[IMC-Boston-Editorial] feature? (another request)

Wed Nov 16 09:49:56 PST 2005

On Wed, Nov 16, 2005 at 08:20:22AM -0800, Sofia JarrinT wrote:
:I'm inclined to say no, since we mostly do local  stories and have no policy on op-eds?  What do you guys think?  Maybe we can refer them to someone else?
:  

I'm for op-eds, but as it has no local hook I don't think it's for us.  Looks like a widely released piece, but I'd refer them to NewOrleans IMC, though I suspect they've submitted there as well.

-Jon

:  peace,
:  sofia
:
:Betsy Leondar-Wright <bleondar-wright at faireconomy.org> wrote:  Greetings,
:I wonder if you?d be interested in running this op-ed by a Louisiana woman
:who just returned home after evacuating during the hurricane.
:Regards,
:Betsy Leondar-Wright
:
:
:An Unnatural Disaster
:by Emma Dixon
:
:When Hurricane Katrina tore up the roof of my house, it didn?t care that I?m
:black. My white neighbors, like my black neighbors, saw trees fall on their
:homes and saw their refrigerators rot and mold. They, like I, lived without
:electricity or phone for over a week after that color-blind natural
:disaster.
:
:But an unnatural disaster hit us as well, the institutionalized racism that
:began centuries ago. The flooded areas of New Orleans were three-quarters
:black, while in dry areas, African Americans were a minority. Over the
:years, many well-off white people have left the city for gated suburban
:communities. The remaining whites tend to live on higher ground.
:
:The unnatural disaster of racism swept away the savings accounts and credit
:cards with which poor black people could have bought their escape. A century
:of Jim Crow laws barred black families in the South from certain schools and
:jobs. Social Security benefits were not available at first to domestic and
:agricultural workers, the occupations of most African Americans at that
:time. Due to discrimination, most black WWII veterans were unable to use the
:GI Bill, which gave most white veterans the homeownership and college
:educations that have made their children and grandchildren so prosperous.
:
:The unnatural disaster of racism swept away the cars with which poor black
:people could have escaped Katrina. Almost a third of residents of the
:flooded neighborhoods did not own the cars on which the evacuation plan
:relied. If the promise to the freed slaves of 40 acres and a mule had been
:kept, then six generations later, their descendents would own more assets,
:and the mule would now be a Buick.
:
:Nor has this unnatural disaster abated today, as I learned from my own
:experience. Almost immediately after Katrina hit my town, I saw
:spray-painted signs warning that looters would be shot and killed. I was
:warned by a white neighbor not to move around too much lest I be mistaken as
:a looter.
:
:When my daughter came to get me from my damaged house and drove me to her
:home in Indiana, we were turned away by a white motel clerk in Illinois on
:the pretext that there were no vacancies. A later phone call confirmed what
:their sign said, that rooms were available. I also experienced first-hand
:racial discrimination in gas lines, and in food and water distribution lines
:by a police officer.
:
:The world noticed that the evacuees stuck in the SuperDome and those turned
:back at gunpoint at the Gretna bridge were mostly black. But who noticed
:that the first no-bid federal contracts went to white businessmen, cronies
:of white politicians?
:
:It?s hard for me to believe, but this persistent racism is invisible to many
:white people. A Time Magazine poll taken in September found that while three
:quarters of blacks believe race and income level played a role in the
:government response to Hurricane Katrina, only 29 percent of whites felt the
:same.
:
:The color of money is green, but the color of poverty has a darker hue.
:Families in the flooded black neighborhoods of New Orleans had a 2004 median
:income of only $25,759 a year, barely more than half the national average.
:Why? Louisiana is a low-wage, anti-union state. Many workers have pay so low
:that they receive public housing and food stamps. New Orleans voters made
:history by approving a citywide living wage in 2002, but a court blocked it,
:allowing poverty wages to continue.
:
:Last week I drove home to Louisiana. In my neighborhood I hear the constant
:buzzing of chain saws removing uprooted trees, and the sounds of hammering
:as roofers repair endless numbers of damaged roofs. The fragrances of Pine
:Sol and bleach tinge the air as residents attempt to save refrigerators and
:rain-soaked carpets. I thank God that my family and I survived the storm,
:and that the recovery has begun.
:
:Yet I ask myself when the other recovery will begin.
:
:Katrina revealed the racial wealth divide in New Orleans and the unnatural
:disaster that caused it. When will we rebuild our society so that everyone,
:regardless of race, has the means to escape the next disaster?
:
:~~~~~~~~~~~
:
:Emma Dixon, of Mandeville, Louisiana (dzkem at i-55.com ) is a financial
:literacy educator with United for a Fair Economy.
:
:
:697 words
:
:
:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
:Betsy Leondar-Wright
:Communications Director, United for a Fair Economy
:(617) 423-2148 x113
:29 Winter Street
:Boston, MA 02108
:http://www.FairEconomy.Org
:
:
:United for a Fair Economy is an independent national organization
:that raises awareness of the damaging consequences of concentrated
:wealth and power.
:
:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
:
:
:
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