The Poor in New Orleans, the Amistad, and my husband and I watching TV.

[rbnyc]

In 1781, Luke Collingwood, captain of the Zong, threw 131 live people overboard chained leg to leg and hand to hand in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. The Zong was a slave ship. The people thrown overboard were sick and discarded to protect the crew and remaining "cargo." The result was a somewhat famous insurance claim.

In 1819, 39 Africans were cast asea from La Rodeur for the same reason.

And there's the notorious, Amistad.

We don't actually have to physically throw them overboard anymore. We call them people, sometimes, some of us; we don't call them cargo or property. Sometimes we call them labor, if they're lucky. Some of us call them the poor. Some of us say things like, "All third generation welfare women should be spayed." Some of us say things like. "Why should my tax dollars buy twinkies and cola for some fat, lazy girl who had kids just so she could get on food-stamps?"

But we don't actually have to throw them overboard, we don't consciously have to kill them. The machinery that we have created with our values and our investments, does that for us. It's not a conspiracy. There's no one to blame.

Tonight, someone on television asked the question, "Would the government's response to the victims of Katrina been better if the people concerned were rich and white?" On another local network someone asked, "Did race make a difference, did class--" Flip. "No," my husband said, "It was just bad planning."

"It's not just bad planning. It's planning that reflects the values of our institutions. We weren't invested in protecting New Orleans, because we don't--as a society--invest in the poor. Our society invests in things that have a high yield of return for those who control the investments. Why invest in the levees? Why invest in the schools? Why invest in the poor?" I asked my husband.

"Because they are the workers, the foundation, the coal..."

"But there aren't enough jobs. There aren't enough resources. Didn't the slave ships throw people overboard if there wasn't enough food and water for the whole cargo? Or if they became ill and threatened the overall investment?

"There are white people who are out of work. That's why the red cross wasn't allowed into New Orleans."

But it's not so direct as on the Zong. It's endemic. It's inwrought. It's systematic.

We can't do better because we aren't prepared to do better because we aren't invested to do better, because those who would make such investments have failed to direct our controllers.

The ray of light is in history. The story of the Amistad ended in revolt.

EDIT: typo

[Rabrrrrrr]

1. Wonderful essay, rbnyc!

I epsecially love There are white people who are out of work. That's why the red cross wasn't allowed into New Orleans

[rbnyc]

2. Thanks rabrrrr.

I'm glad it got read at least once. I need to write more on this. But it will take time.

You're the best.

[Iris]

17. Very inspirational. I wish I could do something as constructive with my

rage right now.

[rbnyc]

21. Thanks. I just felt the analogy hit home. (nt)

[progmom]

3. Wow.

Thank you for this. :hug:

[rbnyc]

4. Hi progmom!

Best I could do before bed time. My mind is racing. Again, I'm so glad to have a place to share my thoughts. I don't know what I'd have done these past several days without everyone here trying to process this thing.

[progmom]

7. you write very well

do you do that for a living?

[rbnyc]

10. kind of--I do grantwriting and other communications for the non-profit...

...where I work. My B.A. is in creative writing. I used to write stories.

Thanks.

[progmom]

15. well...color me impressed

:kick:

[latebloomer]

5. Excellent!

You nailed it!

[rbnyc]

6. Hi sweety!

All my firends!

:D

:hi:

[bobbieinok]

8. historical note--Queen Elizbeth I supported the start of the slave trade

just recently discovered this doing genealogical and historical research......

one review of a relatively recent book on John Hawkins

http://216.109.125.130/search/cache?ei=UTF-8&p=john+hawkins+slave+trader&u=www.h-net.msu.edu/reviews/showrev.cgi%3Fpath%3D201311065927370&w=john+hawkins+slave+trader&d=8A82D5852E&icp=1&.intl=us

I read this using cached link

[rbnyc]

9. Thanks very much for the link. (nt)

[faithnotgreed]

11. right on

i have seen a couple of things youve written regarding this and i want to thank you

for your passion and your depth and for your wanting to speak IT and your ability to do so

thank you
i look forward to more

[rbnyc]

12. Thanks so much.

I love your screenname, btw.

[babylonsister]

13. Great rant, rbnyc!

I think the great minds on DU are a testament to the fact that not everyone thinks this way, though I'm aware there are some people that do.

"It's not just bad planning. It's planning that reflects the values of our institutions. We weren't invested in protecting New Orleans, because we don't--as a society--invest in the poor. Our society invests in things that have a high yield of return for those who control the investments. Why invest in the levees? Why invest in the schools? Why invest in the poor?"

We know this has to change, and I for one will try to expose this government for its hypocrisy.

[rbnyc]

14. Thanks.

And thanks to my husband too who gave up cuddling and a movie so that I could get this down.

;-)

EDIT: typo

[KamaAina]

16. Weeee-haaaaaa! I knew you had it in you.

Hope this finds you well -- 'cause we're gonna want some more of that!

[rbnyc]

19. Thanks.

I wish I had more time. And usually when I come here it's because I'm at my wit's end and need to goof off in the Lounge. But I'm going to have to sort out my thoughts on this one in writing no matter how long it takes.

Thanks Again.

[Wind Dancer]

18. You have a way with words.

Thanks for posting.

[rbnyc]

20. Thanks. (nt)

[LostinVA]

22. The Amistad/Museum is (or was?) in NO

A colleague was their librarian.

[rbnyc]

23. Is your colleague ok?

Hope so.

I didn't even realize that until later, but yeah, that's right.

[LostinVA]

24. She works here now

But she's been trying to find out about all of her old colleagues in NO. She hasn't heard from all of them, but she's hoping they are okay -- she lived there for several years, and is really upset... of course.

[rbnyc]

29. I hope she finds her friends.

My assitant is also from New Orleans.

[alcibiades_mystery]

25. "it reflects the values of our institutions"

Dead on accurate. Well done.

People think the planning can be separated from the whole cultural milieu of race and class. It cannot. Most important here is your claim that many of these decisions aren't even conscious - or rather, that the criteria used in decision-making aren't even conscious. They are composed, instead, of the whole cultural milieu of race and class, which operate affectively and through us. We would deny these criteria if they were openly stated to us, and we fight like hell when called on them, because our conscious lives both reject them in principle and tell us that they're wrong. Hence everybody on DU chiming that none of this is about race, no, couldn't be, and we're always in control of our rational decision making process. It's too terrifying to think otherwise: what habit of thought and action would envelop me? What atavistic wash would flood my reasoned judgment?

But the terrible truth is there for whole the world to see.

And all the towns and people seem
To fade into a bad dream
And the steel rails still ain't heard the news.
The conductor sings his song again,
The passengers will please refrain
This train's got the disappearing railroad blues.

Good night, America, how are you?
Don't you know me I'm your native son,
I'm the train they call The City of New Orleans,
I'll be gone five hundred miles when the day is done.

[rbnyc]

27. I appreciate your post so much.

I don't know how people can see the photos of White men in uniform with guns driving through streets lined with poor blacks and say that it has nothing to do with race.

[oasis]

26. Bush is the captain of the slave ship GOP. (n/t)

[rbnyc]

28. yup (nt)