America must address race and class divide now
America must address race and class divide now: "Hurricane Katrina's winds and the levee waters unleashed not only unimaginable death and destruction, but also left us awash, once again, in America's dirty laundry: the race and class divide.
We try mightily to avoid the issue. In America, the poor are to be neither seen nor heard. Race and racism are messy. So we talk of other things instead.
Money talks, too. In America, those at the bottom of the totem pole get the shortest shrift. In America, being black and poor can be a deadly combination.
Some voices have been raised. They cry that it was no accident that the thousands of human beings were crammed into a filthy, perilous Louisiana Superdome were black. They argue that hundreds of black and poor New Orleans residents were left to bake and perhaps die on their own roofs. They insist that American culture is embedded in a double standard that even has its own rhyme: If you're white you're all right, if you're black . . .
Still, denial is in the air. Other voices claim it's not about race. There 'you people' go again. You're getting emotional. This is not the time. We have bureaucracies to tend to, other stories to tell, cities to rebuild.
New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin went on the radio at the end of his city's most harrowing, hellish week ever and resorted to crying and cussing to get help for his people. The pundits said he was unprofessional."
We try mightily to avoid the issue. In America, the poor are to be neither seen nor heard. Race and racism are messy. So we talk of other things instead.
Money talks, too. In America, those at the bottom of the totem pole get the shortest shrift. In America, being black and poor can be a deadly combination.
Some voices have been raised. They cry that it was no accident that the thousands of human beings were crammed into a filthy, perilous Louisiana Superdome were black. They argue that hundreds of black and poor New Orleans residents were left to bake and perhaps die on their own roofs. They insist that American culture is embedded in a double standard that even has its own rhyme: If you're white you're all right, if you're black . . .
Still, denial is in the air. Other voices claim it's not about race. There 'you people' go again. You're getting emotional. This is not the time. We have bureaucracies to tend to, other stories to tell, cities to rebuild.
New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin went on the radio at the end of his city's most harrowing, hellish week ever and resorted to crying and cussing to get help for his people. The pundits said he was unprofessional."
posted by Blackgold at 8:00 PM
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