The
People's Coalition For Justice
&
Humanity
***
National Disaster Stained By Racism
<>
Would These Mothers Garnering Baby Care Items And Food
Be Called Looters If They Were White?
AP/Photo
When
national tragedy strikes the citizenry should be expected to put
away petty prejudices and join together in a unified effort of support
for the
victims, but soon after the images of the aftermath of Hurricane
Katrina
were released to the public, jeers of racism could be found on internet
blogs.
"God is punishing the Niggers," a poster wrote on a Yahoo.com blog. "Less of them to commit crimes. It's just ethnic cleansing," another poster penned. "They are all a bunch of thieves. Look at how they are looting the stores."
Even the prestigious Associated Press got into the act when they published two photos by Chris Gayhem on Tuesday, August 30th at 11:31 a.m. and 3:44 p.m. The photos depict two scenes of victims of Hurricane Katrina treading through chest deep water with bags of food taken from vacant stores. One group is white. The other survivor is black. The caption under the picture of the white couple reads:
"Two residents wade through chest deep water after finding bread and soda from a local grocery store after Hurricane Katrina came through the area in New Orleans, Louisiana. (AFP/Ghetty Images/Chris Gayhem)."
The caption under the photo of a black man in the same situation reads:
"A young man walks through chest deep flood water after looting a grocery store in New Orleans on Tuesday, August 30, 2005 (AFP/Ghetty Images/Chris Gayhem)."
Agency France Presse asked Yahoo News to pull the photos because of the inflammatory use of the word "looting" in relation to the black resident. Yahoo quickly complied, but stated that the captions were done by two different news agencies and did not necessarily imply any "racism."
The AP photos and captions are not the only symptoms of the latent Jim Crow racism that is brewing in the nation. Some people are saying that the delayed rescue response is clear evidence of the lack of concern that led to the devastating 30% below poverty rate of black residents that live in New Orleans.
At one point in the disaster, even the police were entering damaged stores in search of food and water. But, they were not called looters.
From the very beginning the media played its part in vilanizing black people by not properly reporting on the situation and thus helping the public believe that the people who suffered the most stayed behind out of some kind of defiance. The press did not emphasis the fact that those families were trapped like drowning rats, due to their poverty until after being criticized.
Even the meteorological experts had no idea before Katrina hit the Gulf Coast that it would have such a devastating impact. The trapped residents were so poor that they did not own cars. They could not afford plane or bus tickets for their families to escape. Orchestrating an escape on foot meant walking several miles through crocodile infested swamps. Furthermore, the government did not send enough buses to rescue the entire impoverished community of poor blacks.
The bulk of the press, did what it always does. It went for the most sensational aspect of the situation choosing to play up the violence and looting existing at the Superdome and on the streets, instead of the many acts of heriosim displayedt by the everyday people involved in the tragedy.
People must, first of all give black folks credit for being human beings, thus having the right to react just as another racial group would. Those who are still living under the umbrella of the ignorance, and the insanity of racism are still in denial. They even reject Biblical and modern scientific proof of human equality. But those of us who still possess the God conscious know that there are limits to what people can stand before they begin to react in some very predictable ways, ferreting out food to prevent starvation is one of those reactions. It is human nature to survive and there is really no difference in the two images presented by the Associated Press except the color of the skins of the victims.
The sight of stranded white tourists drew sympathy, yet the face of an old black man dead in a lawn chair was easy for a lot of Americans to stomach. Poor people value family and are close in a way that many people who are affluent visit family therapists in order to achieve. There was only a small envelope of time before the Katrina's victims would realize that the calvary was not coming, in time to save either them or their loved ones. This sent them into a state of panic. When something of the magnitude of Hurricane Katrina happens, the first reaction is shock. After shock comes denial. Then grief followed by anger.
The anger phase could have been prevented if the government had acted quickly. Compassion was what was needed. People would have felt rescued instead of betrayed. After the anger of betrayal comes revenge and much of the lawlessness displayed is a result of the psychological breakdown of that community.
Long before the National Guard came into the area to "restore order" I predicted that they would. I knew that the next step would be bringing troops into the area for a show of force and "law and order".
In other words, get those Niggers under control.
The psychological impact of America's initial hesitance in coming to the aid of the disaster victims was internalized by the entire nation. regardless of color. Even the racists have to see that while the nation is feverishly working on restoring the infrastructure of Iraq, it drug its feet when it came to rescuing the nation's party central, the site of the historic Madi Gras, New Orleans.
While the sheet of racism may be heavy to wear, even the most narrow minded has to realize that the financial base of the city of New Orleans was largely white, which is why at one point protecting stores became more important than rescuing thousands of victims.
But, not every US citizen is so impacted by racism that the sound of American citizens pleading for food and water fell on deaf ears. Many photo journalists chose to show interracial groups, struggling together to survive. Brown, black and white babies sweltering naked in 90 degree heat, the taste of baby formula and even water, quickly becoming a part of a painful memory. The suffering was universal, impacting all socio-economic groups.
Long before Katrina hit, the black community in New Orleans was living below the poverty level. They had absolutely no resources. They are now a part of a new phenomena, American Refugees.
It is important that we do not allow this capitalist nation to build a billion dollar industry around these people lives, shuffling them from one facility to another, but that is what is likely to happen.
This is a national tragedy and must be handled as such. We must all step outside of our petty isms and scisms, those artificially created boundaries structured by the system to keep us apart so that we do not unite and build a nation that is truly of and by the people. As it stands a measly 5% of our society reaps nearly all of the benefits.
It took almost 4 days before the government reacted, declaring New Orleans a national disaster area. In the interim, thousands of babies had no formula, diapers or water. Women went without femine products. The elderly were unable to get their medications. Diabetics had no insulin and of course people died in the sweltering 90 degree blazing heat without a drop of water to quench their thirst and dead bodies of American citizens lay rotting in sun.
This was our problem. It happened to US. These were Americans and I was proud to see people like Leona Hemsely kicking in $5 million dollars out of her own pocket before the wheels of FEMA began to turn. Wall Mart and Sunoco also donated millions early in the tragedy.
Hundreds perhaps thousands of regular citizens made their way to as close as they could get to New Orleans to do what they could. In Philadelphia, Drexel, Temple and the University of Penn all offered classes for students to train to volunteer in the rescue effort. The city's media outlets also held fund raisers garnering hundreds of thousands of dollars to the relief effort. Entertainers began to pull together relief effort fundraisers.
During the NBC relief concert an emotional Kanye West (Grammy Award winning rap artist) stunned a star studded audience when he stated that he feels that President Bush does not care for black people. Furthermore, West said that now labeled as looters, the National Guard was given permission to go to New Orleans and "shoot us." He pointed to the AP/Grayhem photos and captions.
We must learn to respond quickly as a united community that does not wait for a distracted government to react. We have the resources, the means, the skill and the talent as individual citizens to do the job. Let us allow this national disaster to act as a learning experience for future reference. We must take back our communities one by one and provide for ourselves in these times of tragedy. After all, we are what is fueling this nation and we don't need its permission to pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps.
Philadelphia has opened its arms to 1,000 people. I challenge other cities across the nation to match us. Together we can work to help to finally rebuild these people's lives, to finally be one nation under God.
If you wish to donate money or find out how you can volunteer you time to this relief effort, please call the Red Cross at 1-800-HELP NOW.
September 5, 2005
(c) 2005 Carol Williams
"God is punishing the Niggers," a poster wrote on a Yahoo.com blog. "Less of them to commit crimes. It's just ethnic cleansing," another poster penned. "They are all a bunch of thieves. Look at how they are looting the stores."
Even the prestigious Associated Press got into the act when they published two photos by Chris Gayhem on Tuesday, August 30th at 11:31 a.m. and 3:44 p.m. The photos depict two scenes of victims of Hurricane Katrina treading through chest deep water with bags of food taken from vacant stores. One group is white. The other survivor is black. The caption under the picture of the white couple reads:
"Two residents wade through chest deep water after finding bread and soda from a local grocery store after Hurricane Katrina came through the area in New Orleans, Louisiana. (AFP/Ghetty Images/Chris Gayhem)."
The caption under the photo of a black man in the same situation reads:
"A young man walks through chest deep flood water after looting a grocery store in New Orleans on Tuesday, August 30, 2005 (AFP/Ghetty Images/Chris Gayhem)."
Agency France Presse asked Yahoo News to pull the photos because of the inflammatory use of the word "looting" in relation to the black resident. Yahoo quickly complied, but stated that the captions were done by two different news agencies and did not necessarily imply any "racism."
The AP photos and captions are not the only symptoms of the latent Jim Crow racism that is brewing in the nation. Some people are saying that the delayed rescue response is clear evidence of the lack of concern that led to the devastating 30% below poverty rate of black residents that live in New Orleans.
At one point in the disaster, even the police were entering damaged stores in search of food and water. But, they were not called looters.
From the very beginning the media played its part in vilanizing black people by not properly reporting on the situation and thus helping the public believe that the people who suffered the most stayed behind out of some kind of defiance. The press did not emphasis the fact that those families were trapped like drowning rats, due to their poverty until after being criticized.
Even the meteorological experts had no idea before Katrina hit the Gulf Coast that it would have such a devastating impact. The trapped residents were so poor that they did not own cars. They could not afford plane or bus tickets for their families to escape. Orchestrating an escape on foot meant walking several miles through crocodile infested swamps. Furthermore, the government did not send enough buses to rescue the entire impoverished community of poor blacks.
The bulk of the press, did what it always does. It went for the most sensational aspect of the situation choosing to play up the violence and looting existing at the Superdome and on the streets, instead of the many acts of heriosim displayedt by the everyday people involved in the tragedy.
People must, first of all give black folks credit for being human beings, thus having the right to react just as another racial group would. Those who are still living under the umbrella of the ignorance, and the insanity of racism are still in denial. They even reject Biblical and modern scientific proof of human equality. But those of us who still possess the God conscious know that there are limits to what people can stand before they begin to react in some very predictable ways, ferreting out food to prevent starvation is one of those reactions. It is human nature to survive and there is really no difference in the two images presented by the Associated Press except the color of the skins of the victims.
The sight of stranded white tourists drew sympathy, yet the face of an old black man dead in a lawn chair was easy for a lot of Americans to stomach. Poor people value family and are close in a way that many people who are affluent visit family therapists in order to achieve. There was only a small envelope of time before the Katrina's victims would realize that the calvary was not coming, in time to save either them or their loved ones. This sent them into a state of panic. When something of the magnitude of Hurricane Katrina happens, the first reaction is shock. After shock comes denial. Then grief followed by anger.
The anger phase could have been prevented if the government had acted quickly. Compassion was what was needed. People would have felt rescued instead of betrayed. After the anger of betrayal comes revenge and much of the lawlessness displayed is a result of the psychological breakdown of that community.
Long before the National Guard came into the area to "restore order" I predicted that they would. I knew that the next step would be bringing troops into the area for a show of force and "law and order".
In other words, get those Niggers under control.
The psychological impact of America's initial hesitance in coming to the aid of the disaster victims was internalized by the entire nation. regardless of color. Even the racists have to see that while the nation is feverishly working on restoring the infrastructure of Iraq, it drug its feet when it came to rescuing the nation's party central, the site of the historic Madi Gras, New Orleans.
While the sheet of racism may be heavy to wear, even the most narrow minded has to realize that the financial base of the city of New Orleans was largely white, which is why at one point protecting stores became more important than rescuing thousands of victims.
But, not every US citizen is so impacted by racism that the sound of American citizens pleading for food and water fell on deaf ears. Many photo journalists chose to show interracial groups, struggling together to survive. Brown, black and white babies sweltering naked in 90 degree heat, the taste of baby formula and even water, quickly becoming a part of a painful memory. The suffering was universal, impacting all socio-economic groups.
Long before Katrina hit, the black community in New Orleans was living below the poverty level. They had absolutely no resources. They are now a part of a new phenomena, American Refugees.
It is important that we do not allow this capitalist nation to build a billion dollar industry around these people lives, shuffling them from one facility to another, but that is what is likely to happen.
This is a national tragedy and must be handled as such. We must all step outside of our petty isms and scisms, those artificially created boundaries structured by the system to keep us apart so that we do not unite and build a nation that is truly of and by the people. As it stands a measly 5% of our society reaps nearly all of the benefits.
It took almost 4 days before the government reacted, declaring New Orleans a national disaster area. In the interim, thousands of babies had no formula, diapers or water. Women went without femine products. The elderly were unable to get their medications. Diabetics had no insulin and of course people died in the sweltering 90 degree blazing heat without a drop of water to quench their thirst and dead bodies of American citizens lay rotting in sun.
This was our problem. It happened to US. These were Americans and I was proud to see people like Leona Hemsely kicking in $5 million dollars out of her own pocket before the wheels of FEMA began to turn. Wall Mart and Sunoco also donated millions early in the tragedy.
Hundreds perhaps thousands of regular citizens made their way to as close as they could get to New Orleans to do what they could. In Philadelphia, Drexel, Temple and the University of Penn all offered classes for students to train to volunteer in the rescue effort. The city's media outlets also held fund raisers garnering hundreds of thousands of dollars to the relief effort. Entertainers began to pull together relief effort fundraisers.
During the NBC relief concert an emotional Kanye West (Grammy Award winning rap artist) stunned a star studded audience when he stated that he feels that President Bush does not care for black people. Furthermore, West said that now labeled as looters, the National Guard was given permission to go to New Orleans and "shoot us." He pointed to the AP/Grayhem photos and captions.
We must learn to respond quickly as a united community that does not wait for a distracted government to react. We have the resources, the means, the skill and the talent as individual citizens to do the job. Let us allow this national disaster to act as a learning experience for future reference. We must take back our communities one by one and provide for ourselves in these times of tragedy. After all, we are what is fueling this nation and we don't need its permission to pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps.
Philadelphia has opened its arms to 1,000 people. I challenge other cities across the nation to match us. Together we can work to help to finally rebuild these people's lives, to finally be one nation under God.
If you wish to donate money or find out how you can volunteer you time to this relief effort, please call the Red Cross at 1-800-HELP NOW.
September 5, 2005
(c) 2005 Carol Williams