Racial Distrust And Consequences For Hurricane Katrina

Numerous different aspects were altered due to the ruckus of Hurricane Katrina. The first major aspect was housing and location. Katrina nearly demolished 300,000 homes. The ascending sea level along the coast resulting from onshore winds is a storm surge. With a twenty-two foot storm surge in New Orleans and a twenty-seven foot storm surge in Mississippi, Hurricane Katrina averaged a shocking twelve foot storm surge. As a storm surge’s footage increases, the surge will continue to move inland farther and farther. Hurricane Katrina’s storm surge is documented as moving inland a total of twelve miles into the state of Mississippi (FAQS, 2013). Hurricane Katrina impacted a total of seven states. Five of these states were Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Kentucky and Ohio were two more states affected but in a different way. Because of the tremendous amount of water, Kentucky and Ohio were victims of the Mississippi River flooding. Some states experienced more extreme destruction than others. Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana experienced Hurricane Katrina’s wrath firsthand. These three southern states were affected the worst by the massive storm (FAQS, 2013). Mississippi’s forest industry experienced a great amount of destruction losing 1.3 million acres of valuable forest land. The main cause of destruction in New Orleans was blamed on the failure of the levee system to stand its ground

A modern-day study being done about the racial discrimination that was brought upon thousands of families during Hurricane Katrina is now in the limelight and takes a specific look at the way certain people perceive this notion of racism. The arguments that are being considered examine the past reports of Black and White participants regarding racial differences and their perceptions of the racial inequality following Hurricane Katrina. The participants for this investigation were asked whether or not the United States government would have provided aid and responded faster to different socio-economic and racial groups during the hurricane. According to de la Peña et al. (2010), a higher percentage of White participants said that socio-economic status is more important, while Blacks relied on race more. Additionally, more White participants believed that the slow government response effort was not influenced by race and/or socio-economic status of the victims. Although there is a contention between the two races, there is a higher percentage of agreement when concerning discrimination altogether.

In the late summer of 2005, a terrible tragedy occurred that changed the lives of many in the south-east region of the United States. A Category 3, named storm, named Hurricane Katrina, hit the Gulf Coast on the 29th of August and led to the death of 1,836 and millions of dollars’ worth of damage (Waple 2005). The majority of the damage occurred in New Orleans, Louisiana. Waple writes in her article that winds “gusted over 100 mph in New Orleans, just west of the eye” (Waple 2005). Not only was the majority of the damage due to the direct catastrophes of the storm but also city’s levees could no longer hold thus breaking and releasing great masses of water. Approximately, 80% of the city was submerged at sea level. Despite the vast amount

Social neglect is one of the causes that are responsible for the deaths in her community. Throughout Ward’s memoir she explains how her community was constantly neglected economically and socially which impacted the citizens. “They gave the violence of New Orleans many names” (4). New Orleans is a symbol for social neglect and represents the process of racism. The city is branded a violent place because of the supposable threats made against White people. All of the blame is automatically put onto black people as they are constantly stereotyped to be responsible for all the problems. All the stereotypes eventually evolve into discrimination as people of color are given unfair advantages, which resulted in racism. The social neglect also affected other individuals socially. “It’s not uncommon for young Black men to drop out here” (26). Social neglect also affected young black men especially since they were never given the hope or

The work of Michael Ross in The Great New Orleans Kidnapping Case: Race, Law, and Justice in the Reconstruction Era, helps us understand the history of New Orleans and Reconstruction Era in only 10 chapters of the book. “Ever since Reconstruction ended in 1877, many have questioned whether the North’s effort to bring a new social, economic and political order to the old Confederacy had any real chance for success” (6). During this essay we are going to discuss how Michael Ross helps understand more about the history of New Orleans in terms of the Reconstruction Era.

Hurricane Katrina was a devastating disaster that has affected many people in New Orleans as well as the surrounding areas. It had a stunning “death toll of 1300 people and damage over $100 billion ”( Davlasheridze 94 ). The communication were taken down hours after Katrina because of the unexpected fast winds and floods that broke down “3 million phone lines and 1,000 cellular towers in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.”( Joch ). Because of the millions of phone lines that were battered, contacting the government for help was difficult hours after hurricane Katrina. Not only that, the people of New Orleans underestimated the power of Hurricane Katrina causing many to be “ stranded with no food or water” ( Narrator, “The Storm”,PBS ).

On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast at daybreak, “pummeling a region that included the fabled city of New Orleans and heaping damage on neighboring Mississippi. In all, more than 1,700 people were killed and hundreds of thousands of others displaced.” (Laforet, New York Times)

New Orleans took precautions to keep the city safe in the event of a future hurricane. The new buildings reconstructed after the destruction of the hurricane were built to be flood resistant (“After the Disaster”). Many of the new houses were being renovated to be higher off of the ground than previous homes in a like manner (“After the Disaster”). This was to prevent equivalent damage from flooding to occur in the future. Another effect of the levee problems that made Hurricane Katrina much worse was that the city installed more and stronger flood barriers to keep the city free of flood waters (“After the Disaster”). The Department of Health and Human Services sent multiple medical supplies to health professionals so they are prepared for the future as well (“Bush”). The city of New Orleans learned so much more about their city after the hurricane hit. They learned how close of a community they lived in. The amount of people that stepped in to help the city in its time of need was enormous. New Orleanian people received help from many organizations, including: The Social Security Administration, The Department of Labor, the Postal Service, and many others (“Bush”). In a like manner, the president at the time, George W. Bush, intervened and cared for the city of New Orleans when they needed it. He gave the city hope and motivation to get back onto its feet. President

As Hurricane Katrina ravaged the South and drowned large parts of New Orleans this past September, the ugly reality of our nation's continuing problem with class, poverty, and race became apparent. Many Americans began to question the possibility of racism being a deciding factor in the fate of many New Orleans citizens who were black and who lived in the poorest, most low-lying portion of the city, the Ninth Ward. Many, including First Lady Laura Bush, denounce critics who say race played a role in the federal government's slow response to the victims of Katrina. While it is possible that the government's slow response to the disaster was not directly due to racism, there are many unanswered questions suggesting the protection of the city

Hurricane Katrina struck the city of New Orleans, Louisiana on August 29th, 2005. The events that followed would leave the whole nation in shock until this day. One of the major topics of discussion after this disaster was whether or not the government's slow reaction time had anything to do with the fact that New Orleans is sixty-seven percent African American. As helicopters circled a wasteland that was once a major tourist attraction, the racism of the Deep South, thought to be extinct, proved it was only dormant. The same racism against African Americans that could be seen on Bourbon Street in the months prior to the hurricane reared its ugly head once more in Gretna, LA and was pointed out on live television by rapper Kanye West.

Although New Orleans has a large African American population, there was still a disproportionately small amount of white people looting stores. This could be because there were several black communities in New Orleans, and most of them were at a lower elevation, which lead to flooding very quickly. When the water levels grew rapidly, many black people were left with very little to survive. If they could not make it to the Superdome, the city’s base for those in need of shelter, they faced the choice of roughing it with what they had or stealing from unattended stores. Most people chose to steal over death, therefore a large number of the helpless black people chose to

Futhermore, crime in New Orleans increased drastically. On September 1, 2005, victims of Hurricane Katrina reperted crimes of rape and domestic violence. The violent crimes left corpses lying on the ground everywhere in the city. “We have individuals who

Katrina hit New Orleans, Louisiana on August 29th, 2005, but the failure of the local government started before this day “by allowing building and growing in areas in low flood lands.” The local government did not regulate these land areas that have always

The failure to adequately prepare for the storm led to increased and more widespread devastation, which in many cases harmed those living in the affected areas. An independent analysis of the reason for such massive chaos was performed and determined that “Most of the damage was due to the failure of the levee system that surrounds the city to protect it from flooding” (Ubilla). Had these levees been properly built, and had there been more of them protecting the city of New Orleans, major flooding could have potentially been lessened. A simple feature of the levee structure which engineers neglected to include is the concrete

Hurricane Katrina resulted in massive loss of life and billions of dollars in property damage. There are many lessons worth learning from this event. Finger pointing started before the event was over. Most of the focus on Hurricane Katrina was on its impact on New Orleans; however, the storm ravaged a much wider area than that. This paper will briefly summarize the event, the impact on the city of New Orleans and the lessons learned to ensure preparedness today.