Day Three - Race, Poverty, and Hurricane Katrina

I must say that today's class brought me to tears a little bit. I didn't totally cry...I mean I'm a MAN! Ha ha at least I like to think I am sometimes. But in all seriousness I don't think I have ever been so moved by any movie after watching today's third act. Seeing the destruction and sadness today was unbelievable. The reaction of the old lady after seeing her house and the mother’s tears after burying her daughter literally brought me to tears. 

  However, my blog/rant today is going to respond to your own rant Dr. Parks and a response to the last person, Rob that made a comment about your blog. Now I know I said some things in my last couple blogs but I have learned a bit more on this Katrina situation and I have developed my own opinion on certain aspects of Katrina and I'm not holding back my true feelings on this one...

I completely agree with your reaction to Rush Limbaugh's comments on the comparison of Iowa floods to Hurricane Katrina. He really is a racist SOB!. Now I'm not saying you think Katrina's problems have occurred all from race but I don't think the race card should not be thrown out there sometimes and it kind of bothers me to be completely honest. I think people need to understand that it is an economic issue before a race issue. The only reason it seems like a race issue is because the majority of the poor in this country are black or a minority. I cannot defend FEMA, the Feds or even the local authorities of New Orleans, if you do you are crazy. But I think some of the explanation for the terrible preparation, warnings and evacuation for this disaster is because of the fact that New Orleans is a fairly poor area. There was a mandatory warning on television and I’m assuming radio. Well, considering most people in the NOLA area (especially outside of the French Quarter) cannot afford a television or even a radio. Please tell me, how are they going to be notified about the seriousness of the disaster? I agree that the people of New Orleans should have been forced to leave. But that's like saying these people don’t have a choice; its like taking their fundamental rights away that is given to them by the constitution. They can stay or go, don’t make them. Local authorities should have gone door to door begging for people to leave their homes. But if they didn't, so be it. Those people have close roots to their city, their families and to their community. It is understandable that they would not want to leave.

Anyways, it’s a shame that the government didn’t care so much to immediately come and help the stranded victims. But I personally believe this and I hope you understand that it was not because they were mostly black. Its because they were poor, or not wealthy or not considered “exceptionally productive people to our society” (that's not my opinion, but from the government's prospective you're darn right that's how they feel about some of the people in NOLA) . If it was Bill Gates or Warren Buffet drowning FEMA would have been down there in a heartbeat. But the fact is that most of these people that were stranded didn’t have a good education (if any), didn’t have the resources to just get up and go, and nearly all those people just didn’t want to leave the city they grew up in. So saying people were warned in advance is true, but you have to understand the economic situation these people were put in to begin with before you say that these people should have left.

People have a tendency nowadays to blame a lot of bad things that happen to black people in this country on race or discrimination. Well the fact of the matter is since the start of blacks in this country, they have always had some sort of social issue. First, it was obviously slavery, then it was the civil rights movement and now we have gotten to the point where the racism, discrimination, and segregation in this country has gone nearly unnoticed or has become barely visible. I personally think after watching this film it seems like that because of the main stream media and the Federal government hiding things and making things look better than they actually are.

But anyways, a reason a portion of African Americans in this country are underprivileged is because of their history of struggle and fighting “the man”. “The Man” is the Government and the rest of society putting them down for what ever senseless reason. If slavery and the civil rights movement never occurred then there obviously would be no race issue and black people might have better opportunities in this country. There has always been a struggle for black people and that's the case for all minorities too; Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and now more recently Middle Easterners. But black people have a rich history of being discriminated and segregated. So there is no wonder why black people in certain areas of our country are struggling. They have never been completely accepted in society and I don’t know when or if they will be but let me tell you this; What we are dealing with is our country’s history biting our own a** right now. Society and the Government nowadays don’t believe in slavery or segregation and FEMA didn’t take their sweet a** time to aide the people of NOLA because they were black. We have come too far as a country to once again say our government and our people are discriminating against black people. I will never believe that. But I will believe that the Bush administration has been a colossal disaster and I think that Hurricane Katrina is what did him in for me and many other Americans (not to mention 9-11).  I agree with someone who responded to your blog, Rob, kids who are born to two loving parents and have a good education have a strong future. But unfortunately based on our history we haven’t allowed that opportunity for black people. So when people want to say the victims were being treated like animals because George Bush hates black people or the Federal Government is racist; I'll tell them to stop and think rationally about the situation and tell them that it is about the current struggle in the economy for African Americans mixed with our countries terrible history of discrimination and racism. We call slavery and the Civil Rights movement history for the simple fact that it is in the past now and we have moved onto to do greater things as a country. We have taken too many steps as a nation for anyone to believe that this terrible circumstance occurred because of the color of people's skin.

Day Two - Race, Poverty, and Hurricane Katrina

Alright, day two of J-Term was just as interesting as yesterday. I found the lecture interesting today. I briefly remember some of the things from my intro to sociology class and it was nice to be refreshed on some of that information. 

I will admit I didn't pay that much attention to the news and reports when Katrina first happened. I was a Sophomore in high school when the disaster occurred and I was only interested in sports, girls, and video games at the time so I would say I didn't really care about that at the time. All I can say is shame on me. I can tell you have have changed and grown up a bit since I have been to college and my interests and morals have changed a bit. I have changed even more after watching just two acts of the film, When the Levee's Broke, and I have learned a great deal about Hurricane Katrina and the people down in that area. They are resilient and blessed to have survived something like Katrina. But I also know one thing for sure that some people from there are or were angry. Angry that it happened to them and angry at the people in charge of this country. The President of the United States and the Federal Government. After watching that film tonight; I'm angry too. I don't think anyone will ever be able to explain why it took so long for FEMA to respond for help. How can our Federal government not have any intelligence on what has happened and what is needed for these people when other countries are coming over to aid our people before the Fed does. We need to ask ourselves what our country is all about when something like that happens to our own people. Why did we vote for this Bush guy? Because of his name? Because he had a C  average at Yale? I don't know, no one well will ever know after his 2 terms. The only ones we can blame, is ourselves. 

Anyways, moving on. I read that article by Elaine Enarson and I must say that it is a very powerful article. Some may read this article and deny this and say that it is just a scare tactic and she was just looking for some attention as a columnist. I'll tell them to shut it and accept the fact that she could be right and we must do something to change how we deal with these tragedies. I think as a nation we did well in recovering from 9-11. We came together and cleaned up the mess that was left and we moved on with our lives. This is a disaster that I don't think we were prepared for as a nation and it showed when people needed help in the most dire of times and they couldn't get any. I found a quote from her article very interesting, "In the many drawers of unused plans and unlearned lessons, policymakers will find planning tools for gender-sensitive emergency response and recovery—but will they use them?" I found this some what similar to what we watched today in class. Families were being split up and children were being taken away from their mothers. We did not show any sort of sympathy or empathy as a country while we were splitting up families and sending them on buses for 30 hours to cities far away from New Orleans. What is the child going to do without his or her mother or father? What is a wife going to do with out her husband. This article brought up some interesting points that I for sure didn't think about before I read the story. I heard this phrase around the time of 9-11, "Sometimes tragedies bring out the best of us as a nation." And I don't think the best of us showed up that week of Katrina. I don't think the people in charge did enough as soon as they could to save our own people. It makes me sad to say that as a citizen of this country. 

But those people finally started to show remorse and sympathy for the people in New Orleans and help did come and people were saved eventually. People did come together and New Orleans is back and running and I have heard great things about the city. I'll end with a quote from Enarson, I just hope we can "prepare for, survive, cope with and recover from the next storm."   

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."