Less Than Nothing - Barack Obama Statement

[sandnsea]

So many people have said so many strange things over the course of the last week, so many images we will never forget. Along with the image of a lone woman, dead, abandoned in her wheelchair; there is the President, strumming a guitar at a birthday celebration. A Secretary of State, shopping for shoes. A national newscaster, Wolf Blitzer, with this baffling statement, “So very poor, so very black”. And the President’s mother, most notable of all, saying they “were underprivileged anyway, so this - this is working very well for them “.

While I don’t believe that anybody sat back and sad “don’t send help, they’re just black folks”, I do believe a subtle racism has been at play. Between the more obvious comments made are the more subtle comments that strike at the heart of racism in America. There is the obvious searching of the throngs of black faces for that one white grandmother in order to tout “There’s white people there too”, which sounds painfully similar to “I’ve got black friends”. There is Rick Santorum’s suggestion that folks be penalized for not evacuating in the future, which exhibits the kind of ignorance found in references to “welfare queens” and “welfare Cadillacs” that has permeated this country since the first days of Reaganism.

So while Senator Obama is hesitant to “play the race card”, as drawing attention to racism has been labeled in the days of Reaganism, he does draw attention to the broader implications of this disaster to the poor and to minorities, to those who have “less than nothing”.

From the Statement of Barack Obama:

She told me "We had nothing before the hurricane. Now we got less than nothing."

Which brings me to my final point. There's been much attention in the press about the fact that those who were left behind in New Orleans were disproportionately poor and African American. I've said publicly that I do not subscribe to the notion that the painfully slow response of FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security was racially-based. The ineptitude was colorblind.

But what must be said is that whoever was in charge of planning and preparing for the worst case scenario appeared to assume that every American has the capacity to load up their family in an SUV, fill it up with $100 worth of gasoline, stick some bottled water in the trunk, and use a credit card to check in to a hotel on safe ground. I see no evidence of active malice, but I see a continuation of passive indifference on the part of our government towards the least of these.

And so I hope that out of this crisis we all begin to reflect - Democrat and Republican - on not only our individual responsibilities to ourselves and our families, but to our mutual responsibilities to our fellow Americans. I hope we realize that the people of New Orleans weren't just abandoned during the Hurricane. They were abandoned long ago - to murder and mayhem in their streets; to substandard schools; to dilapidated housing; to inadequate health care; to a pervasive sense of hopelessness.

That is the deeper shame of this past week - that it has taken a crisis like this one to awaken us to the great divide that continues to fester in our midst. That's what all Americans are truly ashamed about, and the fact that we're ashamed about it is a good sign. The fact that all of us - black, white, rich, poor, Republican, Democrat - don't like to see such a reflection of this country we love, tells me that the American people have better instincts and a broader heart than our current politics would indicate.

We had nothing before the Hurricane. Now we have even less.

I hope that we all take the time to ponder the truth of that message.

LINKS:
http://www.lightupthedarkness.org/blog/?view=plink&id=1350

[Mass]

1. This is the best speech I heard on this subject

At least Obama cares about those people enough to recognize the obvious: our system has forgotten them long before Katrina, and, while there is a overly large part of the extremely poor population that is black, it is ultimately about poverty. I doubt poor white people who did not have a car were better treated than poor black people.

The simple fact that so many people refuse to acknowledge it is about poverty shows that Obama is right. It is easier for us to say it is about racism, something we have learned to cope with for years, and that poor people do not exist (do you think that rich black people in NO stayed in the city or that poor white people were evacuated), or that only black people are on welfare.

There is clearly an institutional racism that is responsible for the fact that black and other minorities are overly represented in the poorest of us, but be sure that, once you are that poor, black and white are all in the same bag. Saying otherwise is making sure that poor white people dont feel concerned by the situation and think they are somehow different (union makes force).

[karynnj]

2. I agree that it's poverty, not racism

I do think that there has been institutional racism, but a lot of the difference is explained more innocently. Studies have shown that when you look at economic status of people at their earning prime - there is a strong correlation between where people are and where their parents were.

Part of it has to do with class and contacts. A college student, I know decided to take a break from school after 3 semesters and get a job. Never having worked before, on her own, she would have been hard pressed to get more than a sales job in a mall or at McDonald's.

Her dad, as dads do, emailed his peers, she got a job as a temporary receptionist/ administrative assistant - a position where they usually want experience. She got the job because her background meant that her appearance, dress, writing skills and speech made her acceptable as the first face seen. The computer skills that she had as a normal member of her generation/class let her suggest things like using the computer to create business cards. At minimum, she gets a good reference.

The point is that although how she uses this opportunity is up to her, just by being a child of the middle class, she had the contacts to get that important first opportunity. An equally intelligent, hard working person whose parents are not middle managers is likely not to get that chance or at least will have to really scamble to get someone to give him/her a chance.

[sandnsea]

3. I disagree

The poverty is about racism. But if that had been an arena of white people, the public wouldn't have assumed they were all poor. Or they would have assumed they were working poor, not welfare poor. But any time anybody says anything about race, white america recoils in horror and points to the token white person. Which in my mind, the denial actually proves it IS about race.

[Mass]

4. Let's say it is about poverty and race.

Obviously, some of the comments we heard were very racist, but I was not expecting anything else from some of these TV people and some RWers. Obviously, there is a racist issue in poverty number and this is one of the main reason why affirmative action should be maintained.

However, what Obama was denouncing was the fact that he did not believe that FEMA reacted like that out of racism. They reacted like that because of incompetence and of ideological belief that the govt is useless and that everything should be held by private initiative. The fact is that NO, everybody was left to itself. The govt and FEMA accepted a plan that let everybody fend for themselves, letting the poorest unable to answer to an evacuation.

It is important to point that out too, and to point that the governement should be for the common good and that it matters.

[sandnsea]

5. Abandoned Long Ago

"I hope we realize that the people of New Orleans weren't just abandoned during the Hurricane. They were abandoned long ago - to murder and mayhem in their streets; to substandard schools; to dilapidated housing; to inadequate health care; to a pervasive sense of hopelessness."

Inner cities are abandoned because of race and become poorer than poor as a result. Believe me, the poverty of rural white America is nothing compared to inner city poverty. It's race.

Like I said, I don't think anybody sat back and said to hell with the black folks. But I do think if San Diego were under water, we'd have gotten a different level of attentiveness and urgency to get help in. Like we did on 9/11.