The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

My best friend was a survivor from hurricane Katrina.  Over the past 8 years I have seen on-going how it has affected his life.  I asked him to answer the questions posed for this week’s blog.  The response from the government for the families that were involved in hurricane Katrina was more oppression given to people of color and lower income families.  I believe with my heart and soul had this or any other devastating weather event occurred in a predominately white population there would have been no hesitation for emergency assistance.  The response was utterly inhuman in my eyes. I am reminded by the effects that this hurricane has on my friend because of things he does and things that he says.  His way of life is different than mine or yours.  We don’t think about planning for such an event and living our lives as if a catastrophic event may happen in the next 5 minutes. Sleeping bags, emergency food, extra clothes, water, blankets all are contained in his truck.  Cargo on top loaded with other stuff.  When I first saw all this stuff I didn’t understand.  Why would anyone keep that much stuff in their vehicle?  Over the years I have gained a greater understanding and hence a bitterness I hold in my heart because of the effect it has on him.  His answers below just barely touch the oppression he saw and felt.  His children were with him.  The knee high water he had to trek through to get to safety.  Although, he was clearly not safe. In this case the government was to blame.  They knew the issues that needed to be repaired with the levies. Because it was a black community it was not a priority.  The government responded slowly as well because who cares about poor black people?  That was the oppressive message that was sent. 

Can something be diminished if it was there to begin with?  What has to be understood about Katrina or any catastrophic event that bring to light an accepted norm of economic oppression of an ethnicity is now there's a camera broadcasting it.  With that being said, it has to be understood that for many people during Katrina the only thing that changed in their lives was the storm.  Being poor or "kept" by assistance being handed out by the government was a way of life, an accepted means to an end.  Or a better way for me to put this would be, does a child know he or she is poor?  The answer in most cases is no, it’s not until it's pointed out that they come to understand that they are.  It has to be understood that New Orleans (proper) is a majority ethnic city (black).  There are dividing lines such as, Uptown, The Garden District, and of course the French quarter is European held areas of the city. For me the only thing Katrina showed was a life of how the majority of black people lived in New Orleans.  Poor and not truly owning anything, uneducated and not looking or willing to reach higher and further to be successful, black men entrenched in a cage and feeding on itself. 

I have a dislike for how good black people were stereotyped as all being thugs, crooks, shoplifters, and ignorant. Which isn't true, there were a lot of good people that lost everything they called their own.  There were a lot of good people that died because they truly couldn't leave.  It's easy to say, they should have just left, if you don't have the means, you have no where to go.  Lastly, I'm bitter because it could be implied that the city didn't matter, excluding the French-Quarter, Canal Street, and St. Charles Ave.  Areas that aren't owned by those that built and supported the city on their backs.

Oppression, I don't believe I felt any while I was there, because I wasn't from there.  I wasn't the norm, I reached higher and further, I knew that I was poor and had been hungry and I didn't and don't like it.

D. Smith, Personal Communication, February 13, 2015.