The Seattle Times: Living: Katrina: Race and class separate yet connected
The Seattle Times: Living: Katrina: Race and class separate yet connected: "Something good could come from Hurricane Katrina. For one thing, I found myself in agreement with Condoleezza Rice. She said the United States has made great strides in reducing the damage racism causes. That's true. Race was once an insurmountable obstacle for most black Americans and a heavy burden for anyone who wasn't white.
Now, for most affected people, it is an occasional hurdle and frequent annoyance, but nothing like it was a generation or two ago, though there is still work to be done. Maybe our eyes will focus on some of that work now. Rice, in a New York Times interview last week, said, 'There are still places that race and poverty are a huge problem in the United States, and we've got to deal with that.'
Rice was venturing away from foreign affairs to help the administration address charges that its response to Hurricane Katrina was slowed by a lack of concern for black people. That could be true, though not for the old reasons.
George Bush doesn't hate black people, but he may have the same trouble empathizing with poor black folks that I suspect most everyone else has to some degree. Poor people don't count as much as other people, and that didn't start with the hurricane.
On the Senate floor, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama said, 'I hope we realize that the people of New Orleans weren't just abandoned during the hurricane. They were abandoned long ago — to murder and mayhem in the streets, to substandard schools, to dilapidated housing, to inadequate health care, to a pervasive sense of hopelessness.'
Race and class are all inter-
twined and have been since colonial times. Class decided who lived in the most vulnerable areas of New Orleans, and who had transportation out of town. The black middle class of New Orleans got out along with the white middle class, but poor people, black and white, were left behind.
Class decided all that, but race has something to say about who is poor and who is not. Eight percent of white Americans are classified as poor, but more than 25 percent of black Americans are poor."
Now, for most affected people, it is an occasional hurdle and frequent annoyance, but nothing like it was a generation or two ago, though there is still work to be done. Maybe our eyes will focus on some of that work now. Rice, in a New York Times interview last week, said, 'There are still places that race and poverty are a huge problem in the United States, and we've got to deal with that.'
Rice was venturing away from foreign affairs to help the administration address charges that its response to Hurricane Katrina was slowed by a lack of concern for black people. That could be true, though not for the old reasons.
George Bush doesn't hate black people, but he may have the same trouble empathizing with poor black folks that I suspect most everyone else has to some degree. Poor people don't count as much as other people, and that didn't start with the hurricane.
On the Senate floor, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama said, 'I hope we realize that the people of New Orleans weren't just abandoned during the hurricane. They were abandoned long ago — to murder and mayhem in the streets, to substandard schools, to dilapidated housing, to inadequate health care, to a pervasive sense of hopelessness.'
Race and class are all inter-
twined and have been since colonial times. Class decided who lived in the most vulnerable areas of New Orleans, and who had transportation out of town. The black middle class of New Orleans got out along with the white middle class, but poor people, black and white, were left behind.
Class decided all that, but race has something to say about who is poor and who is not. Eight percent of white Americans are classified as poor, but more than 25 percent of black Americans are poor."
posted by Blackgold at 8:49 PM
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