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Printer-Friendly ModeKatrina race debate step in wrong direction
September 12, 2005 —
Hurricane Katrina has left New Orleans in ruins. Thousands are feared dead, billions of dollars of damage has been done and many fear the "Big Easy" will never recover from what some call the greatest natural disaster in our country's history.
And though Americans have done an admirable job of stepping up and helping our fellow citizens, too many are sitting back, pointing fingers and trying to turn this catastrophic event into something it is not: a race issue.
There is no individual guiltier of this than rapper Kanye West. On Sept. 2, West appeared on a one-hour NBC special to raise money for the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund. West, who was only asked to read a scripted message about the relief fund, instead used the opportunity to blast the media and President George W. Bush on live television. West stated that the media portrayed black families as "looters," white families as "people looking for food," and said that America is designed to help poor black people as "slow as possible."
While those comments alone were uncalled for, West took an even more selfish turn when he later said, "George Bush does not care about black people." In perhaps our nation's darkest days since Sept. 11, West threw salt into an open wound by making a ridiculous claim about the President that was completely unjustified.
Thousands of American citizens are homeless right now and, frankly, our government does not care what color they are. Certainly, the majority of homeless hurricane victims are black, but the majority of the New Orleans population is too. Thus, the fact that they are left homeless is only a representation of the population distribution of the city most greatly affected.
Some cynics even go as far as suggesting that President Bush does not care anymore because he has already been elected to a second term. They say he only cared about the black population when he was seeking their vote and now that he cannot be re-elected, has left them to drown in the flood waters. Perhaps there has been no claim as ludicrous as this. Even if Bush felt that way, the remaining members of our government would never allow such a thing to happen.
We the media are at fault as well. Since West made his comments, a large number of interviews have been done where people claim that the government has been slow to react because blacks are the ones most affected. It is difficult to imagine going through something as devastating as Katrina, so it is somewhat understandable why people would lash out. But to say relief is being held up on purpose is to ignore those who have been helped already, both black and white.
Hurricane Katrina was a force no one at any level of government could have predicted. Weak levees, an elevation below sea level and bad timing were more at fault than our government for all of the lives lost and damage done. Yes, there was confusion and misunderstandings within the government in regards to relief. But to suggest it was done on purpose is to pretend that rescuing a devastated city is easy. Proper warning was given days before Katrina struck, but for a city as large as New Orleans, it was only inevitable that lives were lost.
Most of us should be thankful that we will never know what it is like to be affected by a disaster such as Katrina. The country is in disarray and people are rightfully angry.
But people such as Kanye West need only shut their mouths and do the best they can to help, because making false claims and trying to incite a racial war will do far more damage than any hurricane ever could.