Day One - Race, Poverty and Hurricane Katrina

What did Feagin mean by the title “Slavery Unwilling to Die?” Based on the history you read, what does this have to do with poverty and race today? How do you think this chapter applies to New Orleans?

This is my first blog EVER and in this one I will answer the question above and give my opinions. First, I believe that the author meant the title, "Slavery Unwilling to Die", to talk about how there is still racism out there to this day. It is obvious that it is not as visible as it was back in the early years of this country and the 1960's but it is still out there but it is still out there and there seem to be little things that people point out and say that only have one explanation and that is "because they were people of color." There are racist jokes that are still said and racial stereotypes that still exist. I think this reading and title relates to New Orleans and Hurricane Katrina because of what has happened in the past and what happened following Hurricane Katrina. In the 20's the government blew up the levees in New Orleans so that the water would only run to where generally the poorer people lived. They did that to protect the wealthier homes. Then Hurricane Katrina comes around and the levees break once again and people start thinking that they once again blew up the levees and flooded the city. Then after that the Federal Government took their sweet a** time going to get the people in the city that were devastated from the disaster. The Canadians had gone to help the people before our OWN Federal Government offered a helping hand. Now when I think about that there is one question that crosses my mind, "Is it because they were mainly people of color?" After reading this portion of the book I noticed that on page 64 the author writes about the Federal Government in 1900. According to Feagin, "By 1900 the U.S. government created systems of white dominance in its colonies, including Cuba and the Phillipines. I can't help but think that the government took so long to help those people for the reason that they were not very white or wealthy. So the title,"Slavery Unwilling to Die" relates fairly well to New Orleans for the reason that the citizens that were stranded were mainly African American and it took the Federal Government a while to come help them. The only explanation for that terrible catastrophe by the U.S. is, "because they were people of color."