Have you been wondering why the government's response to the unbelievable crisis resulting from Hurricane Katrina has been so slow in coming? I was amazed to hear today that 100 National Guard police will arrive at 10:00 PM Thursday night to lend a hand to the police in New Orleans. And, of course, that's just to try to reign in the looting and violence. As far as rescue efforts . . . Let's see, we knew on Saturday this was gonna be bad and, on Sunday everyone seemed to know that evacuation was a good idea. But, apparently those involved in coordinating relief efforts still thought they already had enough help. But why? Stupidity? Ignorance? Misjudgement? Sure, those things were a factor but I believe that the biggest factor was the attitude of benign neglect that us rich white folks have for those who are black and poor. And they say racism in America is a minor problem . . .
In a related article, check out this column from Jack Shafer at Slate . . .
No comments:
Post a Comment