5,000 Desperate,Perishing Crying-"It Looked Like the Hold of a Slave Ship"

[beetbox]

'Today I saw 5,000 African-Americans on Highway 10, desperate, perishing, dehydrating, babies crying - it looked like the hold of a slave ship. It's so ugly and obvious. The issue of race as a factor will not go away.'

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1562518,00.html

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. My neighbor, who is usually pretty astute, said there was no need to bring

race into this. I was shocked. I said it was very clear to me that race was a factor. And class.

Steerage has been left to drown.

-----------------------------------------------------
Save New Orleans, then save this country!
http://timeforachange.bluelemur.com/electionreform.htm

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

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[GreenPartyVoter]

5. He brought up the "this is not the time" line.. He is a fireman so I

know he is focused on the rescue efforts, but still it is SO obvious what is going on. I was shocked that he disliked Nagin for saying what he said about it being about skin color and wallet size.

-----------------------------------------------------
Save New Orleans, then save this country!
http://timeforachange.bluelemur.com/electionreform.htm

[DoYouEverWonder]

8. The pictures don't lie

This is all about race and class and the whole world sees our shame.

That doesn't mean there aren't 1000's of good people doing their best to save these people, it is just that BushCo is doing everything they possible can to stand in the way. Hopefully when things settle down a bit, he can deal with seeing what's really at work here.

[Bucky]

4. I still say it's class more than race--but obviously the issues intermix

Race is a factor in the creation and retention of poverty and poverty remains a factor in the creation of a racially segregated society. But people are dying because they're poor, not because they're black. I don't want to believe Bush is slow to help the poor because they're black--altho I guess someone could make that baseless supposition. He's had no problem making close friendships with successful people like Condolleezza Rice and Rod "the NEA are terrorists" Paige.

But the racism in the society at large certainly creates the political environment in which Bush gets away with not giving a flying fart about poor people when they're overwhelmingly black and not in a position to vote against his brother for reelection.

[Tyranny_R_US]

11. When black people are the victims of racism no wants to call it what it is

...I wonder why,why is it okay to call it "Classism" not "Racism", why does everyone think they are poor because they are Black isnt that Racism in itself?

[Bucky]

12. Because there are people who are poor who aren't black.

You can't exclusively relate the two--race and poverty. They are connected. It is racism. But if you limit it to that factor of race alone, you miss the larger point. Racism exists because there is poverty. Unbridgeable opportunity gaps in this country exascerbate our race-based thinking. One thing some people are trying to do by emphasizing class issues instead of race issues is to break out of that no-win paradigm that brings everything back to race. I'd call that social racism.

But let's take it from a marketing viewpoint, instead. If you say it's a race thing, you feed the beast of social racism by reinforcing the memes out there, the tendency to only think in racial terms. And thus you give middle of the roaders an incentive to ignore the larger issues. If you talk about poverty, if you talk about equalizing opportunity you sidestep all the arguments about "race didn't hold back Bill Cosby" or "race didn't hold back Richard Parsons."

Race is not an issue that will ever be "resolved." Nor should it be. Poverty is a problem that we should try to solve. It's a difineable issue and one that can bring people together. Race is an inherently divisive issue, as we've seen in many recent elections. Race-based thinking encouraged some Texas black Democrats to join Texas Republicans in redrawing state Congressional districts to create new black Democrat seats. In the process, Democrats netted a loss of four US House seats from that one state's redistricting alone. If we fail to retake the House in '06 by three of four seats, it'll be due to Democrats falling for this same race-based thinking. Plus now Texas parties are more likely to become divided along racial lines. Obviously a losing proposition for Democrats.

So you raise an important point, but you need to understand that behind (mostly) white progressives shifting the debate away from race is the desire to approach the problem in a way that will not bring the latent racism among the white majority to the surface. It's about strategic thinking... and to be fair a lot about white discomfort with the issue of race.

[babylonsister]

9. "Steerage has been left to drown." Shit, that is what

it looks like. Every day new horrors arise... I didn't know these victims were still up there. :(

[liberalitch]

2. While lesson planning earlier I thought of this.... thread....

maybe it gave "Them" some sort of sick pleasure..... when's the auction?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4603828&mesg_id=4603828

[Bucky]

6. What do you teach? How do you work this into a lesson?

Just curious

[liberalitch]

7. I am a history teacher and I was planning a lesson on the....

slave trade.... One of the primary sources I have makes middle passage sound just like the convention center..... nightmarish

[beetbox]

15. Are You Familiar With

the book by Eric Williams-"Capitalism and Slavery"?

[liberalitch]

16. No, I'm not.... one of the secondary sources I use....

for an AP course is Kenneth Stamp's "The Peculiar Institution"

[ceusi]

10. My heart aches

A concerted federal effort NOT to assist or aid. And yet they call those who scrounged from "wherever" criminals. If my white, middle class husband had not looted for our three children, I would have called him a coward and heartless. The folks of New Orleans are resourceful and strong. Most of the looting was food, water and diapers. This is sooooo race.

[Hello_Kitty]

13. Hi ceusi! Great post, well said, and welcome to DU!

:hi:

[earth mom]

14. I think what happened in NOLA was about race too....

but I also think there is a class war going on as well. You only have to look at NAFTA, CAFTA, the bankruptcy bill, outsourcing of jobs, the gutting on unions, and the debate on social security to see that.

The majority of us are in the same boat and we're in BIG trouble folks.

[Karmakaze]

17. Personally I think its both+ Let me explain:

If they had JUST been poor the delay probably wouldn't have been as bad - if they had JUST been black the delay probably wouldn't have been as bad.

But poor AND black? In the Bush admin's eyes that's a double whammy.