New Orleans, Race, and Politics (the Economist)

[swag]

http://www.economist.com/world/na/displaystory.cfm?story_id=5576324#top

from "Will there always be a New Orleans?"
The Economist, March 2

The same poll suggested that the city's racial mix had changed dramatically, from 67% black and 28% white in the 2000 census, to 52% white and only 37% black. Given the limitations of the polling method, this should be taken with a bagful of salt. But it does suggest a shift that could have economic, political and cultural repercussions.

The hurricane hit New Orleans's black citizens harder than its whites. It was not only poor black areas that were flooded. Middle-class black districts were too, since there is finite high ground in the city, and whites, who were rich first, built on it first.

The city has not yet decided which neighbourhoods to save. The task is made trickier by evidence that much of the Gulf Coast is sinking, and that the hurricanes that lash it are growing fiercer. Some global-warming worriers think it unwise to rebuild New Orleans at all. Nonetheless, the Army Corps of Engineers is to issue a report this month demarcating the flood plain. Homes deemed flood-prone will be tough to insure, which means they probably won't be built, because banks will not lend money without that protection.
. . .

If New Orleans loses its black majority, it would affect politics. For example, in the relatively white Gallup poll, a majority of respondents thought the biggest obstacle to rebuilding New Orleans was not that the federal government would not provide enough aid, but that the corrupt city government would waste it. Had the sample included more blacks, George Bush would surely have got more of the blame.

In fact, the president's chances of putting Katrina behind him look no better than those of the city. Shortly after Mardi Gras, a video appeared of Mr Bush's final briefing before the hurricane struck, with federal officials warning him of imminent disaster. The president asked no questions but assured them he was “fully prepared”. It does not help the White House's claim that the “fog of war” blinded everybody to the magnitude of the disaster.

[Fenris]

1. Horrific.

It's almost like a nature-based form of ethnic cleansing.

[Swamp Rat]

2. kick and recommended n/t

:cry:

[swag]

3. non-Oscar kick