looks like 90% of the people in line at the superdome are african american

[datasuspect]

is this unnerving to anyone else? anyone else hear the newsvoices saying that "people from all walks of life, all different sorts" were lined up there while they panned the shot of a long line of southern blacks trying to get into the shelter of last resort?

the shelter of last resort?

people lined up with meager belongings in garbage bags?

where are the white folks (with the exception of a sprinkling of whites you see on the teevee)? maybe the SUV class of suburbanoids got there earlier?

why does stuff like this still surprise me?

[jaysunb]

1. I'm surprised that You're surprised !

he he

[datasuspect]

3. so

let me in on your inside joke. . .

[TahitiNut]

14. (snicker)

(snort)

The more things change the more they stay the same.

[jaysunb]

42. Uh Huh !!!!

LOL !!
:hi:

[tjdee]

2. NO has a large black population....

So that is a consideration. I live in a pretty diverse state (NJ) but the first time I went to NO I was surprised at how many black folks, there were, LOL.

But I'm not shocked that most of the people standing there, with no place else to go, are black. :(

[datasuspect]

6. i know that,

have been to nola many, many times, but jesus christ, i just keep thinking that all those people trapped in there could end up pretty bad if the structure fails in any significant way.

[tjdee]

15. Yeah, I'm pretty freaked out by that.

It's not like the Superdome is on a hill or something. it's a sitting duck of a structure. I would think twice about staying there--but the mayor, etc. seem to think it's going to hold.

I hope it does. :scared: Then I worry about all those people stuck there indefinitely, really...things are going to get hot, they're going to get hungry, etc.

Geez.

[datasuspect]

17. i wouldn't want to stay in there

simply because there would be no out.

[Name removed]

25. Deleted message

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[Name removed]

26. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[ultraist]

13. NJ has only the national average Black population (13%)

In general, Southern states have Black populations well over the national average, such as my state of NC at 22%.

New Orleans, has a 67% Black population. http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/ACSSAFFFacts?_event=Search&geo_id=04000US34&_geoContext=01000US%7C04000US34&_street=&_county=new+orleans&_cityTown=new+orleans&_state=04000US22&_zip=&_lang=en&_sse=on&ActiveGeoDiv=geoSelect&_useEV=&pctxt=fph&pgsl=040

[tjdee]

24. Indeed....

I knew someone would get me on that, LOL. In the past I've lived or worked in the most diverse areas of NJ. Even when I moved to the suburbs I still had occasion to go into Paterson, East Orange, Newark, etc....and those urban areas are more diverse and above that 13% than say, Sussex co. (northernmost Jersey) or Burlington county, etc. where the numbers drop dramatically.

I shouldn't have said state but I was trying to keep it short, LOL.

I'd expect (and I've seen) that the south as you say is populated with more black people for obvious reasons. THanks for the numbers though, I wasn't sure how much the spread was.

[ultraist]

29. LOL! I understand keeping it short!

:)

[lynettebro440]

4. No shit

you been to New Orleans lately?

[datasuspect]

10. i live about 4 hours from there

west down 10.

what's your point?

there are many whites that live in the region as well.

i just thought it was poignant and telling in a rather cruel way and says more about us as a culture than it does about them as potential victims of a horrifying natural disaster.

[barbaraann]

5. And I haven't seen one minority announcer or reporter on WWL.

I've been watching most of the day. Did anyone see any?

[Jawja]

8. Watch WDSU.

I saw a minority reporter from the Super Dome.

[barbaraann]

11. Thanks for the tip!

n/t

[Cleita]

7. I wonder if that's why BushCo doesn't care.n/t

[Bluebear]

9. Yes, we have commented on that all afternoon

Poor and black. If they were Bush's base there would be airlifts ging on by now.

[barbaraann]

18. with First Class meals and movies.

n/t

[SmokingJacket]

12. Ever been to New Orleans?

Rich white people, a sizable middle class of all kinds, and lots and lots and lots of poor black people.

I LOVE New Orleans, and I LOVE Louisiana, but I left, and the awful racial disparity is one of the reasons. It's just plain heartbreaking.

When I taught in a public school outside of the city, it was just accepted that ALL the white kids were sent to private school.

Segregation lives.

[datasuspect]

16. that disparity is true throughout the south

but it is still sickening to see people lining up to get trapped.

[ultraist]

23. That disparity is true throughout the entire nation

The gaps in income, education, healthcare, etc between whites and Blacks is just as bad in Northern states as they are in Southern states. You can look up all of the data on this at the USCB website.

New Orleans happens to have a very large Black population, so the disparities between Blacks and whites are more pronounced. But the gaps are not smaller in NY, DC or other regions of the country.

[SmokingJacket]

27. I believe it.

But I've lived all over, and find that the *experiential* racism and segregation is worse -- by many powers of ten -- in the south. My kids go to school with all races here in New York -- never hear the "n" word -- are never told that the "blacks are worse than animals": a phrase I heard over and over living in the south.

The north is far, far from utopia. But damn, in many places in the south you can find white people who are still upset about the civil rights movement -- still won't sit at a table with black people.

That said: southern liberals are the most committed ever, and especially in Louisiana, there's a great Democratic tradition (even if Repubs seem to be ascendent at the moment). So, no "red state" bashing from me.

[ultraist]

28. The North is just as segregated, if not more so

SC, for instance, has the highest interracial marriage rate of any state. (Interracial marriage is one of the measures used to evaluate integration). I would venture to bet, that most white DUers from blue Northern states have very few Black friends or family, if any; UNLIKE most of us here in the South.

I will give you this, people DO throw around racial slurs in the South more so than they do in the North. Being PC is not consistent with the Southern, individualistic style.

Of all of the places we have visited, our worse experience was in upstate NY and rural PA. Those people looked at my son like they had never seen a Black person and couldn't figure out why he was with us, a white family. And they were very HOSTILE toward, us. We NEVER have this experience in Southern states.

[spinbaby]

31. Let me apologize for PA

You're right, rural PA is very bigoted. When we moved here, we looked at a house in the countryside and the woman renting it told us that it was better living in the countryside than in town because there were none of "them.". When she got a blank look from me, she spelled it out.

[SmokingJacket]

33. Well, there's no point in playing competing experiences.

The only place I ever met members of the KKK was in western Louisiana -- not too far from where that guy was dragged behind the truck a few years ago. These KKK fellows were leaders in the town I lived in.

Racism certainly exists in the North, in truckloads, but it is less **socially condoned**. Again, that's just my experience. The mayor of my upstate NY town could not be in the KKK. But that's normal for some places in Louisiana.

Being "PC" may seem like a surface nicety -- but refraining from racist language is a way of making racism unacceptable. White teachers in the southern school I taught in used to refer to the black teachers as the "chocolates." Again -- those teachers would be fired in a New York minute in New York.

I'm sorry about your experience up here, by the way. That sucks. My kids go to a racially mixed school -- with lots of racially mixed families -- and I'm glad they'll grow up thinking of that as normal.

[Liberal Veteran]

19. Probably be the only time they ever get to see the inside of the SD.

I just pray that thing is build REALLY well or we will have a true disaster on our hands.

[babylonsister]

20. Happily, the folks in line at the Super Dome all are in there

(10,000+ so far) according to CNN. So now we just have to pray the Dome remains in tact.:-(

[rbjensen]

21. New Orleans census in 2000

showed about a 70:30 black/white ratio. It is a unique city and the middle class is very diverse racially.

[QC]

22. N.O. is 67.25% African-American,

according to the 2000 census. http://neworleans.areaconnect.com/statistics.htm

[peacetalksforall]

30. There is one very easy contingency plan that could cover the poor

in any long arriving storm - cash or no-interest loans (opr free) transportation out to the same geographical destinations as those for car owners - for all those people who probably didn't even have $30.00 in their pocket when the warning came out.

Is the Superdome in their hurricane plan? Has it worked before?

May all our concerns be forgotten as soon as we learn they are safe!? May they be kept safe.

[wli]

32. I'm not unnerved, I'm outraged. n/t

[journalist3072]

34. I just posted about this in 2 other threads.....

It's very sad, as an African-American, to see my brothers and sisters who cannot aford to evacuate.

Check out this pic on MSNBC...very telling.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9108975/

[rodeodance]

35. see this thread (tension starting within the people waiting to get in).

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4489272&mesg_id=4489272

[rodeodance]

36. maybe take the lighter but why take the cigs?

Alice George, 76, a homeless woman wearing shorts and a T-shirt with the word “Love” on the front, was searched for almost 10 minutes.

“They took my cigarettes and lighter,” she said. “I guess I’ll do without.”

Joey Branson wasn’t worried. The 42-year-old breezed through the search with just a fresh apple pie and a paperback mystery.

“That’s all I need,” he said, smiling. “I’m set for the duration.”

[sunnystarr]

38. Wow ... they didn't report that on TV

They said people were being searched for weapons and alcohol (and I imagine drugs) but that they were allowed to keep their cigarettes even though there was no smoking allowed there. So I figured they could stand outside and smoke after the storm was over. Cause you know that they'll be there for an extended period of time.

I wonder when they changed that. I'd be upset if someone took my cigs considering how expensive they are now. If someone brought their carton with them that's a lot to lose.

[rodeodance]

41. yes, cigs are important to some of us in times such as this.

[Jacobin]

43. superdome is non smoking

[katinmn]

37. America has let them down.

This really angers me knowing that they cut the budget to NO for just such a scenario. Guess where that money went?

But there's time for that later.

Now I just pray that the 100,000 or so in the Superdome, and others who have to ride out the storm, survive the next 24 hours.
:grouphug:

[NVMojo]

39. it's hard not to see a neocon plot here, just like election disenfranchise

[katinmn]

44. you know, those lines did remind me of election night in Ohio

in Nov 2004

[JDPriestly]

40. Republican philosophy at work.

Each man for himself. (Ayn Rand) God will save the worthy, and let the rest of the sinners perish. (Evangelical Christians) That's what they deserve. (All Republicans, Randers and Evangelicals)

[theboss]

45. And probably 70 percent of the people in NO are black

So...um...what's the point again?

[BamaLefty]

46. But also,

remember this is inner city 'Nawlins. There are plenty of poor whites in the South as well.

It's all so sad. Poverty, that is.