8 years ago
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Where Black Lives Matter Began: Hurricane Katrina exposed our nation’s amazing tolerance for black pain.
White Americans saw the storm and its aftermath as a case of bad luck and unprecedented incompetence that spread its pain across the Gulf Coast regardless of race. This is the narrative you see in Landrieu’s words and, to some extent, Obama’s as well. To black Americans, however, this wasn’t an equal opportunity disaster. To them, it was confirmation of America’s indifference to black life. “We have an amazing tolerance for black pain,” said Rev. Jesse Jackson in an interview after the storm.
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"In our current remembrance, Katrina is a synonym for dysfunction and disaster, a prime example of when government fails in the worst way possible. It’s also a symbol of political collapse. George Bush never recovered from its failure, and “Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job” stands with “Mission Accomplished” as one of the defining lines of the administration and the era."
My mother worked for the Corp of Engineers (the government organization in charge of dams and levies) during the years leading up to Katrina. Here are some of the issues I heard about at the dinner table after a day of work: (1) Funding was cut (2) Staffing levels were cut (3) Projects were under funded
The total incompetence of the government in this situation was the most galling thing ever for me. If the majority of residents of NOLA were white, upper-middle class people, the response would have been vastly different. Just my opinion... but, valid nonetheless. Compare the disaster response of the government to tornado devastation in Kansas or Missouri in the years that followed... and the pattern or neglect of citizens in NOLA during Katrina is fairly evident.