KATRINA, LOOTING, and BLACK FOLK…..

Mainstream American Media gets it wrong again. Last night, I came home and watched about 2 1/2 hours of SPECIAL REPORTS concerning people trying to pull there lives together after HURRICANE KATRINA. I was deeply moved by the stories of death, devastation, and survival. Throughout the programming I was praying for those impacted…really praying. On top of making a financial donation myself – I’m preparing to make plans with another minister to get this message on the radio this Sunday. (That is – IF they decide to stop the music for a while).

In the midst of the programs, I grew more and more annoyed by the coverage of “looting”….watching people walking out of stores with TV’s, appliances, clothing, etc. It just didn’t make sense to me that NBC and others would spend that much time on “looting”. While the TV cameras easily found Black Folk “looting”; the cameras couldn’t manage to find anyone else taking a few things back to the family. Why is it so shocking that those shown on TV were “looting”. The areas shown on TV last night were some of the most impoverished communities of New Orleans. Some “expert” got on TV and said that one particular area had a 30 to 40% poverty rate. So why is it surprising that when circumstances arise that puts impoverished people in a position to get some free things that they seize the opportunity? One of my friends also pointed out something that’s very interesting having to do with the racial bias as it relates to “looting”. Look at these two pictures below and their captions:

A young man walks through chest deep flood water after LOOTING (emphasis mine) a grocery store in New Orleans on Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2005. Flood waters continue to rise in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina did extensive damage when it made landfall on Monday. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)

Now look at this picture:

Two residents wade through chest-deep water after FINDING (emphasis mine)bread and soda from a local grocery store after Hurricane Katrina came through the area in New Orleans, Louisiana.(AFP/Getty Images/Chris Graythen)

Now is it ME or are the human beings in both pictures doing the same thing – namely – TRYING TO SURVIVE!! I dare say that if such a hurricane struck Baltimore (which was recently found to be the 6th poorest city in the nation among cities of similar size) that people would be doing the same thing…as well as in The Bronx, Philly, and other large, impoverished, and primarily minority (I hate that word) communities.

I have a heart for all of those who have been impacted by HURRICANE KATRINA; however, I cannot close my eyes and pretend that racial discrimination doesn’t exists even during times of national crisis.

As I reflected on the terror attacks of September 11,2001; I remember that afterwards people were talking about how everyone pulled together – people of different ethnic backgrounds were joined together – unified to bring healing to a hurting city. I wasn’t up in NY so I don’t know if that was true or just media propaganda; but I do realize the difference with this natural disaster. You do notice that you don’t hear the “we’re all pulling together” line right? Hurricane Katrina struck an area of the country where the tentacles of racial discrimination are still evident. (Mississippi’s own Ray Killen was just convicted of killing 3 Civil Rights workers – a crime he committed more than 40 years ago!) You also have large impoverished communities of people who didn’t have the means by which to evacuate side by side with their more affluent brothers and sisters. Granted some chose to stay, however, if all you had in the world was “Mama’s House” wouldn’t you think twice about leaving it?

It’s evident to me that Katrina did more than uproot a chunk out of the Gulf Coast region. Katrina uprooted and made plain that America still hasn’t, with brutal honesty, confronted its issues concerning its treatment (past & present) of people of color AND of the poor.