Days after Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, in a live TV fundraiser for victims of the disaster, Kanye West infamously went off script, saying “George Bush doesn’t care about black people.” To many, this moment serves as a testament to the rapper’s “large personality” – at many other high profile events, he has delivered no-filter, controversial, and sometimes incoherent rants (political and otherwise). West’s statement was inflammatory, and in some ways unfair. George Bush was not entirely to blame for the neglect of poor, black residents of New Orleans. However, George Bush was the face of America, and America institutions – FEMA, the military, the media – ignored their plight and misrepresented their struggle. John Barry, an author who has written about the politicization of natural disasters, said:
“I believe that a society in crisis reveals its true nature. And right now this hurricane has sort of ripped away some of the covering fabric and exposed to plain view some of the problems that American society has.”
‘Those problems’ being racism and classism. So West was, perhaps ineloquently, speaking truth to power, and his words sparked an important debate about the racial politics of Hurricane Katrina.
How did this hurricane exacerbate racial inequality? I have identified three key factors: evacuation, media coverage, and aid.
As I have talked about in previous blogs, marginalized communities are the most vulnerable to natural disasters because they often do not have the means to evacuate. Those left behind in New Orleans when the levees broke were primarily poor people of color. They may not have had access to a car and/or cannot cover the cost of transportation. If they could leave, many had nowhere to go — no extended family to stay with, and no money to rent a hotel room. Even if they wanted to leave, even if they needed to leave in order to survive, many had no choice but to stay.
Secondly, the media covered those who remained with little tact or integrity. Most “news” was rumor-driven, racially-charged fear mongering; post-disaster New Orleans was described (inaccurately) as a violent, crime-filled landscape. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin claimed that inside the Superdome where many victims found refuge, “hundreds of armed gang members killing and raping people” and that they were in an “almost animalistic state.” Political organizer Randall Robinson said that “thousands of blacks in New Orleans … have begun eating corpses to survive.” CNN’s Chris Lawrence announced that “There have literally been groups of young men roaming the city, shooting at people.” That is “literally” a complete lie. During the week of Hurricane Katrina, four murders occurred, no more than any other average week in the city. These reports may have drawn good ratings, but they had serious consequences. For one, it dehumanized those in need, painting them as menaces, not victims. As West himself said, earlier in the broadcast: “I hate the way they portray us in the media. If you see a black family, it says they are looting.” This, in turn, prevented the arrival of aid, because many rescuers worried that a military and police presence was necessary.
This brings me to my final point. It took days and weeks for aid to arrive in the city, leaving thousands without food, water, and medical attention. One New Orleans native, Donna Brazile, attested that “we thought the government would come in and help us. I mean, what has scared the living Jesus out of everybody is that they let us suffer. They let us die.” The slow arrival of aid partially because of concerns for safety, but many point to a more insidious reason: the poor, black victims of the disaster were simply not a priority. Clemson University Professor Abel Bartley pointed out that “there’s definitely a racial component. You would not expect to see white Americans spend four days without food or water with the press covering it every day and every minute and there be no response from the federal government.” Bartley is not alone in these sentiments. According to a poll by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, Two-thirds of African Americans believe the federal government would have acted more quickly to help the storm’s victims if the people left behind had been white.
This might seem hard to believe because it is a truly horrifying accusation. But after everything I have learned writing this blog, it doesn’t seem far from the truth. It is easy to mock West’s comments, but when I really examine what he is trying to say, I can see that he is coming from a place of deep hurt, frustration, and helplessness. I’m on Kanye’s side – this time.