Hurricane Katrina: Race and Poverty - Essay Example

Hurricane Katrina: Race and Poverty Introduction Quite often, it is possible for natural disasters to bring out the worst of social inequalities depending on the way the way the government handles these disasters. Hurricane Katrina was one such issue that brought out the social inequalities of race and poverty, which illustrates the poor way that the federal government handled the issue. While considering Hurricane Katrina, this expose elucidates on the social inequality issues of race and poverty in relationship to the federal government’s response to the disaster. Next, the second part of the essay is a discussion of the government’s response to the disaster, if the disaster occurred in a different region where the wealthy resided. Finally, the third part discusses the expected government’s response in an area whereby a majority of the residents was Caucasians. Race and Poverty before, during, and after Hurricane Katrina While a section of commentators repeatedly disregard the notion that the issue of race was not instrumental in the government’s response to the disaster, I think that race might have been significant in the noncommittal response by the government although not shown openly. Nevertheless, both sides of the debate agree that poverty was instrumental in the nonresponsive nature the government responded to the hurricane. According to Germany, “The persistence of poverty and racial inequality” in New Orleans was part of a history that is important in understanding the government’s response to the catastrophic effects of Hurricane Katrina. In this regard, Germany points out to a few factors that show that there was consistency in ignoring New Orleans with the hurricane on serving to illuminate the deplorable conditions that the people of New Orleans experienced in their daily lives. Tracing the issues affecting New Orleans before the hurricane, Germany noted that the state was in a condition of neglect for a long period with the hurricane putting the people’s living conditions into the public limelight. In this case, Germany cites “the failure to include African Americans adequately in the modernization of the regional economy” as a contributing factor to the government’s nonresponsive nature. The factors in the aforementioned were responsible for the governments response towards dealing with the humanitarian crisis. In this regard, the government of President Bush stood accused of responding without showing any urgency that the disaster required. In an instance exemplifying government’s ignorance, CNN noted, “Michael Brown, then the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), learned about the starving crowds at the New Orleans Convention Center from news media, rather than through official means” (Henkel, Dovidio, and Gaertner 109). It is obvious that this shows the discrimination by high-ranking officials in the government to ignore New Orleans. While realizing the fact that the discrimination may not have been racism, it is important to point out that African Americans were the majority and hence disproportionately discriminated. Another factor showing discrimination due to poverty and to some extent race was in the way that suppliers arrived. In this regard, Henkel, Dovidio, and Gaertner noted, “No large-scale deliveries of supplies arrived at the Convention Center until midday on September 2nd, four days after Katrina hit” (109). In this case, the government did not have an effective plan prepared in case of this catastrophic event meant to help the hurricanes victims. Nevertheless, it is highly likely that the government may not have discriminated African Americans, but the slow progress implies that the government did not have policies towards working out issues that African Americans, who are the majority in terms of poverty in the country. This is evident by the fact that the restoration and reconstruction in New Orleans seems not to have been a priority for the government. In this regard, Germany noted that President “George W. Bush failed to mention Katrina or the recovery in his State of the Union message and used the word gulf only once and then in reference to the Middle East” in 2007. As a result, the people in the state remain devastated with Quigley reporting, “Seventy percent more people are homeless in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina.” In effect, this underlines the discrimination the poor people, most of whom are African Americans, faced under the government due to the skewed policies. Government’s Response to a Similar Disaster Where the Wealthy Resided From the onset, let me point out that it is my opinion that the government’s reaction would have been different if the hurricane struck in a region where wealthy people resided. Based on the government’s response in New Orleans, it is evident that New Orleans was never at any time considered by the government, and it never formed part of the broader governments policy. However, it is prudent to point out that this issue of institutional discrimination towards the poor did not start with the administration of President Bush. In this case, the discrimination has been a result of consistent failure by successive governments to discriminate against the poor people in the state of New Orleans. In effect, the policies towards the state were instrumental in the failure by the government to response with speed and efficiency in order to save lives and give the victims a second chance in their lives. On the other hand, it is evident that such a disaster would have had adverse effects to the country’s economy if it occurred in a region where the wealthy lived. In effect, this implies that the government’s response in such case would have been different in comparison to the government’s response in New Orleans after the hurricane. First, the government’s policy on disaster in such an area would have been different considering that there lacked a well worked out plan to respond to Hurricane Katrina regardless of the fact that there was a advance warning. Secondly, the wealthy people are influential, and they occupy offices of authority in this country, which makes them formulate and implement policies. In effect, there would have been a speedy formulation of efficient policies whose implementation would have been also speedy. Effects of Race and Government’s Response in a Caucasian Region The government’s response in a region where most residents were Caucasians would have been a little bit different, or even similar to their response in New Orleans, but in a varying degree. First, it is important to point out that the population of New Orleans is predominantly African American, which is poor. In this case, this population has been under neglect by successive governments, which effectively led to poor response during the hurricane. Conversely, it is obvious that a predominant Caucasian populated region will not witness poverty conditions as witnessed in New Orleans. In effect, this implies that the policies of the government in such a region would have been better, and the policy towards responding to a disaster similar to Hurricane Katrina would have been different from the one witnessed in New Orleans. On the other hand, the government’s response in communities that were predominantly poor Caucasians would have been similar with the response in New Orleans although in varying degree. On one hand, a poor community in America implies neglect by the government due to the lack of efficient policies to uplift the lifestyles of the people. In effect, the government’s response would have been similar to their response in New Orleans. Conversely, it is evident that poor Caucasians do not live under similar circumstances with poor African Americans. In this case, the implication is that the government’s policies towards poor Caucasians is not similar to their policies meant for poor African Americans. In effect, the response would have been better if the hurricane hit a predominantly Caucasian community, which was poor. Work Cited Germany, Kent B. “The Politics of Poverty and History: Racial Inequality and the Long Prelude to Katrina.” Journal of American History 94 (Dec. 2007): 743–51. Web. 16 April 2012. . Henkel, Kristin E., John F. Dovidio, and Samuel L. Gaertner. “Institutional Discrimination, Individual Racism, and Hurricane Katrina.” Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy 6.1(2006): 99-124. Print. Quigley, Bill. “Katrina Pain Index 2011: Race, Gender, Poverty.” Huffington Post. 22 Aug. 2011. Web. 16 Apr. 2012. < http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-quigley/katrina-pain- index-2011-r_b_932822.html>. Read More