Don't get misdirected in debate on Race vs. Class & N.O. victims

[tgnyc]

Colin Powell in Friday's interview with Barbara Walters was but the latest to try to shift the focus from the race of Katrina's victims to their economic status.

Regarding the role race played in the sluggishness of the federal response, Powell said, "I don't think it's racism, I think it's economic.

"When you look at those who weren't able to get out, it should have been a blinding flash of the obvious to everybody that when you order a mandatory evacuation, you can't expect everybody to evacuate on their own. These are people who don't have credit cards; only one in 10 families at that economic level in New Orleans have a car. So it wasn't a racial thing — but poverty disproportionately affects African-Americans in this country. And it happened because they were poor."

All of what he said was true, but beside the point. The issue at that point wasn't why people didn't/couldn't evacuate in advance. It was why the government was so slow to respond after the fact. And the answer to that question does not allow us to separate out the effects of race and the effects of economics, or even political calculations. For in New Orleans, and in the South in general, race, class, and political affiliation are extremely closely bound. It's all the same thing.

The bottom line is that the government failed to respond with haste because the victims were of the least valued of America's castes. That's all that matters.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

1. I half agree.

Unlike what Powell said, you're right, it's about the delayed response after the fact. However, I do think it's more of a class issue than a race issue. I don't think this administration cares about poor people at all - just look at Barbara Bush's pithy comments. And yes, race and class are closely related, however, a lot of middle class people can identify with being poor. Not nearly as many know what it's like to be black. And if, as you state, we're to look at this from a politically strategic point of view, a class war is a much better fight for us than a race war.

[etherealtruth]

2. It is viewed, by some, that there are group(s) of people ...

... in this country that are disposable, expendable ... That is the NEOCON position and it is NOT acceptable (whatever one thinks is the primary motivating factor)

"The bottom line is that the government failed to respond with haste because the victims were of the least valued of America's castes. That's all that matters." Perfect. Thank you.

[Cleita]

3. Well, if it isn't about race, then the poor black population would

be about 12 to 15 percent of the total poor in proportion to the general population as a whole. Since the poor appeared to be primarily black, this disproportion certainly points to racism to me. In order for poverty not to be about race, there should be poor people of all ethnicities in direct proportion to their numbers in the population. This clearly wasn't the case in NOLA.

[tx_dem41]

4. All you have to do is look at St. Bernard Parish......

and you know it isn't solely about race.

[Brewman_Jax]

5. Looking at the coverage of the Superdome and Civic Center

where are the white faces? If, according to the last census, the city's population is 70% black, it should be 30% white. If the majority of the population is poor, one can infer (without benefit of correct census data) that the poor population will be roughly the same percentage, 70-30. The coverage did not show that. Does that mean that the census data is wrong (not likely), my inference is wrong (very likely), or the white people were elsewhere (no doubt). If so, where were they? :shrug: or :tinfoilhat:

[tx_dem41]

6. Most of the white people (and they are poor) were drowning one..

parish and about 5 miles down river in St. Bernard parish.

[Brewman_Jax]

7. Not talking about St. Bernard Parish

n/t

[tx_dem41]

8. But we are talking about government (FEMA) response to the flooding...

in the New Orleans area. If race was the greatest criteria, why was St. Bernard Parish also ignored?

[Brewman_Jax]

10. I don't know why

Do you know why were there no white faces in the Superdome and Civic Centers?

[tx_dem41]

12. Yes...because the neighborhoods of New Orleans that were

immediately accessible to the Superdome and Downtown (where the CC is) are predominantly African-American. I'm not saying that racism wasn't a factor btw, but if you look at pictures coming out of Mid-City (in Orleans Parish, btw), and St. Bernard Parish, it is clearly not correct to state that almost all the people that stayed were African-American.

[Brewman_Jax]

15. That was my point

I was talking about Orleans parish (which has the same boundaries as the New Orleans city limits for those not familiar) population is 70-30, there should have been a significant percentage of white faces evacuated to those sites, also. Or are there no poor whites in New Orleans and they all live outside of the city?

There is no doubt the people of the surrounding parishes (St. Bernard, Plaquemines, and Jefferson) faced the same problem of how to get away.

[tx_dem41]

16. There are a great many poor whites that live in New Orleans...

...they just don't live within walking distance of the Superdome and/or downtown.

[KT2000]

9. I think the proof

of what you are saying is in the comments the RW sent out for their spin. "These people are waiting for handouts" etc. were based on the color of their skin. They were trading on old racist stereotypes.

That bogus story about the Louis Vitton handbags was another one.

[Solly Mack]

11. a person would have to be a liar or a fool to not know racism directly

impacts the "economic"

with racism being the root cause...

so the bottom line, since right wingers so dearly love the bottom line, is RACISM

but economic factor aside(note the word "factor" and not cause), the hue of the skin was enough for Gretna police to turn people away with guns...it's not like they asked for a tax statement to verify economic status...all those yahoos saw was skin color...and that's additional proof that it was racism.

[gollygee]

13. If pictures of white dehydrated dying babies were on tv

I don't care how poor they were, every helicopter in the US would have been picking everyone up immediately.

[Solly Mack]

14. exactly