Kanye West in Hurricane Katarina
There is no scientific evidence to prove that one race is more superior to another. However, in the racially unequal society, we live line some communities are disadvantaged in terms of information and resources. This vulnerability in our society gets exposed by tragic events like Hurricane Katarina (Czaja). Kanye West might have been wrong about Hurricane Katarina being a deliberate action instigated by the American Government on a racial basis. However, society has created an environment where minority communities are economically, socially, and politically vulnerable.
George Bush Doesn’t Care about Black People
Even though there were no deliberate actions instigated on specific communities, minority communities were severely affected due to the systemic racism. The introduction of the race in the conversation about the aftermath of the hurricane is therefore inevitable even though the American people were gracious enough to help their fellow citizens in New Orleans and contributed food and water for the survivors of the hurricane, the American government, the political and economic system does not ensure equality (Czaja).
Read Also: A Reflection Paper on Les Blancs
American Social System
The American Social system is still a significant contributor to racial inequality in America as fewer people from the white community, which has more privilege, support the fight for racial equality than the African Americans, who are often victims of racism. Only after the unanimous support for eradicating this vice is that the people can advocate that the government solves this problem as soon as possible. The white community’s contribution to eradicating racism in our society is significant (Czaja).
White people are the majority in the United States and have significantly more control of the social, economic, and political systems. If more people from this community advocate for racial equality in our society and make deliberate actions against racial inequality in America, then the public opinion against racial injustice would improve significantly. Even though an overwhelming majority of Caucasian Americans is not racist, the individualism in our present-day society creates a conducive environment for racial bias in terms of opportunities and resources (Callenbach).
Racial Inequality in America Linked With Hurricane Katrina and the Oil Spill in New Orleans (Anthropology 2000w)
In New Orleans, the African American community felt disserted by their government during the hurricane due to the government’s delayed reaction. This delay was due to the limited resources invested by the United States governments in New Orleans. This made it very hard for the government to make an immediate reaction to the aftermath of the hurricane. The government may have made deliberate actions to delay getting help to the African American community in New Orleans, but the resources were so limited that they could not help the African American community, who needed the most (Callenbach).
The people from all races need to unite and lobby the political system to create a society where there is racial equality. The aftermath of Hurricane Katarina will forever be embedded in America’s memory; therefore, solving the racial matters exposed by Hurricane Katrina would create a good benchmark of our society’s racial process. It is, therefore, paramount to understand the hurricane and its effects from a racial point of view (Czaja).
People with good intent for dealing with racial inequality in America sometimes make the mistake of adopting the color-blind racial ideology. The aftermath of Hurricane Katarina proves that this is the wrong ideology to adopt since it would deny the inevitability of some members of our society’s vulnerability due to racial bias. The ideology refers to ignoring the racially-based stereotypes; however, racial injustice in the United States can only be solved by making deliberate actions against systemic racism and the fair distribution of resources (Czaja).
The assumption that racial inequality in America can only be solved through race-based policies is wrong because policies can be created to help the low-income and economically disenfranchised, predominantly from minority communities. Here the government will help a section of the population without discriminating against the rest on a racial basis. All Americans will live in a safe environment if the economically disadvantaged few are helped with anti-poverty laws (Callenbach).
Read Also: Audre Lorde Sexism: An American Disease in Black Face
Race is a Social Construct
Race is a social construct with no scientific validity; however, many people have suffered because of their racial identity. This has led to the attachment of a negative connotation to race as an identity in society. However, examining race by its most extreme adverse effects on human life is wrong (Brinkley). This is because a section of the society will all ways feel victim due to racial identity. However, true racial equality can be realized when all society members appreciate their own and each other’s identities and the differences between them.
The negative connotation attached to race is because some races are more superior to others. Paying attention to people’s racial identity and other ethnic differences would have been useful in the past when humankind was in a small tribal community for security purposes; however, during the 21st Century in the Era of Globalization, ethnic profiling is unwarranted (Brinkley).
The Origin of Race
Brinkley explains the origin of race and why people would fundamentally perceive people who look like them as friendly. There seem to be vast differences between people from different races, but scientific research has found out that there is no adequate variation between people from these races to make race adequate scientific research. However, it fails to depict how race has become a controversial issue in the 21st Century (Brinkley). The inclusion of a White nationalist perspective in the documentary is also incredible in having a broad and fair discussion about race (Rhoan).
Racial Identity & Hurricane Katarina
Brinkley related racial identity with the aftermath of Hurricane Katarina gives an account of the strategy’s event. Even though the government had given the People of New Orleans notice to vacate the city, some remain behind. Therefore, some of the government personnel government denied the immediate help t0 the survivors of the hurricane, claiming that they had been given adequate notice to vacate (Brinkley).
Even though this is immoral, it is not racist; the government’s denial of help during the hurricane was not based on the individuals’ race. However, the author fails to follow up on whether the people who denied the hurricane’s victims on whether they go the appropriate punishment for their actions. The black people’s suffering in New Orleans was due to several circumstances and coincidences and not a direct racially motivated atrocity against the black community (Brinkley).
Minority Communities in America
The black community is not the only community that has been victimized on racial matters. The United Houma Nation is another example of minority communities that helplessly suffered the aftermath of a disaster. These communities were exposed to extermination due to the oil disaster in the Gulf oil disaster. They were victimized for significant corporation benefits in the oil and gas industry, in why they had no stake (Rhoan). Even though the community did not get acts of violence to exterminate them, their indigenous land’s destruction impoverished them.
The government has denied this people protection from the corporations by protecting their land with barriers from a similar tragedy in future. These people were direct victims of the actions of a more economically established group of people seeking financial benefit, unlike the black community upon which their victimization was due to several conditions (Rhoan). However, it is not a contest of who claims the most victimhood for racial inequality in America, and the society in general needs to ensure that all members are treated fairly and get government services. The government should ensure that there is equality in the distribution of resources among its citizenry.
Callenbach Documentary on Hurricane Katarina & Racial Inequality in America
The Callenbach documentary gives a clear account of the event that took place before and after Hurricane Katarina. It shows the role of race in some New Orleans residents and depicts the correlation between suffering these individuals’ race. The black community in that city was disproportionately affected by the hurricane. This is a substantial reason to study evidence to involve the race debate and the number of issues that need to be addressed to restore society’s fairness.
However, it is vital to realize that the vita problem with the disaster is the systemic racism that ensures that a given group is at a disadvantage compared to other groups based on its race. Another vital debate that needs to be considered within the conversation is how the American government deserted its people when they needed it the most. Therefore, all society members need to be tolerant of each other and ensure that their government treats them fairly (Wise). All people, the hurricane survivors, and the New Orleans residents deserved fair treatment from the government.
Work Cited
Brinkley, D. “The great deluge: Hurricane.” (2007).
Callenbach, Ernest. “When the levees broke: A requiem in four acts.” Film Quarterly 60.2 (2006): 4-10.
Czaja, Erica M. “Katrina’s Southern “Exposure”: The Kanye Race Debate and the Repercussions of Discussion.” Seeking Higher Ground. Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 2008. 203-223.
Dougherty, Lynne. “Understanding race.” Videocassette. Princeton, NJ: Films for the Humanities (1999).
Rhoan, Erick. “The Rightful Position: The BP Oil Spill and Gulf Coast Tribes.” San Joaquin Agric. L. Rev. 20 (2010): 173.
Wise, Tim. “TimeWise–Beyond Diversity: Making Race Real.” (2006).
