From Gulf to Gulf

[felicitas macgilchrist]

The yahoo news page had a couple of AP/AFP photos with captions: blacks 
'loot', 'whites 'find'. They took them down after much criticism, (see 
statement: http://news.yahoo.com/page/photostatement)  but they're still 
available here:
http://www.dailykos.com/comments/2005/8/30/192236/013/241
Flyss



----- Original Message ----- 
From: <dkc at UMICH.EDU>
To: <DISCOURS at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG>
Sent: Saturday, September 03, 2005 5:52 PM
Subject: Re: From Gulf to Gulf


> Can you provide a cite on that?
> On Sep 3, 2005, at 11:16 AM, JULIA EVANS wrote:
>
>> you might add that when the media was describing white people breaking 
>> into stores for food etc. they used
>> the turn borrowing.....
>>
>> looting seems to be saved for minority populations, sadly
>> -J
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: Christian Nelson <cnelson at COMM.UMASS.EDU>
>> Date: Saturday, September 3, 2005 10:14 am
>> Subject: Re: From Gulf to Gulf
>>
>>> 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
>>>
>>
>>
>>
> Deborah Keller-Cohen
> Professor, Linguistics and Women's Studies
> Program in Women's Studies
> 2110 Lane Hall
> University of Michigan
> Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1285
>
>