Katrina

Whilst waiting for a special lecture on the Katrina disaster I got talking to an actual survivor. This man of African American origin had previously lived in New Orleans, when the hurricane came he was unable to escape and he himself was one of those people stuck on a rooftop awaiting rescue. He lost his house and his job and he saw close friends die. Yet he and his family were able to escape mostly unharmed to Houston where they were looked after at a nearby army base, staffed mainly at this time by volunteers. He was later moved to temporary housing in Fayettville, Arkansas. Which is why I met him. He is currently working at the campus Burger King.


The talk itself was very interesting. It stated the obvious points in obvious terms. First the inner city residents couldn't escape because they didn't have cars - inner city residents don't require them, so don't own them. Secondly the 'looting' reported was seen by the media as a criminal act by those dastardly blacks - yet we must remember that all the stores were closed - those that remained had no access to food other than by breaking windows. The lecturer (a reporter from Kansas) also noted how no African American reporters were sent and he made a good case for a sort of postmodern argument that reporters only ever report what they can connect with - white upper class American reporters can't connect with poor urban African Americans - hence the media has twisted against the victims.


Katrina exposed what African Americans had known for decades - that they are mostly a poor underclass living very close to poverty. Yet despite this the American media has still yet to fully acknowledge what lessons should have been learnt, the BCC in my opinion has done a far more accurate job at asking the right questions. America has almost already forgotten the tragedy and from what I can see Bush has got off pretty lightly. How many more tragedies like these are required before real changes are made?