its victims…well, there’s tragedy here that eclipses the one that happened in September four years ago.
So will someone please go help the poor black people?
Edit: I emailed makaer this article from Slate and he suggested I link to it here. In large part an inspiration for my own post.