Some have balked at my earlier comments about the role of poor, nonwhites left in New Orleans to weather hurricane Katrina, as I argue that their role was to perish. I stand by my assertion of modern genocide; that the government system wants nothing more than to rid itself of those whom they feel are undesireables. The mis-education and mis-information of a conservative society (which we are) promotes false ideology regarding wealth (that it is earned, not something gained from privilege), work (that if you work hard enough and play by the rules, no matter what your circumstance, you get ahead), reproduction (that early childbearing, wrongly understood as a problem among poor nonwhites, equals any number of ills), and poverty (that it is a self-supporting “culture,” not a socially induced position). In America, all of these untrue, unfounded, and misguided ideologies are connected to race, or more specifically, being black.
This ideology plays out in many ways. The comments by former education secretary, now conservative talk-show host, William J. Bennett, are an example. In Bennett’s words: “if you wanted to reduce crime, you could — if that were your sole purpose — you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down.”
How is this okay? How is anyone okay with this?
Fluorescences | 30-Sep-05 at 8:13 am | Permalink
Sorry, Hol, but I’m a balker. Please indulge and excuse the following free-flowing thoughts, because I’m actually intrigued by your post. It’s a conversation worth having.
Look, we all know that the “Protestant work ethic” is a canard. The rules in America are not “work hard, and you’ll get ahead.” But this is not meant to hold down black people — it’s meant to hold down ANYONE who might challenge the rich’s hold on power.
The real rules are, “know the right people and demonstrate competence or expediency when it counts most, and you’ll get ahead.” If you’re not connected, that’s when you have to work hard to get to know the right people to have the opportunity to demonstrate competence or expediency when it counts the most. Since that is the case, I abide by my current mindset, as expressed in an earlier post, which is, sometimes what’s right is what’s wrong. Do what you need to do to get ahead, consistent with your values (not anyone else’s, but yours) but within reason.
I don’t waste time wondering about what the government’s policy is towards me, because my willingness to do nearly anything to get ahead will trump their efforts. For the record, I don’t believe that, as a matter of policy, that the government wants black people to die. I attribute their issues to ignorance (willful or not), indifference and political expediency. The problem is that accidental government incompetence has the same effect as deliberate incompetence: People suffer and people die. That makes it hard to distinguish between the two, but there is a difference.
But it just comes down to Darwinism, really. When a Category 5 hurricane approaches, you as a resident must leave the coast. It’s as simple as that. Nature doesn’t understand the reasons why you can’t. And you should NEVER depend on the government to do a damn thing for you. I differ from conservatives, in that I believe that there are many things that the government can and SHOULD do to help people. But I agree with them, in that I don’t feel that I should RELY on the government to come through, because even when promises of help are made, I know that quite often, the help doesn’t come. See New Orleans, United States, 2005.
If you don’t have the resources to evacuate from a landfalling hurricane, you shouldn’t live next to the coast. Period. Now, we can say, that’s unfair, does that mean that fewer black people will live in New Orleans. Even if that’s true, so what? There are lots of fine places in the U.S. where black people can’t live. How many black people live in Medina, Wash. (Bill Gates’ neighborhood outside Seattle)? What is the black population of Beverly Hills? Of Park Avenue in Manhattan? Why get upset over it now? If we have to enumerate all the places where black folks can’t live in America, let’s just break up the country and start over. Just make sure I get the 40 acres we were promised.
Life is unfair. The fact that it’s unfair doesn’t defeat me. It just makes me meaner, and forces me to adapt until I can become stronger. I find that I have a much shorter temper these days.
Fluorescences | 30-Sep-05 at 8:26 am | Permalink
As for William Bennett’s comments, there is no excuse for that, and I blogged about it this morning. Maybe his home address should be published, to give him the chance to explain it to some of his former constituents. Maybe his words were “taken out of context.” Right. I’d like to take his face out of context.
Anonymous | 30-Sep-05 at 11:53 pm | Permalink
Holly, you do get ahead when you work hard. It happened to my parents, they came to the US in 1973 with $3,000 that my dad had to borrow from his father (which he then had to pay back), and barely spoke English. Now my parents live a pretty comfortable life (you saw the koi pond in the back yard), and they put my brother and me through college.
I came here in 1982, and granted I was fortunate enough to not have to have gone through the tough times with my parents. I overcame my Chinese accent and various prejudices for being a non-white person, and now I am happily paying a mortagage, and working in a job that is making my hair gray.
I won’t bore you with the trivial details of my assimilation. Needless to say that it was an entirely unique experience, that is only shared by other 10-year-olds that only knew half of the alphabet on the first day of 5th grade in Wakefield Elem.
I learned not to expect anything from the government when I was told by my highschool counselor that I would never have a chance at the Ivy League colleges, because I was not the same kind of minority as the black students (she will never know what a favor she did by telling me that). So I watched my black classmates who had worse grades than mine get accepted to Harvard and Princeton, while I went to VA Tech.
The US does not hold back black people, not in the least. Pardon me if I sound jealous, but a black person who is good-looking, finished highschool, and have just an ounce of motivation in her pinky, will get further in this country more than you and I ever will. All that is required is for her to say it, and scholarships and opportunities will be handed over promptly.
To be honest, I have absolutely no sympathy for anyone, in any color, who simply sits and waits for the government to take care of them. Everyone has to make their own journey to success and fulfillment alone. Even if you have a cheerleading section, you are doing it alone because no one else can make your success for you.
The only thing I have ever expected to receive from the government was a US passport (with a $60 money order) when I passed my 45 min. oral citizenship exam in 1991.
Just like your friend, this incompetent government does not bother me, because I know I will always succeed, in spite of the convoluted policies that hinders my success, and even my rights, along the way. Honestly, if I did it, anyone can, I am not nearly as motivated as my father was back in 1973.
As for the hurricane, it is unfortunate that the most heavily impacted group of people by Katrina are poor black people, but I don’t think this is a genocide. I think it’s a case of sheer incompetence.
One thought that I have is this may be the unfortunate result of an incompetent government and social conditioning. This just struck me this week as Randy’s mom and stepdad is visiting. So here is my theory:
The poor people in Louisiana are probably the receipients of welfare, subsidized housing, medicare, etc. So these people are conditioned to live off what the government can give them.
Now the storm is coming, but they don’t have cars. Whereas you, your friend above me, and myself, would have packed a carry-on with good wheels, baby in the stroller, dog in the backpack, and walked out of New Orleans. However, the government beneficiaries stayed home because they have been conditioned to receive assistance from the government their entire lives.
Now comes the kicker, the government totally, utterly, grossly underestimates the impact of Katrina. By the time they scrambled some people/things to go down to help the people that has been waiting for them, it’s simply too little too late. The people are now victims of Katrina.
It’s undeniable that the government failed the people that needed them the most, but I can’t deny the fact that most of them were capable of doing something for themselves but probably didn’t. Perhaps if the people that were able-bodied managed to leave somehow. The goverment may have been able to get to the elderly or sick faster.
So if you all don’t think my theory is too offensive. I have a question. What do you think is the difference between the three of us that would have walked, versus the people that stayed?
Katherine
Fluorescences | 01-Oct-05 at 1:41 pm | Permalink
I have to disagree what Katherine’s remarks and clarify my own. The US does hold back black people. If you’re black, sure you can get into any college you want … if you can run a 40-yard-dash in 4.5 or throw a football 60 yards off your back foot. I’m black and got great grades in college, and was hella ambitious … yet I’m going to UNLV, not USC.
I didn’t mean to suggest that there was no discrimination against blacks … how much time do you have for that conversation?? What I am asserting is that there is no organized government policy for committing black genocide. Not helping people is different than deliberately trying to kill them.
Deborah Schild | 09-Oct-05 at 8:48 am | Permalink
I find your posts interesting, and unfortunately laden with many stereotypes about the poor and government assistance.
I was disturbed to read comments from “annonymous” that the poor have learned to depend on “the goveernment” for support, and that, in her opinion (and I must emphasize that these statements are opinion and not based on fact) that the poor are not motivated to change. Not only do government assistance programs force recipients to leave the roles within a limited time, those programs are constructed in a way to maintain poverty. Individuals and families who receive governmental assistance are not permited to save any amount of government grants, are limited in how they may spend their work time with regard to education, receive no real job training, have no real transportation assistance, and inadeuqated supports for child care. The ideas that people who are poor are dependent on government assistance, and prefer to rely on it are also both false. There is clear evidence that “welfare” recipients prefer to work and do not want to be a government dependent. The average time that families received AFDC (prior to the 1996 welfare law changes) was about 18 months. The families who received this support used it as the safety net that it was intended to be. There were (and continue to be) families that needed longer support – usually those with an adult or child with disabilities; but they are a limited number in the populations.
Most adults receiving welfare support make it quite clear that they want to go into the workforce and that they are limited by the need to care for very young children (do you think that you must work when your child reaches age 3?), have limited work skills, and inadequate social support.
The second claim that I infer from your comments is that most of the poor are welfare recipients. That is patently false. In fact, the majority of the poor (as defined by the Census, families of four with less that about $19,000 a year are poor) have at least one working adult in the family. The truth is, we do not protect workers from poverty. The minimum wage is not a living wage. Health insurance for poor families out of reach; poor families must live in less desirable communities and are often exposed to grave environmental dangers, such as living in the most vulnerable areas of NOLA.
Lastly, I read some comments that implied that Blacks in NOLA should have worked harder and should have left their homes to be in safer ground.
This perspective ignores a very important concept. It suggests that people need to leave their family homes and forget all tradition. We know that NOLA communities were long established, and that many generations of families lived in the 9th Ward. More importantly, when NOLA was built, it was not below sea level, and that it is now is as a result of inept social and environmental policy. People should not be forced from ancestorial properties because we as a society failed to protect them and even exarcebated the risks from natural disaster.
While I don’t agree fully with Holly’s notion that the government is actively engaged in genocide, I do agree that governmental actions are the precursor to the degree of distruction in the city. Further, social attitudes and ideology coupled with repressive social policies means that the most vulnerable – in our society, mostly blacks and other oppressed minorities – are kept vulnerable.
Government actions that destroyed the barrier islands, that lowered the water level in NOLA, and otherwise changed the ecology increased the risk of floods. The government failure to maintain and improve the flood controls were responsible for the floods.
Repressive social policy that fails to protect the economy and especially to protect those at the lowest economic levels continue the disparities that exist in our population.
We should not blame individuals for the failures of our social system. We should be working to change the system so that individuals can suceed.
Plastic Mile | 03-Oct-06 at 11:01 am | Permalink
But tradition can get you killed. Being of Texas stock, I’ve had older relatives who refused to leave their porches and go to storm shelters when tornadoes approached, because “God would protect them,” and they didn’t want to leave their homes. I had a relative who didn’t want to evacuate Galveston Island during Hurricane Rita because it was “too much trouble.” You don’t have time to worry about tradition or pride when your survival is at stake.
Should the 9th Ward levees have held? Sure, the government probably failed there. But if you know or suspect that New Orleans is a floodplain likely to be inundated in a major storm — regardless of how it got to be so — you have to put pride and tradition aside and do the intelligent thing to protect your life. You have to favor reality over idealism at that point.