Race

After 9/11, a similar concert to the Concert for Hurricane Relief was held to raise money.  Among the artists who performed, Bruce Springsteen sang "My City in Ruins."  Though about a different subject matter, it was as fitting as any song I could think of.  After the concert, my Dad said that it was a testament to the Springsteen the songwriter that he already had a song like that in his catalog.

I felt the same way after hearing Aaron Neville sing "Louisiana, 1927" the other night.  As ballsy as it was to sing a song who's main lyric is "They're trying to wash us away," it was equally as impressive that Randy Newman's song, which now seems so prescient, existed in the first place.

Neville's performance, and then subsequently Kanye West's rant helped focus the spotlight of this tragedy on race.  As America watched a sea of black faces, many of them floating in the miles of standing water, the national conversation changed to something that many in White America thought we'd been able to put behind us.

Make no mistake about it, race just became the number one issue in American politics.

Of course, the first family's own comments during the first couple of days haven't helped.  Bush, on the ground in Mississippi, felt it necessary to talk, longingly, about the day when he can sit on the front porch of Trent Lott's new house. 

But his mama did him one better, yesterday, while touring the refugee camp's in Houston:

What I'm hearing, which is sort of scary, is that they all want to stay in Texas. Everybody is so overwhelmed by the hospitality. And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway so this (chuckle)--this is working very well for them.

An mp3 of the quote is available here, for those who wish to hear it for themselves (which will be followed by the inevitable sound of your jaw, hitting the floor).  I won't make the "Let them eat cake" joke, but there is obviously a disconnect between the realities of being poor and the realities of being a matriarch of a powerful family.

And, of course, economics are a huge part of this.  The vast majority of the people left in New Orleans were well below the poverty line.  These were people who, in the weeks before the hurricane, were going about their daily lives doing important work like trying to figure out where they would get enough money to feed their families tomorrow.  They didn't have money for bus tickets for their families, much less the money to put them up when if they got out of town.

Poverty is a huge issue in our country, but poverty is not a separate issue from race.  All you had to do, this week, was watch television.  The people who were dying were black.  The people who were too poor to get out of town were black.  The people who packed into the Superdome were black.  New Orleans is one of the poorest cities in America, and we saw the evidence today that the burden poverty creates is being shouldered by the black community.

This is why I'm a liberal.  For years I've told my skeptical white friends that race is still an issue in America.  It's true that there is not as much out-in-the-open racism, though that certainly still occurs, but the racism in this country has become institutionalized.  It's hard for us white people, so accustomed to living with our white privilege, to understand it because we do not live with it.  My friends are tired of hearing me say this, but I firmly believe that, if you put me and a black person in the same situations in life, I will have an easier time than the black person.

It's been a tough pill for them to swallow, this week, as I keep pointing to the television, saying, "Look! There it is!  There are real racial, social, and economic injustices in this world, and today, people are dying for it."  There are real consequences that come from what white American has largely viewed as a philosophical discussion. This is what happens when a civilization declines to help the least privileged in their midst: They are condemned to die. 

Even the most conservative of the small-government conservatives agree on this: This is the sort of thing that government is supposed to do for their people.  Government is supposed to do the things that individuals can't do for themselves.  They are supposed to build roads, they are supposed to protect infrastructure, and for the love of God, they are supposed to get people out of harm's way when disaster is bearing down on them.

It would be as if Rome had fallen because the government didn't think it important enough to spend the money to build walls.

To be sure, the failure in New Orleans was a failure on city, state, regional, and national levels.  And, yet, we've already seen everyone, on every level, try to pass the buck.

The blame will fall on someone, but my gut tells me that, as the public watched black Americans die in staggering and one-sided numbers, the person that gets blamed won't be the black Mayor of New Orleans who was on the ground from minute one.

Comments

[jo-fo]

God, Dylan, you know what I love about your writing? You condense everything I feel about an issue into a cohesive, literate, and heartfully articulate way. I read what you write and think that you must have some kind of broadband connection into my brain that I have yet to find a way to tap into. And you know what? I don't believe you're just a bunch of talk. I see you doing the things you say, and honoring the beliefs that you have.

I know you hear it all the time, but I just wanted to say that I truly appreciate the presence that you bring to your blog. You deserve more recognition than you probably get.

[Ty]

I heard today that the Prez will be "personally" heading up the investigation into what happened...sounds like an easy way to avoid blame doesn't it??

Also, I think the mayor's fate is already sealed. He himself has said he thinks he's done. I think he is partially at fault. He could have, should have, sent in those school buses and he knows it. I don't think he will be hit nearly as hard as some others though. The director of FEMA for instance. But it was the mayor's responsibility to run the evacuation.

This should be very interesting to watch. Politician against politician, fighting for a smaller piece of the blame.

[alley rat]

very nicely said.

i keep thinking that as soon as the victims of the hurricane/government get a little bit settled, they will organize some kind of victims movement. my gut tells me ain't no way bush is going to get away with investigating this himself. a handful of "9/11 widows" made things rocky for Bush on the 9/11 issue; this time we've got thousands and thousands of victims and their families. i really hope a big, powerful antipoverty/anti-bush movement rises out of this...the thought of that is what gives me a little bit of hope.

[mark]

Dylan,

why don't you enter politics professionally? Really! It's pretty fair to say we don't agree on much these days, but one thing that is readily apparent is the ardent passion with which you hold your beliefs. Surely that is something your party needs at the moment. What's holding you back?

Having worked for a state rep at the Austin capitol during the Texas Legislative session a few years ago, I can definitively declare that there are definitely people immersed in the political arena who don't have half the passion for it that you do. What's stopping you from jumping in for real? You'd be good...

Just curious,
Mark

[Dylan]

Thanks for the compliments, both jo-fo and Mark.

Mark... I'd love to go into the political arena professionally, but I'm at a bit of a loss as to how a guy with no college degree and the bulk of his employment experience in restaurant management would really make headway into it.

Maybe you've got some advice, and I'm sure much of it has to do with my general laziness... That is to say I'm sure I could find SOME way if I tried.

But, I am interested, to answer your question.

[D-O-D]

Hey Dylan,

I also thought of Newman's "Louisiana 1927" during Katrina. The album that appears on, "rednecks" also has a song I keep thinking about over and over again. Its called... "Mr. President, Have Pity on the Working Man."

Among the lines from it that I can't get out of my head...

"The rain is cold and the wind is blowing, we need something to keep us going.... MR. President, have pity on the working man."

and

"We asking you to love us, you may place yourself high above us, but Mr. President, have pity on the working man."

[Jack Diederich]

A Poverty is a problem.
B Black people are disproportionately poor.
C Therefore we have a race problem.

Even if you believe A and B are true (I do) it doesn't require C to be true. Even if C is true it doesn't mean it is that way because of A and B. I'm not nitpicking, but it sounds like you care more about poverty and just find it particularly appaling that it is more concentrated in one group. If so you would get more for your dollar (literally) by focusing on poverty and not racism. I would say especially because poverty isn't as loaded an issue as racism. It you talk about poverty you aren't accusing most of the listeners of being poor, not so with racism.

Personally I think there is very little institutional racism (one of my first jobs was as secretary to a black woman). Racial differences are becoming moot and rapidly mainly because people like screwing and they aren't very particular about it. The number of people who aren't any one race has increased to the point where the social pressures to "pick" a signle racial identity have faded. Hand in hand the ability for racists of any stripe (hard or soft) to inflict damage is declining. You can't discriminate when you can't tell.

Race is following a similar pattern that ethnicity did with whites in the US. When you are 100% Irish it is easy to answer "what are you?" with "Irish." When you are a European mutt (I am) the answer is "I'm from Philly" or when pressed a "Well, on my father's father's side..." at which point the conversation changes because no one wants to hear a list of begats. My little brother from my college fraternity has Pakistani parents. When asked what he is he says "a Long Islander." If you've met him this is a far more useful bit of information than the fact his parent's are Pakistani. Such small cultural pearls of sanity are bound to spread simply because they're more useful.