nmeyers

THIS WEEK'S QUESTION:  Former Presidential candidate, Howard Dean, stated last week that race, age, and class were primary factors in who suffered and died as a result of Hurricane Katrina. Given the fact that the entire Gulf Coast was destroyed by the hurricane, is Dean's assertion accurate or a perpetuation of the media's obsession with New Orleans over other affected areas? If race, age, and class are the factors, then what are your solutions to preventing this in the future?

When people are in a situation between survival vs. death, chances are confusion is racing thoughout the mind of the people affected by the insident. The confusion is a factor of not knowing about the event, not know where to do, and not knowing if your family and friends are safe. As Hurrican Katrina was announced, only the people equiped with a home or lifestyle with communicaion toward the outside world were able to hear the warning. As the people who were more focused on surviving everyday were clueless to what was going on just miles from where they lived. This is one of the factors of class that Howerd Dean presented. When the manditory evacuation was announced the citizens of New Orleans were more then cluless. Age was also a factor due to the fact that the elderly and young were, the women and children, were brought to safty faster than the men and middle age citizens. This, however, was caused by the certicy in which the men presented to their community. Barbara Bush was said to have gone down to the area and say that the blacks "didn't have anything anyways" creating a hesitation to President Bushes responce. The discrimination was present due to ethnicity.