2008 Woodie Awards
LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Racism? Think Again
Kirsten Steavenson
Issue date: 10/12/05 Section: Opinion
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To anyone who thinks racism did not play a part in the pathetic response to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, ask yourself this question: would the governments' response have been different had it been Kennebunkport or Crawford, Texas?
If the faces we saw at the Superdome and Convention Center were not that of poor black democrats, but instead rich white republicans? To say race played no part in the disgraceful response to Katrina is naïve at best.
Witness former drug czar William J. Bennett's recent remarks: "[if] you wanted to reduce crime ... if that were your sole purpose, you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down." Tell me again how "we are not as a nation or a government racist?"
To assert that "neither the president nor anyone else, including the news in the first twenty-four hours," knew of the hurricane's devastation defies logic.
It's the president's job to know what's going on!
In this age of instant communication, one only has to turn on the television. But maybe Crawford, Texas doesn't have cable. If anything, the sight of thousands of black faces in desperation should have prompted the authorities to move even faster, if only to avoid the appearance of any discrimination. Alas, for poor New Orleans, it wasn't an election year.
Now [that] we are learning the initial reports of murder and mayhem have mostly been discounted, the implications are obvious. Even the [New Orleans] Times-Picayune Editor Jim Amoss - someone who should know - points out succinctly, "If the dome and Convention Center had harbored large numbers of middle class white people," Amoss said, "it would not have been a fertile ground for this kind of rumor-mongering."
If the faces we saw at the Superdome and Convention Center were not that of poor black democrats, but instead rich white republicans? To say race played no part in the disgraceful response to Katrina is naïve at best.
Witness former drug czar William J. Bennett's recent remarks: "[if] you wanted to reduce crime ... if that were your sole purpose, you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down." Tell me again how "we are not as a nation or a government racist?"
To assert that "neither the president nor anyone else, including the news in the first twenty-four hours," knew of the hurricane's devastation defies logic.
It's the president's job to know what's going on!
In this age of instant communication, one only has to turn on the television. But maybe Crawford, Texas doesn't have cable. If anything, the sight of thousands of black faces in desperation should have prompted the authorities to move even faster, if only to avoid the appearance of any discrimination. Alas, for poor New Orleans, it wasn't an election year.
Now [that] we are learning the initial reports of murder and mayhem have mostly been discounted, the implications are obvious. Even the [New Orleans] Times-Picayune Editor Jim Amoss - someone who should know - points out succinctly, "If the dome and Convention Center had harbored large numbers of middle class white people," Amoss said, "it would not have been a fertile ground for this kind of rumor-mongering."
