Press: Man bites hurricane - JWR
(Michael Graham in Jewish World Review)
"So why didn't hundreds of Cajuns from western Louisiana appear on my TV screen this week, complaining that George W. Bush doesn't like them, demanding $200 billion of my tax dollars or blaming the bad weather on Halliburton?
[...] Here's how one Washington Post story described the scene just hours after Rita made landfall near Intracoastal City, a "city" that in many senses barely exists:
'The only people who can get here are the sturdiest of sorts, a small armada of Cajuns with pretty French names and sunburned skin and don't-mess-with-me bravado. The bayous were full of them Saturday, gliding high and quick in airboats, and so was the Vermilion River, where they were spinning steering wheels on fast Boston Whalers and kicking up wakes in flat-bottomed, aluminum boats. They did not wait for the president or FEMA or anyone else to tell them that there were people out there — out there and desperate, on rooftops...'"
posted by Twerpette @ 11:46 AM
1 comments
1 Comments:
(posted for LK with permission)
Personally, I find this vulgar, prejudicial, and without rational basis. I happen to be a woman of both European and Native American descent. I lived in New Orleans for 10 years (1985-1995) where I gained both my B.S. and my J.D. I now live in Houston. My children are Eurasian with a bit of Mohawk tossed in. I do not believe that the difference in the reactions of the two sets of hurricane victims can or should be compared. First of all, to suggest that the Cajuns in western Louisiana are somehow built of stronger "fiber" than the almost exclusively African-Americans in New Orleans is to make a judgment about a whole class of people based, in this case at least, almost primarily on race (a concept which has long been disproved by legitimate scientists). Secondly, the little villages, if you will, of western Louisiana can not be compared to a large metropolitan area such as New Orleans. In those small Cajun villages, most folks know each other because the population levels are so much smaller. How can you fault the people in New Orleans for not knowing who or where all of their fellow citizens were? Of course, to the extent neighbor could reach out to neighbor, they should. I don't think western Louisiana had an exclusive on such behavior. As to the looting issue, first, a couple observations. New Orleans, being a large urban area, provided far more opportunities for looting that did some of these small towns in western Louisana that have few, if any, local businesses. Two, in New Orleans, the businesses were likely owned by some big, anonymous company, not by your neighbor as in western Louisiana. As to the looting itself, I do not in any way condone the looting of televisions, luxury items, etc. As to looting to obtain food, water, medical supplies, etc., I fault no one but the government. I would have stolen food and water, too, if it meant the difference between my family's survival or not. Trust me, corporate America is hardly going to hurt over the loss though they wil carry on as if they have. Finally, as to the government in Louisiana, yes, it is corrupt, has been corrupt, and will likely be that way for a long time. But I ask you, do you honestly think that those folks you saw on tv, who are essentially already maligned in this article as lazy, thieving, corrupt, and manipulative, are in any way gaining any of the pork off that old corrupt political system? I can assure you they are not. It's the big fat ol' boy network that did, does, and will. When I lived there, I had the "joy" of having to make the choice of voting for either Edwin Edwards or David Duke for governor. A choice between the crook or the devil. I voted for the crook. What a choice! So I got the crook for 4 more years. Did I benefit from this? Did those African-Americans you saw on tv benefit? If they did, why were they left to paddling their elders and disabled in inverted tupperware containers down the muck rather than being airlifted out as if wealthy? Do you honestly think they enjoy living in such extreme poverty with everyone already critical of them simply because of their color, socioeconomic status, lack of education, etc? Instead of criticizing, why not take one such disadvantaged person and mentor him or her? It is certainly more likely to produce positive results than disparaging him or her.
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