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Katrina Structural Racism Essay

834 Words4 Pages

In the words of Michael Eric Dyson, “Hurricane Katrina was a spectacle of disaster, disaster colored by race, by class, by poverty, issues that the administration and the American people to a frightening degree have neglected.” The city of New Orleans that was highly advancing in the market and economy, faced criticism after viewers on media pointed fingers at the disproportionate amount of poor African Americans amidst the wealthy white Caucasians that perished in the low-lying East of New Orleans. Yet, in a rush to save face as the catastrophe that was deeply embedded in the “filth” (Democracy Now) of structural racism made headlines worldwide, as well as to discourage the people who criticized his inability to adequately respond to the needs …show more content…

Structural racism is a losing defeat of people of color who live in a capitalist society focused on profit and wealth. In the field of profit, wealth, and the fight to obtain the greatest socioeconomic status, we see issues in communities that policymakers neglect to solve, and, as a result, obstruct justice and equality from harm. In the case of New Orleans, poor African American families lived on the low-lying outskirts of New Orleans, and many of them perished from Hurricane Katrina in August 2005. “African American victims “comprised 66 percent of the storm deaths in New Orleans and whites made up 31 percent(Campanella 714).” On the day of rescue, “those who were stranded...and suffered excruciatingly long delays in rescue were overwhelmingly African American.” While the lives of wealthier people had been rescued, it is obstruction of justice and equality to see how African Americans had to wait for rescue delays and had been “stranded” for days on top of roofs of homes just to be rescued. Yet, we live in a society that allows structural racism to happen, to allow many colored lives at stake in the hands of policymakers in New Orleans who neglect to help

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