NOLA: 67% of whites think race wasn't a factor. 87% of blacks think it was

[Cyrano]

I was reading the morning paper, had a moment of weakness, and flipped on Tim Russert. He was just putting the above statistics on display.

I didn't need or want to hear the comments of his guests. The numbers speak for themselves.

Although I'm white, I believe that the majority of people in this country would vote for the return of slavery, (or at least Jim Crow), if it ever became an issue on a ballot.

Jeeeeez, there are days on which I'm really ashamed to be an American, or for that matter, a member of the human species.

[Delphinus]

1. Well, I'm white

and I think race and poverty and class was definitely one of the reasons the people in New Orleans had to wait to get any help from the boy king.

[KittyWampus]

24. For Discussion: What About All White People In Miss. STILL Waiting?

Mike Moore sent out an email asking for donations to help down there.

That is as much a clusterfuck as NOLA.

[ret5hd]

27. They were "collateral damage" in bush's* "War on the Poor (tm)"

[Leeny]

30. Well, they didn't ask me

Where to they get their numbers? I'm white and I fully believe that race was a factor. It was also a factor in how the reports of "looting" were presented. White people were taking food items and clothes to "survive"; black people doing the same thing were "looting". All depends on how you look at it. And in this country, the color of skin is a huge factor in how we look at things.

[nadinbrzezinski]

31. Ditto

absolutely

[Missy M]

2. It makes those 67% of whites sleep better at night when they...

believe racism doesn't exist. That is why this country is where it is and they are the people who vote for bush. These people never look past their own little world, yet they should, because it is going to come crashing down.

[Zynx]

3. Most whites don't believe racism exists anymore.

They really claim that it doesn't exist even after they spout something racist.

[Karenina]

6. 67% of white Amurikkka is in denial, eh?

Well, fancy that.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

23. There's a big difference

between that saying something isn't racist and saying that everything isn't racist.

[zalinda]

4. I don't think race was a factor either

I think it was just that it was poor people. Yeah, there were a lot of blacks, because NO has a large poor black population. But, there were whites, disabled and old people too. I really don't think it was racist as much as it's invisible poor people. I don't think, it was NO is black so let's let them wait. I think it was, they're poor, or too stupid and it doesn't matter if they die, there's too many of them anyway. What they didn't count on was all the press. And the press showing what was really happening.

But, in a poll, would I say it was racist? Yes! Otherwise, it doesn't keep it front and center.

zalinda

[PATRICK]

10. A trick question

because the response itself is racially divided. if that isn't racist somehow what is? Therefore IF there is another question it should clarify
the trap where if everyone agrees it is racism then it is in the sytem or in minority of racists OR if everyone agrees it is not then they still may be kidding themselves. If the split was reversed and the guilty whites(LOL) were the mjority thinking it as racism it would be a novelty at least.

But mainly even if it is about poverty or voting atterns nearly all the people involved wouldn't be putting that first in their minds or at least not with the proper information when faced by the impact of the raw photo footage and the racist captions(thank you media).

You know polling needs to be better than that to nail down the problem but in this format really means someone is right or wrong or in denial on one side or the other, creating a racist conflict(thank you media).

How can you ask that question when whites and blacks do not share equal understandings of the word or its reality? This is looney tunes disingenuous polling to a simplistic extent. It only means "hey blacks, will you let the whites off the hook" "or hey whites, prepared to go on a group guilt trip?"

[KittyWampus]

25. The Actual Breakdown Of That Poll Showed Mostly White MEN Dropping

the numbers down to 37%.

Race, like sex, is a topic that is actually rather complex and can suffer from over-simplification.

[brindis_desala]

33. Exactly right. Given the historical precedents blacks presume

their suffering is of little importance. Whites, because they
empathize with the victims see no racist motive since they are more inclined to trust and identify with the government and presume (falsely)that if FEMA indeed calculated the risk/cost benefit of passive ethnic cleansing it somehow also indicted them. The bottom line is the poor always take it on the chin and being black means hitting the deck even harder. Knee-jerk question designed for superficial knee-jerk response. But that's the way race gets played in America. Divide and conquer.

[buff2]

5. It's easy to see why so many people vote for republicans

Racist whites tend to vote for the repukes because the repukes are against all programs that are considered "hand outs" to all those "lazy" blacks.I've said all along that is the reason so much of the map was red "bu$h country". Bu$h doesn't give a flying phuck about blacks,they know it and so they voted for him. They didn't vote for him because of his lack of intelligence,that's for damn sure.

[gollygee]

7. Count me in the 33%

If the tv showed white babies and kids filling the convention center and silverdome in such awful conditions, something would have happened much faster.

[Lerkfish]

8. the blacks are more correct.

although its a mixture of racism/classism

[moobu2]

9. Here’s what I think.

No one would have ever tolerated blond blue eyed white middle class folks to die of thirst and heat on TV LIVE like those poor blacks did.

I'm not sure how race, class and politics played into that but it did. I personally think it was more political but race and class allowed Karl Rove/Bush to play politics. I don’t know, something like that.

[Karenina]

16. Racism is the superglue

that holds the politics and economics together. It is the reason why we don't see 90% of Americans in the streets daily demanding their *MIC, the WMD most feared worldwide, STOP SHOOTING IRAQIS.

sandniggers
ragheads
terrorists
insurgents
"kick their ass, take their gas"

niggers
po' folk
lazy welfare recipients
violent criminals
eminent domain

[KerryOn]

11. Race was not a factor in the slow response in my opinion...

... however, race was a factor as time went on. It is and was very obvious that if you had money or influence you could get rescued first.

I'm white.

[davsand]

12. That 67% of whites need to listen to this song:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4798595&mesg_id=4798595

HELL NO, We Ain't Alright!

--------------


I'm from Illinois and I am a white farmer's daughter from rural America. I will tell anyone who asks me that I am convinced that the population of NOLA was left to die because they were poor and because they were predominately black.

There are a lot of people in this country that could give two shits about anybody that is poor and they care even less about minorities.



Laura

[acmavm]

13. Not racism, but a combination of hatred against the poor. Then as

someone said here it became more a matter of race. But the bush** bastards didn't give a shit about ANYONE who didn't have the money to save themselves from the disaster. If they couldn't afford to save their own skins, then obviously they wouldn't be making any donations to the republican party, so screw 'em. Let 'em drown.

Now the fact that the people who are calling for a new and improved "New Orleans" are monied white people is truly racist. They're making outright statements about how they don't want the poor back in the city, they don't want such a 'black influence' which they consider classless and evil. Oh these racist aren't being silent at all about what they want and who they want to exclude. They are every ugly white stereotype that you've ever heard or read about. They are Archie Bunker cubed.

And george, well george is too ignorant and hateful to be racist. He hates everyone who hasn't got mllions in the bank and who doesn't view him as their salvation from the horrible 'tax and spend' liberals who are such a danger to this country because they seem to think that the poor, children, the aged, the homeless, the working poor are entitled to the sames rights and protections as the big shot republican donor who doesn't see a damn thing wrong in funneling money into one of Tom DeLays illegal and politically immoral money laundering schemes.

I once read that the time span of almost all great empires was about 200 years (give or take a decade or two). Nothing that I've seen lately disproves that theory.

[Karenina]

22. Doch. Rassismus.

[OneBlueSky]

14. there's an old saying that goes something like . . .

"None are so blind as those who will not see" . . .

apologies if that's not exact, but it certainly describes a lot of people's perceptions of what happened (and is continuing to happen) in New Orleans . . .

[mod mom]

15. I'm white and my experience in Ohio during the election made me believe

that race WAS a factor. The challenging, caging, long lines in inner city, purging of low income voters by zip, getting rid of long standing precincts, were all done to low income African Americans. Why? I believe it was because they have little voice. Look what happened with the purges in FL in 2000 and then Ohio (and elsewhere) in 2004.

I do believe that race and povery is an issue (The repugs sure made sure that those African American Mega churches in the suburbs had enough machines). The 2004 was my eye opener. I was so appalled that I closed my business of 17+ years to focus on this problem.

We progressives must work for fair, transparent and VERIFIABLE elections regardless of party. If I saw Dems doing the same I would expose them. We need to get rid of corporate influence and leave the vote to the people.

In regards to Katrina, I say absolutely we would have seen a different response if those would have been white middle class people stranded without food and water. I believe it is difficult for whites to own up to the racial inequities in society, but that doesn't mean they don't exist. It is a national disgrace and because of the horrific sites I hope they will finally be addressed.

[weiser]

17. Most Americans are in denial that Racism still exists very strongly

And that's the problem....

Race was the key factor and poverty also played a big part.


But, the primary reason for this desaster, is the fact that FEMA had already been destroyed by BUSH.....!


Bush is a racist who only caters for the Rich.....

[mod mom]

18. Welcome to DU Weiser, you are correct that he is a racist who caters to

rich. :( He will accept Condi as long as she follows his policies blindly. I wonder what would happen if she spoke out in rage. That would be the end of the relationship.

[KittyWampus]

26. I'm STILL Waiting For DU'ers To Start Repeating "Southern Strategy".

elected Democrats as well.

Let the GOP answer for their blatant racism and manipulation through divisive tactics.

It's about damn time.

[Igel]

19. The rest of the SELA area got no better service.

They weren't herded together, however.

It's not like the black population of NOLA was treated worse than the white population, or that NOLA was treated worse than Plaqueminnes Parish. Same in much of Mississippi: places that could pay for their own relief efforts got help fairly quickly, areas that couldn't or didn't, irrespective of color, got pretty much the same treatment, *after* controlling for accessibility. (Accessibility is an important point to consider.)

Plaqueminnes Parish, I gather, had no easy photo ops, no focus for attention, and no source for outrage. The media require either for former two or the last before making a big deal out of things. The media have largely shaped our views, based upon what they knew would attract our attention.

[Karenina]

20. "They weren't herded together, however."

Confined for 5 days in untenable conditions, or portrayed as and called "scumbags," cheats, drug addicts and otherwise undesirables by the *CM$M.

Have the residents of Plaqueminnes Parish been separated from their families and shipped off who knows where?

[Igel]

32. Some have, some haven't.

Some stayed; they regretted it.

A small group wound up on the coast. They were herded together. They weren't fed; they weren't given water. Some died, abandoned.

I have no direct information as to what skin color they had. They didn't make tv. They were on few people's radar. No civil rights group spoke out for them. I assume they were mixed, but not majority black.

[Karenina]

34. Igil, I tell you this is all so seriously

FUCKED UP!!! The racism is being used as a tool in the class war. I conjecture those on the coast were white, Latino and Vietnamese. Wiped out without a trace, no media coverage. That is because the *CM$M cannot USE them. Indeed, in covering *dauphin's sorry ass it is better THEY never be seen on camera and disappear from the death count.

My point is pictures of THEM would not serve the "code word" purposes of "AnimalsCheatsWelfareCrimeLootersNiggahsRunninWildAndLooseInTheStreets" and provide fodder for an e-mail campaign impugning them. Indeed, their plight would further imflame any decent American's heart...

LOOK AT THIS SHIT!!!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4826142

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4817877

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

21. 67% of whites prefer blissful ignorance to the obvious reality.

They actually believe that Black Americans choose to live in poverty, work for peanuts, be condemned to being a permanent underclass, and all the other joys of being a citizen of racist America.

[KharmaTrain]

28. Welcome To The OJ Divide Redux

I'll bet if we did a quick poll here if OJ was guilty or not, using an equal number of blacks and whites, we'd come up with a similar result.

This is perception and shows a quite by obvious divide in how blacks and white view society and their place in it. To many whites, what they saw on their screens from NOLA was a humanitarian tragedy that had a black face. However to the blacks, it was a black tragedy...another injustice and case of being second class in a white man's world.

I think it's good race is coming to the front. It's energizing the black community in the likes we haven't seen in several decades. It's a warning many of us should feel...that we're not safe in this country and we can't trust this regime.

[Blue-Jay]

29. I'll defer to Chris Rock on that cannard:

"Everybody talkin’ about its about race, it’s about race. That’s a bunch of crap. It’s about fame. ‘Cause if O.J. wasn’t famous he’d be in jail right now. That’s right -- If O.J. drove a bus he wouldn’t even be O.J. He’d be Orenthal the bus driving murder."

[Beacho]

35. Man, I'm tired of this bullshit poll

No offense to the thread parent BTW, but nobody asked THIS white boy if he thought race was a factor.

One thing that I would like to make clear is that racism is an element of the class system, therefore it is possible and inevitable that this is about class and race.

[WiseButAngrySara]

36. I'm a professional WASP ( at least raised as a P). RACE IS A FACTOR

IMHO.