...Hurricane Katrina: Race and Class in America and the Failure of Its Government Carlus R. Townsend English 215 2/25/12 Introduction How hurricane Katrina exposed Racism in the US Hurricane Katrina that happened 7 years ago was a natural adversity. Few years following Hurricane Katrina, individuals are still feeling the repercussion and queries of racism. Katrina uncovered racism and division inequality in America, and the way the government failed the citizens in so many aspects. Many black people residing in New Orleans that were affected felt as if they considered themselves as genocide victims compared to what happened to them and the treatment they received after the hurricane. The majority of the affected people were blacks and this paper try to analyze how the victims of the hurricane were discriminated upon because of their race and face unbearable inequality because of their race ethnicity. Discrimination against Hurricane Katrina victims Various people, particularly the politicians, spoke out insisting that the comparison of the holocaust was inappropriate, as there was no use of any gas chambers utilization. This resulted to many people wondering if the act of racism was in existence without absolute violence. Communities residing in New Orleans insists that individuals died because of utter neglect. This took place because the affected persons were the black race, and so the government neglected them and was not concerned to what happened...
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...Hurricane Katrina is one of the worst natural disasters in the history of the United States of America. It took thousands lives of citizens of New Orleans, left them without homes and families, and changed their lives forever. Many of those who survived the hurricane died waiting for help to come. Hurricane Katrina exposed the existence of ''two Americas''. It took government several days to get help to the victims of Katrina in New Orleans. After watching Spike Lee's documentary ''When The Levees Broke'' I learned that the Government doesn't care about its citizens. After Hurricane Katrina, the Federal Emergency Management Agency failed to do what it was created to do - provide immediate relief to the victims of the disasters. People were waiting for help for days, suffering from the heat, lack of food and drinking water and watching their loved ones die without medical help. Those who were tired to wait for the rescue buses and started to walk toward the Gretna bridge were turn around at the gun point. They were not allowed in, like they were citizens of another country- refugees, and thats how the media called people of New Orleans. The disaster of Hurricane Katrina could've been avoided if the levees that protect city would have been designed and built properly. I believe that Federal Government and other officials were aware of the situation for a very long time and still did nothing to protect the people of New Orleans. Most of the citizens of...
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...The song "Georgia Bush" by lil Wayne reflects the ideas of racism and poverty. Lil Wayne wrote this song to show how blacks were treated during Hurricane Katrina. He wanted to put out his feeling about how the community and how president George bush treated blacks in this hard time. During Hurricane Katrina blacks were forget about and left in the storm. First of all, people were scared to go back to save them because of what they thought of them. "CBS Radio News reports that New Orleans City Councilman Oliver Thomas said people are too afraid of black people to go in and save them.("Race")." People thought that if they went back to save them they would try to rob or kill them. He added that rumors of shootings and riots are making people...
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...Dr. Xiongya Gao English 111 September 22, 2014 On August 29, 2005, there was a hurricane forming in the Gulf of Mexico. Her name was Katrina. It started as a small tropical storm, but as it entered the warm waters of the Gulf it grew to be a monstrous storm. So monstrous, that it would destroy anything in its path. Covering the coast lines of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. During this time, I contacted family members of their plans. We decided to head in different directions and hoped for the best. We all loaded the cars and proceeded towards the interstate. I must say traffic was really horrible. It seemed like everyone decided to leave the day before this monstrous storm hit. After driving over 6 hours, we decided to get a hotel room with no prior reservations. As we approached the entrance there was a line out the door. After speaking with the receptionist there were only two rooms available. We stayed at the Marriott Hotel in Jackson, Mississippi. It was a nice hotel that was full of staff that served complimentary snacks and drinks. My husband and I were glued to the television and knew about what was going on. As the storm approached we waited downstairs it the dining area. The weather started to get worse. The winds rose and the rain falling down hard. After returning to the room water started leaking heavily from the ceiling. Then came the horror stories. Hurricane Katrina directly impacted families by disrupting and forcing family members to adjust to differing...
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...Concept Paper: New Orleans Post-Katrina December 8, 2013 New Orleans post-Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina, which hit the southeast United States in late August of 2005 was one of the costliest and deadliest hurricanes in United States history. The city of New Orleans was arguably hit the hardest by the hurricane. The objective of this paper is to analyze the link between economic, political, and social conditions in New Orleans prior to Hurricane Katrina and the conditions in New Orleans post-Katrina. Although natural disasters are an inevitability, the human suffering that citizens faced in New Orleans immediately following Katrina were largely avoidable, the result of a lack of adequate evacuation planning and massive governmental negligence. Furthermore, it was no accident which people suffered the most in the aftermath of Katrina. Financial, political, racial, and social disparities in New Orleans long before Katrina dictated who would be most affected after Katrina, both immediately and years after the hurricane. Rebuilding efforts, just like the evacuation, have tended to favor the rich and White and neglect the poor and Black. Pre-Katrina New Orleans was disproportionately Black and poor relative to the rest of the United States. According to 2000 U.S. Census data, Blacks made up 12.3% of the nation’s population while Whites made up 75.1% of the nation’s population (U.S. Census, 2000b). In contrast, the city of New Orleans was 28.1% White and 67.3% Black...
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...three conditions met. First social audiences accept some rule or standard as legitimate. Second, audiences must maintain that a rule or standard has been violated, and lastly significant negative social reactions or sanctions are evident as a result. These terms were met in August of 2006 when the natural disaster of Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, Louisiana. In 2006, Hurricane Katrina ravished through the New Orleans area and destroyed 80,000 - 90,000 homes and businesses, and killed over 2,000 people. The entire city was flooded and sitting under water. Negligence began before the hurricane even reached the United States. About 5 days before the hurricane would eventually hit Louisiana, it was on radar as a level one hurricane which should have been reported to the citizens as an issue but never was reported. The storm reached the status of level 5 (highest possible level of a hurricane) about 48 hours before it reached the city and there still had been no report to the citizens of the city when in the correct procedure they would have been notified when it was first noticed. The citizens of the city were under a watch for the hurricane 24 hours before the hurricane would eventually hit the city, and were made a warning just 12 hours before the storm and citizens were told to evacuate. 12 hours is not enough time to evacuate an entire city and the federal agency knew...
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...When the Levees Broke, the lock holding back the truth about racism in America broke and left many questioning their status: human or animal. The four-part documentary captures the struggles of mostly black citizens in New Orleans after hurricane Katrina hit. One of the most noticeable differences between Katrina’s black and white victims is that the white citizens were able to escape or ended up better off than their black counterparts in general. For example, a white woman and a white boy with his family were filmed having a trailer given to them by Fema. None of the black citizens of New Orleans were shown to live in a trailer or have anything close to it. The main question that should be asked here is “Why did every black citizen questioned...
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...After the recent disaster of Hurricane Katrina, there have been many opportunities to examine the multiple sides of the story. Many of these sides have been released to the public, but told with conflicting viewpoints. The most common conflict brought up again and again is between FEMA and the relief victims. Relief victims and FEMA argue over humanitarian aid issues such as evacuation, supplies, and housing. Evacuation was the most important humanitarian effort that FEMA could provide. Getting residents out of the disaster area was the primary goal of FEMA. Evacuation by bus was the initial form of evacuation. The bus evacuation plan that FEMA provided allowed the whole city to evacuate in a reasonable amount of time. Then evacuation by plane was added as another way for FEMA to get relief victims out of the city in large numbers. The plane evacuation was very efficient once it got under way. The conditions at the airport allowed only outbound aircraft. The last form of humanitarian aid shown through evacuation was the creation of emergency shelters. FEMA, in conjunction with surrounding states, had set up shelters where the evacuees could go. Then states further away volunteered to house evacuees. The shelters provided a place for evacuees to stay after the hurricane and provided time for them to look for more permanent housing. FEMA provided basic humanitarian aid by evacuating Katrina survivors. Supplies were a form of humanitarian aid that FEMA provided. The most basic...
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...out of their way to help one another. Anyone and everyone who was in need of help received it; even people who suffered and lost family or homes from these disasters went out of their way to help others. Cultural conformity and unity are trademarks of the Japanese culture compared to American culture. Mahr’s words told the story of the Japanese people and how, even after the worst natural disaster, they can be caring and think about people within their community and helping others instead of themselves. There was another such disaster that affected the United States, Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and the surrounding area. The response reported in the news was unlike the response in Japan. Reports of racial segregation and class subjugation regarding aid and shelter were prevalent. Racial and economic disunity hindered aid and relief work for many victims during and after Hurricane Katrina. According to Mahr, Japanese culture is not based on individual rights; it is based on the honor of the family and the honor of the group. The education system is uniform...
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...Final Project ETH/125 October 16, 2013 Final Project • What information about diversity in the United States has helped you better understand or relate to others in ways that you may not have in the past? During this class I found it interesting that I was noticing interracial couples more often. While I do not have a prejudice against this, this class opened my eyes to what is really out in the world. While I am very happy to see this I also know that as long as society chooses to label people and hold stereotypes as truths there will always be more to accomplish with regards to discrimination and prejudice. Learning about diversity also helped me to recognize discrimination and prejudice. It is our diversity that makes the United States such a great county. We need to protect this diversity and fight against discrimination and prejudice. I speak up now because of learning about how this country was founded on diversity. I wish to change the mentality of people as much as I can so they too can understand the diversity of the United States. • Have you learned something new about your own racial, ethnic, or cultural history? While I view myself as an American, I did learn about who I am. I was especially interested in my mother’s ancestry. I had a chance to talk to my mother about this. While much of my Great Grandfather’s history is lost we do know that he was married to a Alkonkin Indian Squaw. My mother an I have decided to do more research on her Grandfather...
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...Stephan Soliman Professor Hebert Johnson AFR-121 3-2-1 Exercise: Black Leadership In The Twenty-First Century-Donald Cunningen 3 Things I Learned: 1. According to the article “Black Leadership In The Twenty-First Century” written by Donald Cunnigen I learned that at the time of the Katrina disaster, New Orleans was a city defined by several decades of black leadership. More precisely, an original black leadership at the highest level derived from various elements of the descendants of an elite “Creole of Color” community that still is a distinct identifiable group within a southern city that has always prided itself on its diversity. Beginning with Ernest “Dutch” Morial, serving 1978-1986, the Crescent City’s black community developed into a powerful political force. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina’s onslaught, blacks were found in all aspects of city government, including the offices of mayor, city council (3 of 7 members), police chief, district attorney, judiciary, and other areas of city government. This leadership was complemented by national political figures such as Representative William Jefferson. The 67percent black population made such political gains a reality. (Black Leadership In The Twenty-First Century, Cunnigen, pg.25) 2. Also, what I learned that was based on this article was that the idea of black leaders, particularly “a” black leader, has been a part of the black American social discourse throughout American history. In 1903, W.E.B. DuBois...
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...affordable became available then it would reduce the number of homeless people drastically. An article called Homelessness is a Serious Problem Nationwide corresponds by stating, “ Nationwide, some 9.6 millions families spend more than half of their income on housing, putting them at high risk of becoming homeless” (Vestal). This is important because, if the price of housing were a reasonable price the owners would not spend half their income trying to sustain it. It is also essential because this source also agrees with the one that claims that the lack of affordable housing is a main factor in this dilemma. The majority of scholars, however, believe that racism and misperception is the liable cause of homelessness amongst African Americans. Maco L. Faniel implies that, “ government and citizens ignore urban homelessness because of racism and the misperception that homelessness is a choice, not the result of a lack of affordable housing, generational poverty, mental or substance abuse” (Faniel). This is significant because citizens need to realize that homelessness is not a choice. With a changed perception and awareness of how this issue is affecting the African American population citizens might begin to help out the less unfortunate. The media is often responsible for the way that citizens react to certain situations. Martin Giles and Herman Gray notes, “ Mainstream media depict poor people as people of color – primarily African Americans- at rates far higher than their actual representation...
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...Organizing Functions of Management Mgt/330 11/16/2010 Glenn Arrola Human Resource Management (HRM) is the function within an organization that focuses on recruitment of employees, management of those employees, and provides direction for the people who work in that organization. Human Resource Management can also be performed by line managers. Human Resource Management is the organizational function that deals with issues related to people such as compensation, hiring, performance management, organization development, safety, wellness, benefits, employee motivation, communication, administration, and training. Sometimes the union steps in and acts on behalf of the employees. Set in the Deep South, Northrop Grumman Shipyards is one sector controlled by labor unions. There was a battle for labor in that region in which over 7,000 workers at Northrop Grumman’s Ingalls shipyard in Pascagoula, Mississippi, walked off the job on and set up picket lines. The strikers were taking on the world’s largest naval shipbuilder, which was also the largest private employer in Mississippi. Production was entirely shut down at Ingalls, where Coast Guard cutters and naval destroyers are built. Over 1,000 marchers, members of all the unions at the shipyard, showed their purpose along the six-mile route from the shipyard to downtown Pascagoula. Members of fourteen unions went on strike, taking up places on the picket line, including eleven grouped in the Pascagoula Metal Trades Council. Workers...
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...We know that we are one biologically in terms of being able to share each other’s organs and have children with each other. So, our differences biologically are superficial, hair texture, some ailments which tend to be environmental, and skin color. Those who want to dismiss the notion of the social construction of race normally do so due to their inherent bias to attribute dysfunctional behavior in minority communities due to a racial makeup instead of addressing more systemic problems that plague these communities. Countless studies reveal that lower income people of all groups tend to follow the same negative trajectory. Racism is the belief that one race or culture is superior to another, regardless of biological evidence that negates this belief. This difference – the perceived inferiority of one race over another – is commonly used and abused as basis for discrimination, whether institutionalized or individualized through social construction. The widespread societal and institutional changes in America since the 1960s have done little to eliminate discrimination faced by racial minorities even after the election of a black president. Race is not just a social construction but a historical construction that has been embedded into each of our lives through social classes and institutions since the day we were born. “Even though race is constructed through historic meanings and social interactions it is as much a part of our national character as themes of patriotism.” (Defending...
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...By 1968 civil rights movements had achieved victories in the courts and in congress. But would a famer be able to achieve equality Video starts off with the news that MLK was assassinated. Once killed, politics of non-violence was out of the window. Rioting occurred across the country. Black panther party had a rise due to this. Kathleen Neal – working for racial equality. Decided to join the panthers after meeting eldridge Cleaver. Panthers enacted their 2nd Amendment rights to protect black communities in Oakland. Young blacks were encouraged by the BPs. Guns and Butter – defense and community support programs. Panthers changed the ideas of many blacks to feel that freedom was black power. Black feminism, cultural nationalism – reconnect with the culture of their ancestors. Maulana Karenga – created Kwanza (Black movement holiday) Black is beautiful was a slogan to attack the ideology that white people had towards blacks. Black became the epitome of coolness. Blacks got acting jobs. (1969 21 primetime tv shows. ) Soul train helped spread the idea that black was beautiful. Even helped African American products. Affirmative action – 1969 – Louis Gates - Shaping Yale to meet their needs – created a black student alliance and shaping the education to emphasize Afr-Am history and culture. FBI launched an attack on the Black Panther. Called the greatest threat to the security of the country. Wanted to cause conflict between black groups. ...
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