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MichaelEricDysoln.pptxMichael Eric Dyson
Come Hell or High Water: Hurricane Katrina and the Color of Disaster
Michael Eric Dyson
Michael Eric Dyson compares the situation in New Orleans to Pompeii and how those without resources could not escape a natural disaster.
In the preface, he asks a set of questions that can be applied to our class through our discussions of representation, race, and racism. His question regarding why “the black and poor” were left behind causes him to look at the history of the U.S. and public policy. (xi)
Michael Eric Dyson
In Chapter 1 – Unnatural Disasters: Race and Poverty, Dyson observes that long before Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, “the poor had been abandoned by society and its institutions, and sometimes by their well-off brothers and sisters.” (2)
Many of us can accept poverty “so long as it doesn’t interrupt the natural flow of things, doesn’t rudely impinge on our daily lives or awareness.” (3)
Dyson states that “poverty’s grinding malevolence is fed in part by social choices and public policy decisions that directly impact how many people are poor and how long they remain that way.” (3)
Michael Eric Dyson
Dyson indicts readers regarding the collective complicity in the plight of the poor. He cites politicians who “cut programs aimed at helping the economically vulnerable, the narrative of bootstrap individualism we invoke to deflect the relevance of the considerable benefits we’ve received while bitterly complaining of the few breaks the poor might get.” (3)
Consider the previous Democratic debate and how former Mayor Mike Bloomberg states he worked hard. What does that statement imply? Why does he assume others don’t work hard.
Michael Eric Dyson
Dyson also mentions how religious myths function to “shame the poor” and ridicule them for not being ambitious and the “alleged pathology of poor blacks.” (3) These attitudes work together and have created policies that harm the poor. And when something like Katrina occurs, we can blame “the local, state, or federal government.”
Hence, while we can be outraged when natural disasters do occur, this does not absolve us from our complicity in the policies and the people it affects.
Michael Eric Dyson
Dyson notes several poverty statistics
“More than 90,000 people in each of the areas stormed by Katrina in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama made less than $10,000 a year.” (5)
Blacks in these areas earned 40% less than whites.
69% of the Black children in Louisiana were in poverty.
57% of “elders with disabilities” were in New Orleans. (5)
9% of “households in New Orleans didn’t own or have access to a vehicle.” (5)
27% of Blacks in New Orleans did not have cars.
Michael Eric Dyson
Most Katrina “survivors lived in concentrated poverty – they lived in poor neighborhoods, attended poor schools, and had poorly paying jobs that reflected and reinforced a distressing pattern of rigid segregation.” (6)
“Concentrated poverty is the product of decades of public policies and political measures that isolate black households in neighborhoods plagued by severe segregation and economic hardship.” (7)
Michael Eric Dyson
Dyson also give statistical information regarding the stifling affect of concentrated poverty on “the academic success of Black children.” (8)
“New Orleans has a 40% illiteracy rate
Over 50% of Black 9th graders will not graduate in 4 years
Louisiana expends an average of $4,724 per student
Louisiana ranks third-lowest for teacher salaries
The Black dropout rates are high with nearly 50,000 students cutting class every day.” (8)
Michael Eric Dyson
The prison Dyson mentions Angola Prison; it is the largest maximum-security prison in the US and the size of Manhattan.
Dyson challenges President Bush’s words as the latter did not attempt to address the problems of the area – such as lack of adequate medical care and poor schools.
He cites the “strong relationship between education and employment, and quality of life, it keeps the poor from better-paying jobs that might interrupt a vicious cycle of poverty.” (10)
Dyson ends the chapter with a brief historical overview of the Lower Ninth Ward, its concentrated poverty and the impact of Hurricane Betsy.
Michael Eric Dyson
In his second chapter, Does George W. Bush Care About Black People, examines how the federal government “failed to respond in a timely and life-saving manner” and the tragedy of this lack of response. (17)
As he answers that question about whether the residents were left behind because they were Black and poor, he reviews the historical and racial forces that have shaped our country.
Enslavement, 1619 - 1865
Michael Eric Dyson
Jim Crow laws spanned from 1877 to 1965. They were a way of life and part of social etiquette in addition to being the law.
https://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/what.htm
http://newsreel.org/video/the-rise-and-fall-of-jim-crow
Dyson revises his question from “whether race played a role” in the federal response to Katrina to “what role it played” because race pervades our culture.
Michael Eric Dyson
Some of the ideas Dyson asserts can be applied to broader discussions of race, racism, and representation. For example, though “one may not have racial intent, one’s actions may nonetheless have racial consequences.” (20)
He posits that “active malice” and “’passive indifference’ are but flip sides of the same racial coin.” (20)
He notes that Southern whites are demonized in comparison to Northern whites and Southern Blacks “especially poor ones, are viewed as the worst possible combination of troubled elements – region, race, and class.” (20)
Michael Eric Dyson
The stereotypes and visual images of African Americans created during enslavement and Jim Crow worked together with negative ideologies about Black people to justify their poor treatment.
Dyson observes that while President Clinton enjoyed Black support and affection, he caused “considerable damage to Black interest, especially those of poor Blacks, by signing a crime bill that viciously targeted them, and a welfare reform bill that heaped stigma, but no help, on the backs of the vulnerable.” (23)
Michael Eric Dyson
According to historian Fitzhugh Brundage, Southern whites would not acknowledge Black suffering. And Dyson ties this observation to a larger pattern of ignoring Black grief and pain.
Dyson suggests that poor Blacks “uphold, and expect in return, the social contract.” (26)
He then delineates the instance where Kanye West, appearing on a telethon for the Red Cross for victims of Katrina makes his infamous statement, “George Bush doesn’t care about Black people.” (27)
Michael Eric Dyson
Dyson further breaks down how West “was not referring to the president’s personal sentiments about Black people.” (28) West’s statement was addressing Bush’s public persona (not private one) “as the face of the federal government and in his role of president of the United States.” (29)
Dyson compares visits Bush made to Florida, a Republican stronghold, when that state experienced Hurricanes Charley and Frances. “Bush visited hurricane victims four times in six weeks and delivered relief checks personally.” (31)
Michael Eric Dyson
During Bush’s presidency Black “poverty has increased” as did Black unemployment, and affirmative action was viciously attacked. (32) His administration paid a conservative Black commentator to “say good things about educational policies that hurt” Black people and gave tax breaks to the wealthy and froze the minimum wage to $5.15/hour. (32)
Dyson closes noting the differences in the perceptions of African Americans and European American regarding Katrina with most of the former stating the delay was because of race and class, 60%, 63%,and the latter with 12% and 21%. (32)
