From Gulf to Gulf

[Jim Wilce]

Not only do we SPEAK of looting. Somehow no one protests when the  
President institutes a shoot-to-kill policy against the looters, not  
differentiating between those taking food needed for survival and  
those taking televisions etc. (as if even in the latter case a shoot- 
to-kill policy were justified.)

Jim Wilce
Northern Arizona University

On Sep 3, 2005, at 8:14 AM, Christian Nelson wrote:

> An analysis of the discourse related to this event could really  
> serve to cast a light on race/class relations in this country. Like  
> the others who've posted on this thread, I've been struck by the  
> class/race disparities in the government's (non)response to this  
> disaster. (As another example, I learned that all the hospitals  
> were quickly evacuated EXCEPT for the public ones, which serve the  
> local poor, and which were only evacuated when their situation had  
> gotten so dire that the administrators gave up begging the  
> Louisiana Governor, etc. for help and called a radio station to air  
> their grievances.) Those disparities are clearly reflected in the  
> media's discourse about the people trapped in New Orleans--for  
> instance, many of the reports of "looting" I've heard turn out to  
> be about people breaking into cafeterias, etc. to find food. I find  
> it hard to call this looting when engaged in by people who are  
> running out of water and have gone without food for days, and when  
> the food and drink involved will be uselessly spoiled LONG before  
> anyone can retrieve it in order to sell it (a process that would  
> take weeks if not months by all accounts). I hope someone has the  
> time and inclination to analyze this discourse in order to expose  
> the depths of racism and classism in America. Having said that, I  
> think some historical perspective might focus light on where that  
> racism and classism is deepest. In that regard, I think I'm  
> remembering correctly that Bush Sr.'s loss to Clinton was in some  
> part attributable to the poor performance of his FEMA director in  
> response to another but smaller disaster (in fact, I think it was  
> another hurricane--Hugo in '89, but I could be misremembering).  
> Further, I recall that Clinton was hailed for appointing James Lee  
> Witt to head FEMA, as he was only the first FEMA director who had  
> any professional disaster relief experience. (Witt proved his worth  
> by reforming FEMA, and the Clinton administration went on to  
> distinguish itself for its responsiveness to natural disasters.) On  
> the other hand, it might also be useful to recall the words of  
> Marilyn Quail (the wife of Bush Sr.'s Vice President), who had  
> chosen disaster relief as her pet project. If memory serves, when  
> asked about her experience with disasters she said she didn't have  
> any because she hadn't been "invited" to one--as though these were  
> cotillions.
> --Christian Nelson
>