Racism fanning the Hurricane

Kanye West was sort of the marker--he's an entertainer who strips his fans' wallets with songs about crack cocaine and gangster glorification. (Before his Bush bashing TV appearance, I'd never heard of him, but then that's not my kind of "music.") But everyone could see it. The TV crews were aiming their cameras at two large facilities and almost all the faces were black. Convenience and safety--for the TV crews, that is. They couldn't get their camera crews into the areas of rural and coastline white communities, where probably the number of afflicted, those who refused to leave or couldn't leave, far outnumbered the blacks who were following the instructions of the Mayor and headed for the safety of two large buildings.

The initial group who went to those safe areas were carrying food, water and clothing in their suitcases; the first night was sort of a party atmosphere. When the water rose after the levees were breached, the U.S. military (Coast Guard) was there, picking people up off rooftops on Tuesday morning, long before Connick and Oprah arrived with their TV crews. More people headed to the now crowded facilities. Both the regular military and the LA Guard stood prepared on stand-by away from the storm area waiting for the Governor to act.

The state of Louisiana, not wanting to create more crowding, prevented the Red Cross from going in with food and water for those waiting for buses, and the Gangster element (probably inspired by West's music and others) started taking pot shots at volunteer rescuers and the police.

And the cameras kept rolling. A sea of black faces, mostly women and children. The cameramen still couldn't get to the rural and coastal areas so the only footage we saw (and still 10 days later) was large crowds of African Americans, now getting panicky as services were denied to them by their own local governments, the people who had told them to go there.

I don't think the TV crews conspired with Jesse Jackson, Kanye West and Nancy Pelosi to fan the winds of racism, but they have contributed to a horrible mess, simply by doing the best they could with the areas they could get to. They showed the terrible devastation to the homes and lives of the people who had obeyed the orders to evacuate their homes.

As we are seeing now in the house-to-house search, those who remained in their homes had food, water, and guns to protect themselves from the gangster element. If they were rich and really prepared, they also had generators and private security guards. I have gained new respect for the hold-outs, rich and poor, black and white. At first they looked demented as they were presented to us. However, they seemed to know from past exerience with hurricanes, particularly Hurricane Ivan of last year, that their local government, rap artists, and Jesse couldn't protect them from the storm or from the criminals. Katrina has proven them right. I salute them.

Now that's a story they need to be showing.