Shit Happens..you deal with it…otherwise you are a victim

Renee
#1. June 15th, 2008, at 8:16 AM.

I guess that has nothing to do with the fact that issues of racial inequality are nonexistent in Iowa because they have a black population of a whopping 3% compared to New Orleans at 67%. Or that 10.6% of white families are in poverty compared to 24.8% of black families? NAH.

Kathy Shaidle
#2. June 15th, 2008, at 12:41 PM.

Why are so many black “families” in “poverty” Renee? could it be that these so called families are actually households consisting of uneducated single moms and their illegitimate kids?

Could it be that blacks drop out of high school at a higher rates than whites, commit more crimes, have lower IQs, take more drugs and waste the money they do have on getting their nails done and buying ugly designer knock off clothes they can’t afford?

Naw, gotta be the ‘legacy of slavery’ or ‘institutional racism” something.

Good for the decent people of Iowa for not looting each other’s homes and businesses the way blacks did to their fellow blacks in New Orleans, and generally conducting themselves in a far more decent and dignified manner than their Nawlins counterparts.

Kathy Shaidle
#3. June 15th, 2008, at 12:43 PM.

If you’re saying the reason Iowa is doing better because it has fewer trifling black welfare bums, ex cons, victocrats, illiterate baby mamas and drug addicts around to lower the overall ‘tone’ of the place, then I couldn’t agree with you more.

Renee
#4. June 15th, 2008, at 4:59 PM.

Oh my god, are you really that racist? It’s like a cartoon from the 1940s, except it’s real. Wow!

I probably shouldn’t bother, but I’ll mention a few of the issues blacks in NO faced that determined what happened there compared to Iowa, things that are actually factual instead of based on racist hate-spewing rhetoric.

First, of course, is the fact that the number of people affected in New Orleans was vastly larger both population-wise and percentage of the population-wise. And looting? It’s a mob thing. Since the population of NO was mostly black, the looters are likely to be mostly black, too. Surprise! What about the Stanly Cup riot in Vancouver, the Berlin riots, the … ? Oh, I won’t go on, but anyway, the thing is? They were white! Weird! Common theme, however? Population, not race.

Second is the fact that sherrifs in New Orleans opened fire on crowds of desperate blacks to stop them from escaping the floods by running into white neighbourhoods. Pre-looting. So, um, gee. Those welfare moms, eh? They are SUCH a threat to them white folks’ houses. GET OUT THE SHOTGUNS!

Third is the fact that poverty amongst minority groups is actually complicated, which may explain why you don’t seem to have grasped it beyond the usual racist platitudes. For example, people don’t seem to want to hire blacks even if they’re as qualified as whites. They also don’t want to buy real-estate in black neighbourhoods (a recent study showed that even one black family moving into a neighbourhood drops the value of the surrounding houses, even if the incomes of the occupants are the same). So, for instance, blacks in the middle class in US routinely lose equity in homes they buy because whites move out, values drop, and more blacks move in, lowering values further. Or, another example, blacks end up in more debt (and, hence, poverty) because loans they take out for education don’t get repaid as fast, because of unequal hiring practices, and interest rates are much higher because repayment rates are lower. These are what is called “vicious cycles.”

Ms. Anne Thrope
#6. June 16th, 2008, at 3:54 AM.

A two-minute search yields one report, “you might have wondered why people didn’t just leave on foot. […] Any crowd that tried to do so was met by suburban police, some of whom fired guns to disperse the group and seized their water.”

Alan
#7. June 16th, 2008, at 4:00 AM.

If you excuse the source, this is the incident: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2007/jan2007/nola-j05.shtml

Renee
#8. June 16th, 2008, at 4:42 AM.

Yep, sure. This recap is fairly coherent and even-handed, and has links to the various MSM accounts. Or you can go straight there.

Renee
#9. June 16th, 2008, at 7:27 AM.

Oh, and by the by, reports of looting were often overblown or even mere rumor (I’ll dig around for a link to that later). But given the PR nightnamre that was Katrina, is it any wonder that things might be slightly better organized this time around?