Hurricane Katrina: Natural Disaster for the Caste System
When we watched the news Monday morning and saw footage of New Orleans evacuated to the Superdome, we thought to ourselves: Interesting how almost everyone is black. We knew the socioeconomic reasons for what we were seeing, but we waited for the journalists on the scene to address what, to us, was an obvious issue. Of course, no one really wants to discuss some of America's more serious, deep-rooted problems, so Slate's Jack Shafer speaks up:
When disaster strikes, Americans — especially journalists — like to pretend that no matter who gets hit, no matter what race, color, creed, or socioeconomic level they hail from, we're all in it together. This spirit informs the 1997 disaster flick Volcano, in which a "can't we all just get along" moment arrives at the film's end: Volcanic ash covers every face in the big crowd scene, and everybody realizes that we're all members of one united race.
But we aren't one united race, we aren't one united class, and Katrina didn't hit all folks equally. By failing to acknowledge upfront that black New Orleanians and perhaps black Mississippians suffered more from Katrina than whites, the TV talkers may escape potential accusations that they're racist. But by ignoring race and class, they boot the journalistic opportunity to bring attention to the disenfranchisement of a whole definable segment of the population. What I wouldn't pay to hear a Fox anchor ask, "Say, Bob, why are these African-Americans so poor to begin with?"
We're betting Bill O'Reilly would respond with a hearty "shut up" before even considering to answer that sort of question.
