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sundubuman
Joined: 04 Feb 2003
Location: seoul
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 Posted: Fri Dec 30, 2005 2:38 am Post subject: Racial Angle on Katrina Victims |
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If you read the NY Times or listen to the general blathering of the media elite, it is a mantra that Katrina highlighted continuing racial problems in America. I'm sure it was reported similarly in Europe and Canada.....
Statistics Suggest Race Not a Factor in Katrina Deaths
By Nathan Burchfiel
CNSNews.com Correspondent
December 14, 2005
(CNSNews.com) - Statistics released by the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals suggest that fewer than half of the victims of Hurricane Katrina were black, and that whites died at the highest rate of all races in New Orleans.
Liberals in the aftermath of the storm were quick to allege that the Bush administration delayed its response to the catastrophe because most of the victims were black.
Damu Smith, founder of the National Black Environmental Justice Network, in September said that the federal government "ignored us, they forgot about us ... because we look like we look."
Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan in October said that the Federal Emergency Management Agency wasn't fit to help the storm's victims because "there are not enough blacks high up in FEMA" and added that, "certainly the Red Cross is the same."
Rapper Kanye West used his time on NBC's telethon for the hurricane victims to charge that, "George Bush doesn't care about black people."
But the state's demographic information suggests that whites in New Orleans died at a higher rate than minorities. According to the 2000 census, whites make up 28 percent of the city's population, but the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals indicates that whites constitute 36.6 percent of the storm's fatalities in the city.
African-Americans make up 67.25 percent of the population and 59.1 percent of the deceased. Other minorities constitute approximately 5 percent of the population and represented 4.3 percent of the storm's fatalities.
Overall for the state, 658 bodies have been identified. Forty-seven percent were African-American and 42 percent were Caucasian. The remaining bodies were either non-black minorities or undetermined.
An additional 247 victims have not been identified, so their demographic information has not been released.
The data showed that the majority of Katrina's victims lived in the Orleans parish. The nearby St. Bernard and Jefferson parishes had 91 and 25 victims, respectively.
The storm also did not discriminate based on gender. Fifty percent of the victims were male and 49 percent were female, with 1 percent being undetermined. |
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joe_doufu
Joined: 09 May 2005
Location: Elsewhere
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| Posted: Fri Dec 30, 2005 5:26 am Post subject: |
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| Interestingly, a Korean MBA classmate of mine (we went to Tulane) went back for a visit this month and came back with a report: New Orleans is still completely trashed, except for the touristy bits of St. Charles Avenue and the French Quarter. And he reported that there were, eerily, no black people to be seen in New Orleans. Makes sense but it's hard to believe in the context of that city's history. |
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Tiger Beer
Joined: 07 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Fri Dec 30, 2005 6:20 am Post subject: |
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| joe_doufu wrote: |
| Interestingly, a Korean MBA classmate of mine (we went to Tulane) went back for a visit this month and came back with a report: New Orleans is still completely trashed, except for the touristy bits of St. Charles Avenue and the French Quarter. And he reported that there were, eerily, no black people to be seen in New Orleans. Makes sense but it's hard to believe in the context of that city's history. |
I'm intrigued about the next U.S. census.
Sounds like most of the evacuees are getting free rent and getting up set nicely in other nearby cities like Houston, Baton Rouge, etc. So those cities could see an even larger african-american population.
New Orleans obviously less.. but I wonder how much so. |
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joe_doufu
Joined: 09 May 2005
Location: Elsewhere
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| Posted: Fri Dec 30, 2005 9:43 am Post subject: |
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| Tiger Beer wrote: |
| Sounds like most of the evacuees are getting free rent and getting up set nicely in other nearby cities like Houston, Baton Rouge, etc. So those cities could see an even larger african-american population. |
I think New Orleans will become the new Las Vegas.
As a resident (if only for 2 years) I came to detest the tourists. People seem to think that arriving in New Orleans is an excuse to do all the things you would never do in a society of human beings who might judge you... getting drunk from breakfast onwards, yelling the most lewd and offensive things possible at everyone who comes near, throwing trash on people's lawns because they live near parade routes, and groping strangers on the street in the light of day.
Most of the "locals" have been washed out and, since there weren't enough jobs for them anyway, there's no economic reason for them to come back and invest a lot of money in restoring their houses. If they can find work in Houston or Baton Rouge, they'll probably stay.
I bet that the people who return, and the people who emigrate, will be people like me who weren't born there but are attracted to the image of jazz, french food, spanish architecture, and streetcars. That'll happen, but the other thing is that the tourism industry will expand to fill in the vacuum left by departing residents, turn now-cheap real estate into hotels, and make NOLA the new Las Vegas. What happens here, stays here, that sort of thing. I think it'll get pretty disgusting now that there really are no humans around to pass judgement on the jerk tourists. |
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Tiger Beer
Joined: 07 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Fri Dec 30, 2005 12:07 pm Post subject: |
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| joe_doufu wrote: |
| I bet that the people who return, and the people who emigrate, will be people like me who weren't born there but are attracted to the image of jazz, french food, spanish architecture, and streetcars. |
I've been to New Orleans twice.. and love that city.
Would love to live there.. post-Katrina with the shift in economic and social demographics.. a possibility of money being poured in there and all the rest.
I'm definetely considering New Orleans as a possible city to live in when I go back. I'll be looking at it closely over the next few years..  |
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joe_doufu
Joined: 09 May 2005
Location: Elsewhere
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| Posted: Fri Dec 30, 2005 6:55 pm Post subject: |
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| Well, now is the time to buy real estate there! Don't wait two years. Of course you'll be taking a gamble that the city won't just wither away. |
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guangho
Joined: 19 Jan 2005
Location: a spot full of deception, stupidity, and public micturation and thus unfit for longterm residency
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| Posted: Fri Dec 30, 2005 8:23 pm Post subject: |
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| It's too vital as a port city to just wither away. |
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TheUrbanMyth
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Location: Retired
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| Posted: Fri Dec 30, 2005 9:44 pm Post subject: |
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| joe_doufu wrote: |
| Interestingly, a Korean MBA classmate of mine (we went to Tulane) went back for a visit this month and came back with a report: New Orleans is still completely trashed, except for the touristy bits of St. Charles Avenue and the French Quarter. And he reported that there were, eerily, no black people to be seen in New Orleans. Makes sense but it's hard to believe in the context of that city's history. |
Simply because he didn't see them, doesn't mean they weren't there. |
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joe_doufu
Joined: 09 May 2005
Location: Elsewhere
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| Posted: Fri Dec 30, 2005 10:10 pm Post subject: |
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| guangho wrote: |
| It's too vital as a port city to just wither away. |
Well, it's not the biggest port in Louisiana. The biggest one is called "the port of southeastern Louisiana". The port of New Orleans is important, too, but it's a ways up the river from the ocean... one of its distinguishing features is a kind of storage facility for coffee beans that's the only one in the United States. I can't remember if it's for unroasted beans or roasted beans or ground beans, but whatever it is, it's essential to the American coffee supply chain. |
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bucheon bum
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Fri Dec 30, 2005 11:18 pm Post subject: |
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| TheUrbanMyth wrote: |
| joe_doufu wrote: |
| Interestingly, a Korean MBA classmate of mine (we went to Tulane) went back for a visit this month and came back with a report: New Orleans is still completely trashed, except for the touristy bits of St. Charles Avenue and the French Quarter. And he reported that there were, eerily, no black people to be seen in New Orleans. Makes sense but it's hard to believe in the context of that city's history. |
Simply because he didn't see them, doesn't mean they weren't there. |
you missed his point mr. literal.
In New Orleans, pretty impossible NOT to see a black person while out and about. It was predominantly african-american. Apparently that is no longer the case, which would mean a HUGE demographic change. That is his point. |
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joe_doufu
Joined: 09 May 2005
Location: Elsewhere
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| Posted: Fri Dec 30, 2005 11:53 pm Post subject: |
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| I believe New Olreans has always been the "blackest" American city. The French brought slaves there years before the English/Americans did in other parts of the South. New Orleans was the first city to have free black Americans, and even had a number of free blacks who owned slaves. It's also the city where some key elements of African-American culture originated: jazz, blues, and rock 'n roll music all come from New Orleans. I'm trying to imagine it without an African American population and that's just inconceivable. |
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sundubuman
Joined: 04 Feb 2003
Location: seoul
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| Posted: Sat Dec 31, 2005 6:10 am Post subject: |
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Gary, Indiana and Detroit have higher percentages of African-Americans, around 90%.
Gary even had a Black Panther mayor back in the 70's. The current mayor is a white guy married to a black woman. Can you feel the love?
I wouldn't invest in NO just yet. The levees won't be rebuilt for years. |
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joe_doufu
Joined: 09 May 2005
Location: Elsewhere
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| Posted: Sat Dec 31, 2005 11:07 am Post subject: |
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| sundubuman wrote: |
| I wouldn't invest in NO just yet. The levees won't be rebuilt for years. |
My theory is, it may not make economic sense to rebuild the levees (or it would've been done before) but, nobody has the authority to make the decision to abandon New Orleans. So, they'll do it because nobody can say "don't do it." Just my theory... |
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TheUrbanMyth
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Location: Retired
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| Posted: Sat Dec 31, 2005 6:52 pm Post subject: |
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| bucheon bum wrote: |
| TheUrbanMyth wrote: |
| joe_doufu wrote: |
| Interestingly, a Korean MBA classmate of mine (we went to Tulane) went back for a visit this month and came back with a report: New Orleans is still completely trashed, except for the touristy bits of St. Charles Avenue and the French Quarter. And he reported that there were, eerily, no black people to be seen in New Orleans. Makes sense but it's hard to believe in the context of that city's history. |
Simply because he didn't see them, doesn't mean they weren't there. |
you missed his point mr. literal.
In New Orleans, pretty impossible NOT to see a black person while out and about. It was predominantly african-american. Apparently that is no longer the case, which would mean a HUGE demographic change. That is his point. |
And you missed my point. The city is still "trashed". Once it recovers or is rebuilt what makes you think the majority of blacks will not be back? This is/was their home after all. |
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bucheon bum
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Sat Dec 31, 2005 7:07 pm Post subject: |
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how was i supposed to pick up on that point when you said:
"Simply because he didn't see them, doesn't mean they weren't there."
Seems to me you were using the past tense, not the future tense. |
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