Vicious Rants of an Angry Yellow Man

Like many of you watching the storm in the Gulf Coast, I was broken hearted. The images were more like those of Africa than America. The rest of the world must be shocked at our incompetence. There are plenty 0f blame to go around and there are plenty of people pointing out the failures of various parts of our governement. I am going to give my take on the issue of race and class in this tragedy.

Black leaders, rappers, and Democratic politicians are complaining that race was one of the main issue in the delay of federal help to the area. The Republicans say this is absurd, that whether the people are white or black, the response would have been the same. I believe that no high government official made decisions based on the race of the victimes. I think America has come a long way so that our government would try to rescue as many citizens possible regardless of color. Nevertheless, the division of class in our society and the perception of people from one class about people in another class did contribute to this tragedy.

The reason why we saw almost all black people stranded in the Superdome or the convention center of New Orleans was that the overwhelming number of poor people in this city and throughout our urban areas are black. Most of the high officials in the government including FEMA are white and not poor. The head of FEMA Michael Brown said that he had no idea that these many people would ignor the evacuation warnings and stay behind. What he does not realize is that if you are poor and had no car, you would have a hard time evacuating. The way these folks look at it: " even if I can afford a bus ride out of here, I can't afford to stay at a hotel. I have no money and this home is all I've got. I must try to save my home at all cost." A middle class guy does not want to lose his home, but he can afford to leave town and he still has his bank account and maybe mutual funds that can't be washed away by the storm. Without an understanding of people of other classes make it hard for leaders like Brown to understand that there will be more victims than they had anticipated.

Even when they finally decided to send the troops into the convention center there was more delay until the area was "secured". The image was of armed troops walking in formation as if going into enemy territory instead of bringing supplies to rescue their citizens. I am sure the commanders were not racists but they heard of rumors of possible riots in the center so they acted as if this was true. Of course some members of the media had beaten the troops into the center and had reported that there was no violence. I can't imagine that if the troops were bringing food and water into stranded people in Beverly Hills, they would have been so worried about possible violence. By the way, if people in Beverly Hills had no water or food for several days, I believe they would also do whatever they can to survive even if it means breaking the law.

For a poor black person in New Orleans, this week probably confirm what he had suspected all along: that the government is racist. For a middle class white government official, this is an unfair charge since he had never thought about the race of the victims when he made his decisions. My advice to the black person is this: you can't change your color but you can change your economic status. A rich black person would have left town before the storm hits with his bank and mutual fund account just like the rich white folks. Even if you are black and still do face discrimination in this country, you can succeed. This is still the best country in the world and gives everybody a chance to succeed. Even though we looked like Sudan this week, we are not. As for the white middle class government official, I would suggest go live among the poor and see what it is like. An understanding of others different from you is essential if you are truly trying to serve you fellow citizens.