Lessons from Katrina
A really good article came out a couple of weeks ago that offers some great food for thought.
In a clever way, it highlights the 33 steps (not) taken that allowed for the utter destruction of a great African American city in the U.S.
I’ll share some here but, I urge you to check out the article in its entirety.
Step One. Delay. If there is one word that sums up the way to destroy an African-American city after a disaster, that word is DELAY. If you are in doubt about any of the following steps – just remember to delay and you will probably be doing the right thing.
Step Two. When a disaster is coming, do not arrange a public evacuation. Rely only on individual resources. People with cars and money for hotels will leave. The elderly, the disabled and the poor will not be able to leave. Most of those without cars – 25% of households of New Orleans, overwhelmingly African-Americans – will not be able to leave. Most of the working poor, overwhelmingly African-American, will not be able to leave. Many will then permanently accuse the victims who were left behind of creating their own human disaster because of their own poor planning. It is critical to start by having people blame the victims for their own problems.
Step Three. When the disaster hits make certain the national response is overseen by someone who has no experience at all handling anything on a large scale, particularly disasters. In fact, you can even inject some humor into the response – have the disaster coordinator be someone whose last job was the head of a dancing horse association.
Step Four. Make sure that the President and national leaders remain aloof and only slightly concerned. This sends an important message to the rest of the country.
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It irresponsible to propagate this line of thought. Everyone who lived in New Orleans knew a disaster was coming and chose to ignore it. I live in Minnesota and knew that within 100 years New Orleans would be under water. Everyone, including rich white people, in New Orleans lobbied for more money from the Federal Government to improve levees to prevent catastrophe. Wisely, the gov’t said, “No, we will not make the entire country pay because you choose to live in a disaster prone area. Here is 100 million dollars, do what you can.” It is easy to cast blame instead of taking responsibility. This is common in inner cities regardless of color of skin. Poorer households have a higher incidence of single parent families. Many people in inner cities are poor. When you grow up having a sense of no control of your situation (can’t get out of this apartment, lifestyle, etc…) you tend to blame others. Now factor this environment and add in being raised by the “streets” (as the single parent cannot work full time and always be there for the children) and this victimization of self carries into adulthood. It is a fact there is racism today. It is certainly not the problem that people would make it out to be. Stereotypes are in effect for every culture so that is no excuse. It is foolish at the very least that the gov’t could have done anything differently for a disaster of this magnitude. At the time, they did the best they could. Do not fall back into finger pointing. Do some research. If you want to help someone, help yourself so you can help others. It is terrible that anyone had to suffer from Katrina but why should I pay so you can live below sea level? Of course there are more rich white people than black people, so? I’m not one of them. I don’t think of myself as a victim either. It is easy to point the finger and say “this is happening to me, someone else is in control of my life.” As long as you think that way, you are right. Take responsibility for yourself. You are born into a country like no other with opportunities at every corner and all you can do is complain and place blame. You act as if you are owed something and YOU are not. Terrible things happened IN THE PAST. When is it time to move on?
July 13th, 2007 at 5:30 pmWhat does any of this have to do with the FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY (FEMA) and the Department of Homeland Security (which Bush put over FEMA) not doing the role it was supposed to do? I love how people think it is so easy, when you’re poor, to pick up and move somewhere else.
You’re right, it is easy to cast blame instead of taking responsibility, I’ve seen how easily the Bush administration has been doing so for the last 6+ years.
July 13th, 2007 at 10:45 pm