It is about RACE! Look who's running the country!

[goclark]

All this talk,not here on DU thank goodness, but in the Media, telling us"it's about economics,it's about the poor etc,etc.."

That is a L I E !

I am African American and many of my friends, many way above the poverty line, make the same observation.

"Look who is running the country...WHITE MEN and a few WHITE women."

Look who you see reporting the news, I mean ,"In CHARGE," anchors,
not the Weather Man or Lady!

Look who you see doing all the rescues, with the big machines, making plenty of money ----WHITE MEN! You can not tell me that my Brothers/Sisters can not do those jobs. They aren't doing them because they can't get them!

I was just watching CSPAN and all the WHITE Senators hearing from the SUPERVISORS of various programs in the Gulf States.

Guess what!
My 80 + year old mom just said, " I've only seen two minorities speak before the congress this morning and I've been watching for two hours!"

Don't tell me, "Well the Mayor of NO is Black and the Police chief --"yes they are but they have NO POWER!

Who holds the POWER, even at the highest level --WHITE men and a few WHITE women.

Please don't mention Clarence or Condi to me - they are listening to their MASTERS voice.:mad:

[Cleita]

1. I agree. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see the discrepancies

and polarization in power and wealth. Saying it's about poverty and not race is also a way of inferring that those people are poor because they are lazy. And that is racism.

[sandnsea]

2. I am white, I agree

Not all of us are in denial. So you know.

[goclark]

4. I know you know sandnsea --Denial is not in Egypt

it's right here in River City (New Orleans) and it is showing it's ugly head.

[QC]

3. They're not just white men.

They're rich white men. That's a very important distinction.

Does that mean that race isn't a factor? Of course not. Denying the reality of race is every bit as stupid as denying the reality of class.

[goclark]

6. Very RICH WHITE MEN

that refuse to give up POWER.

People always point to Oprah ,saying she is so RICH and Sooo Black
(wasn't it Wolfie that said that crap?)

Well how many Oprah's do we have in the minority community -- NONE with her influence and money.

However, OPRAH did an awesome special on the Hurricanes and she did not change GWB's mind one ounce.

[rman]

26. Very RICH - period

[ultraist]

52. Very WHITE and Very MALE. and rich.

How do you determine which factor to give more weight to? Racism, sexism, or classism?

If I were to guess, I'd say "white" bears the most influence on gaining power. Being white, opens up doors to opportunity that remain only slightly cracked to Blacks. Add male to that and the door is opened wider. Add on rich, and viola! the doors are wide open and the red carpet is rolled out.

[rman]

56. They can be male and white for all they are,

if they aren't RICH, it doesn't matter.

[sandnsea]

8. Bah

Rich white men can't maintain the status quo without the help of all white men. When poor white men perpetuate the notion that they work but black folks are lazy, it helps the rich white men maintain their elitist status. That's why the situation in New Orleans is racism, not class.

[QC]

15. Do privileged white women play a role in maintaining the status quo?

They certainly enjoy the benefits of their race and class status. Are they innocent bystanders here, or do they also play a role in keeping the power structure in place?

[JI7]

19. sometimes they can be worse from what i have seen

not just privileged ones though. usually well off white women who are doing well financially themselves and not dependent on a husband tend to be very liberal. this is partly because they know the hard work it took and the obstacles they faced to get where they were.

it's usually the married ones and not always the privileged ones that i hear the racist type comments from. i remember a poll on immigrants and how different groups view them. white women were the most negative towards the immigrants. i was surprised since i expected it to be white men. i think part of it has to do with the thought "i don't want my kids to associate with them" .

and while Cindy Sheehan is white just look at the right wing women the republicans brought up to attack her.there is a certain shrillness and hatred in them. and viscousness about how Cindy is not a good mother or dishonoring her son and other horrible things.

[goclark]

30. Cindy Sheehan is a jewel!

I went to see her speak last night.

If only women like Sheehan could be in high places, what a wonderful world it would be!

[sandnsea]

23. Certainly

Racist white men and the women who love them. That's the Republican Party.

[ultraist]

51. Anyone who is not part of the solution, is part of the problem.

We all are responsible for racism, classsism, sexism, and homophobia, unless we take steps to remedy the problems.

[goclark]

16. Speak sandandsea, speak!

The poor white man is being used and RACISM allows him to believe that he will be protected by the RICH white man.

WRONG! How many WHITES are in poverty, how many BLACKS?

[ultraist]

46. In sheer numbers, more whites are in poverty.

But there are a disporportionately high percentage of Blacks and Hispanics in poverty. 24% of Blacks, 23% of Hispanics and 8% of whites are in poverty.

This horrific situation in NOLA is about RACE, first and foremost because the large majority of those left to die were Black. That didn't happen by coincidence. Racism didn't cease, for those 7 days.

But, race and poverty interact. Those with intersectional identities are hit the hardest (ie, poor, Black, female or female, poor, or male, black, poor, etc).

Acknowledging the fact that classism does exist, does not diminish the fact that racism exists.

The Democratic party has left the poor and minorities behind. They have abandoned our core values and it's due time to begin to articulate and act our our values, as Democrats.

[JI7]

18. like the guy on nightline "i don't need a handout like those Democrats"

one problem is that some white people blame their struggling financially on minorities. they claim they don't have a good job because some unqualified minority took the place because of special rights for them.

i wonder how much of them truly believes this and how much of it is them not just wanting to face the truth.

[goclark]

35. Good question

Not sure how many jobs Blacks really take from whites.

But I'm sure that more Whites take jobs from Blacks that didn't have a snowball of a chance of getting those jobs.

Let's take Fireman -- how many Black Fireman do you see or know?


It has always been a job that Blacks would love to have and not able to get.

[ultraist]

48. White males in the red midwestern belt saw the biggest decrease in income

And they didn't lose their jobs to Blacks or Hispanics, they lost their jobs to outsourcing.

[goclark]

37. You nailed it sandandsea

When will poor and middle class white men understand that the Republican party is doing nothing but USE them? I just don't get it,they should understand that they are NOT getting richer with Bush.

So then it gets us back to Racism. They are afraid of minorities and think GWB will keep them safe.

"poor white men perpetuate the notion that they work but black folks are lazy, it helps the rich white men maintain their elitist status. That's why the situation in New Orleans is racism, not class." -sandandsea

[sandnsea]

38. "war on terror"

"They are afraid of minorities and think GWB will keep them safe." That's got to be their thinking when they give Bush approval on the war on terror. I could never figure out what they were approving, but the willingness to go kill brown people has got to be it.

[JohnnyBoots]

41. No,

rich white men with stock options...

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. You are 100% correct

And we need to keep shouting this from the rooftops of America until the people listen.

[shanti]

31. before katrina

there were always du'ers who made posts about the racism in the u.s. however, their posts always seemed to fall away very quickly. now wp are faced with the inherent racism and can't hide - it's right in their faces, DAILY. it's makes many wp very very uncomfortable, AND I'M GLAD! until american acknowledge white privilege, things will remain at the status quo.

[JI7]

7. the reason larger percentage of blacks are poor

is BECAUSE of racism.

just look at the comments you hear from the bigots on the victims of Katrina. they all have a racist tone to it. about those lazy welfare cheats, how it's good to be rid of the public housing, the looters, wanting a handout etc.

i have a very hard time believing you would have heard the same comments if it was mostly white people. they would have viewed the "looting" as people trying to survive which is what these black people were doing.

[goclark]

10. Absolutely!

It hurts me to my heart when they point out the so called "looters."

When you look at the thousands of images on TV, you see 9934% of the people...well dressed, neat,loving their families and their children, afraid,disappointed --all human emotions.
Yet, they keep talking about the looters.

GWB is the biggest looter on the planet!

[Politically_Wrong]

11. What did you expect?

This country was founded by whites. If you went to africa, the majority of people running the country would be african, so if you come to america the majority of people running it will obviously be white. Its really not that big of a shock, especially since the whole slavery thing,blacks have recently been viewed as equals same thing with women in the running government , white men founded this country, so the black and women part of it are newer and not as adapted to it, not to say it shouldn't be, but thats how it has been and thats how it is now. I'm not saying blacks and women SHOULDN'T be running government, I'm just saying I'm not entirely suprised.

[goclark]

13. Well, I am surprised that we have not moved on

to be more inclusive.

We talk the talk but don't walk the walk.

We see Condi and think that is progress -that is NOTHING that will help minorities. She and Colin and Clarence and Alberto are shields for the RACISM that is deep inside America.

Just because it always was doesn't mean it always has to be.

[shanti]

32. "obviously be white..."

and not a mention of the native americans. REMEMBER THE ORIGINAL AMERICANS?

[Politically_Wrong]

33. The Country...

Known as america...was founded by whites...the native americans were here first yet, but i'm saying the government was founded by us whites.

[goclark]

34. This country was founded by Indians

and it was stolen by the White MAN.

And the beat goes on, an on, and on and........

[ultraist]

53. "not as adapted to it" What?

"so the black and women part of it are newer and not as adapted to it"

Um, it's not a matter of Blacks and women not being "adapted to it." It's a matter of doors being CLOSED to women and Blacks by white males.

[GreenPartyVoter]

9. Which is why we need to change the way we run elections in

this country, particularly in the sense of proportional representation.

------------------------------------------------------
Ditch Bu$h and save the Gulf: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=106&topic_id=22507&mesg_id=22507

Then save the nation!
http://www.geocities.com/greenpartyvoter/electionreform.htm

[goclark]

12. Thanks for the valuable links! We know why

WHITE MEN stay in power, excuse me, RICH WHITE MEN.

[GreenPartyVoter]

14. Because they can afford to buy everyone and everything in sight, and if

they can't buy it they'll threaten or destroy it.

[goclark]

20. They are soooo RICH and Soooooo GREEDY

When I think of this President and his family - they say it all about injustice in this world.

[GreenPartyVoter]

21. Yep. In their minds they are royalty

------------------------------------------------------
Ditch Bu$h and save the Gulf: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=106&topic_id=22507&mesg_id=22507

Then save the nation!
http://www.geocities.com/greenpartyvoter/electionreform.htm

[Tomee450]

Thank You

You said it very well. I agree totally.

[Tomee450]

17. dupe - deleted

[applegrove]

22. When they saw the face of the children & the old, the vulnerable

not getting any help, and said "those people are responsible for not evacuating" it isn't about black. The Bush WH have personality problems that are a whole lot more serious than race. And racism is serious.

[Fleshdancer]

24. people seem to ignore the evolution of racism in this country

For the most part, racism is no longer the blatant, in your face, KKK sort of thing anymore and because of that, people seem to turn a blind eye to it.

I'm from Texas. When I moved to Minnesota for a few years, I was surprised at how some of the people I talked to really believed that racism was something that was isolated in the South. There was an attitude of "that sort of thing doesn't exist here" and I came to the conclusion that these people had a somewhat narrow definition of what racism in today's society truly is.

Racism today exists because we cling to the false hope that people are now equal. We're not. When confronted with the topic of poverty and race, we're too quick to say "well white people are poor too" and then the conversation stops. Here at DU, we know about the harassment near polling places in black districts on voting day because we read the few articles on the subject but it isn't addressed on a national level. We discuss the unfairness of racial profiling but not the psychological impact of it on future generations or the reason why racial profiling was created in the first place. The conversations aren't there.

The list of accepted racism goes on and on. I'm saddened that it had to take something as extreme as Hurricane Katrina to get people talking about the subject again.

[goclark]

28. ell stated, we have moved from the KKK to

KKKARL Rove. A new kind of racism. But racism non the less.


It is an in your face, I can do what I want to and you will say nothing about it.

KKKarl treats WHITE people like Black People have been treated all these years.

If you don't have the POWER they believes should own this country, you are worthless.

I can't wait until the day they carry him out in slave chains.

The irony knocks me out!

[rman]

25. It is about CLASS - look who's running the country

Race is not insignificant but it is a sub-issue of class warfare.

[ultraist]

50. Race is not a "sub issue" of class.

Race is autonomous from class but interacts in deadly ways.

Those who face BOTH racism and classism deal with FAR MORE oppression than those who deal ONLY with classism.

If race were a "sub issue" of class, wealthy Blacks wouldn't be subjected to racism.

Rich WHITE men run the country. Not just RICH men, but WHITE Rich men.

[rman]

57. Wealthy blacks aren't nearly as much discriminated against,

as poor blacks.

Poor whites are almost as much discriminated against as poor blacks.

So it is primarily about wealth, secondary about color.

[RandomKoolzip]

27. RICH white men.

POOR white men have it fucking rough in this country, just as POOR white women, POOR black men, POOR black women, POOR hispanic men, POOR hispanic women, etc.

I know white guys who work three jobs just to make rent. It sure would be nice to get some of that "power" we're always accused of having (I myself have never made more than 20 thousand a year). I've never held office, never been a CEO, and come from a working class family. My dad grew up in a trailer park, fer crissakes.

It's true that there's massive systemic racism in this country, and that there's more black people below the poverty line than white people, but it sure would help the poor of ALL colors and cultures to realize that we're in the same boat (and this applies to the white poor especially).

[goclark]

29. You got that right --we are all in theSAME boat

We are just not in the Bush Boat.

If we as a nation can say NO to the BUSH regime, we will go a long way to find freedom.

Let us never get this way again.

[ultraist]

54. Rich WHITE males.

White bears more influence than rich in accessing opportunity. That's why we see three times the percentage of Blacks and Hispanics in poverty as whites.

Whites, even poor whites, have more access to opportunity. Period. Rich whites have absolute access to opportunity.

[donheld]

36. This white man agrees also

I think one of the main reasons so many people want to deny it's racism is because we want to believe we've evolved too far for it to be racism. Katrina proved that utterly wrong. Katrina proved we have hidden our racism, up till now, rather well, but it's still very much a part of our society.

[goclark]

40. IMO you are right donheld

We want to believe but it just ain't so...racism is very much alive.

[catzies]

39. Yeah, and this will piss you off: "“The problem with New Orleans?"

Chris Wormuth, from next door, kept fidgeting with his riot gun. Wormuth, an emergency-room physician, had been idled by a lack of serviceable generators at Oschner Clinic. He’d just returned from a run to Lafayette, where he’d bought six small gasoline generators—enough to preserve the temperature of his hundred-thousand-dollar wine collection, but not enough for air-conditioning. After several fitful, steamy nights, Wormuth was developing the panda look of the grievously sleep-deprived. "The problem with New Orleans? Two blocks away from here there are people living hand to mouth,” he said. “I don’t know of another city where, if you’re in a two-million-dollar house, you’re not sure that everything around you for two miles is a two-million-dollar house."

http://www.newyorker.com/talk/content/articles/050912ta_talk_baum

HIS WINE COLLECTION. :puke:

[goclark]

43. Hold on to your property LO IF you are minority

They are coming to take your property.

I have a friend, African American, that has three houses there. Not far from the Super Dome.

I was telling him about an article I read here at DU about what the master plan for redesigning NO would probably be.

I recall the article talking about buying up or "stealing" the property from the poor(other word for Black in NO) and building STARBUCK's etc.

I have searched and searched for that article and it's not coming up.

Please let me know if you have that link.
Thanks

[catzies]

44. Sorry, I don't have that answer for you. Wish I did.

I agree with you -- that's what that quote was by that guy about "we finally cleaned up public housing in New Orleans."

[buzzsaw_23]

42. yep

Now, try this passage: "The evacuation of New Orleans in the face of hurricane... looked sinisterly like Strom Thurmond's version of the Rapture. Affluent white people fled the Big Easy in their SUVs, while the old and car-less -- mainly Black -- were left behind in their below-sea-level shotgun shacks and aging tenements to face the watery wrath." Admittedly a vivid description, but certainly commonplace enough at the moment -- except that it, too, was written back in September 2004 by Mike Davis, also for Tomdispatch, and prophetically labeled, "Poor, Black, and Left Behind." It, too, concerned not Katrina's but Ivan's approach to New Orleans. So there we are. It was possible to know then the fundaments of just about everything that's happened now -- and not just from Tomdispatch either.

In the last week, we've seen many of the black poor of New Orleans not only left behind in a new Atlantis, but thousands upon thousands of them -- those who didn't die in their wheelchairs, or on highway overpasses, or in the ill-fated convention center, or unattended and forgotten in their homes -- sent off on what looked very much like a new trail of tears. Right now, above all, New Orleans and the Mississippi coast, as so many reporters have observed with shock, are simply the Bangladesh of North America (after a disastrous set of monsoons), or a Kinshasa (without the resources).

www.tomdispatch.com


NOLA/National Guard

[goclark]

45. Do you think that's where they got their slogan?

No (Black, dumb) child left behind," but we certainly ain't gonna help them get ahead.

"Poor, Black, and Left Behind." ----- so said

[bobbieinok]

47. black---last hired, first fired.......+ the crime of Driving While Black

[goclark]

49. Yep

[kineneb]

55. and don't forget inherited wealth

Rich white men who have rich parents! Don't forget that most of these people did not get to their current position by "pulling themselves up by the bootstraps." (Clinton excepted.) Most of them were born into families of wealth and privilege- just look at GWB! Think of the generations of wealth in that family.

One of the reasons it is harder for the poor of all colors to get ahead is they often come from poor families. I see here with the rural "white" poor. If you have a poor education, and no real financial support from your family, you are almost doomed to a life of poverty.

[CJCRANE]

58. Condi is racist too

it's just that she hates arabs and non-christians, you can hear it in her voice when she talks about the "hateful ideology of the middle east".

[goclark]

59. Absolutely she is a racist

they come in ALL colors.

She thinks she is not because she grew up in the South and should know better, but she is the worst kind of racist.