Play Links Hurricane Katrina and Slavery

(Columbia) - Students at Benedict College used art and theater to draw comparisons between Hurricane Katrina and Slavery over the weekend.

Over 50 students showed up Saturday for the final night of "Help!", a play featuring slave narratives and dramatizations of Black Hurricane Katrina victims.

Professor Charles Brooks, writer and director of the performance, says both slaves and hurricane survivors were treated less than human.

He also says the images of people wading in filth during the natural disaster are very similar to what African slaves endured while being transported to America.

http://wltx.com/news/news19.aspx?storyid=32514

It was also similar to the fate of blacks in earlier floods, particularly the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, where "over 13,000 refugees near Greenville, Mississippi were gathered from area farms and evacuated to the crest of an unbroken levee, and stranded there for days without food or clean water, while boats arrived to evacuate white women and children. ".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Mississippi_Flood

Damm, everybody is always picking on them black people.

I feel sorry for them.

Do you really mean that?

are you people nuts? why didn't the dumb shits leave when told to in the first place? could it be that they are so use to living for free that they felt they didn't have to? their problem for not "getting with the program" in the first place. then they had the nerve to say no one helped them. Losers will always be losers. As for the "victims" who didn't leave because they couldn't see or were blind or couldn't hear the warnings, that is another issue all together.
I'm talking about the people who IGNORED PUBLIC WARNING.
Don't worry though, welfare will still take care of them, like it always has.

I agree, Protostar, I agree wholeheartedly.

They stayed because they "knew" that someone else would take care of everything FOR them ....and they wouldn't have to lift a fuckin' finger for themselves. And even tho' some died in the effort to do nothing, you can see that what they thought is actually true ....we ARE taking care of them by giving them billions AND re-building their city!

Parasites will always be parasites.

Baron Max

Baron Max:

They stayed because they "knew" that someone else would take care of everything FOR them

Wow, that's quite a generalization, Baron Max. And to think, you love to scold others when they make unsupported generalizations.

There are numerous other explainations for why they stayed, including the little fact that they didn't want looters to steal their possessions, or squatters to steal their homes.

There are numerous other explainations for why they stayed, including the little fact that they didn't want looters to steal their possessions, or squatters to steal their homes.

Yeah, fine ...great. And now that no looters or squatters have stolen their homes (which have mostly been destroyed!), what are they doing?? ...crying to the government to send them more handout money!! ...as if the government owes them anything!

Baron Max

Yeah, fine ...great. And now that no looters or squatters have stolen their homes

From what I understand, looting and squatters were quite common after Hurricane Katrina. The fears of the people who stayed were well founded.


what are they doing?? ...crying to the government to send them more handout money!! ...as if the government owes
them anything!

And if these blacks HAD left their homes, they wouldn't need handouts? No job, no home, very few possessions... how would you expect them to survive alone even if they DID flee from the hurricane? I'm not sure about America, but in Australia, finding a well paying job is like a treasure hunt.

These people are the very reason 'government handouts' exist.

And if these blacks HAD left their homes, they wouldn't need handouts? No job, no home, very few possessions... how would you expect them to survive alone even if they DID flee from the hurricane?

Well, they could do just what our forefathers did during the Great Dust Bowl of the Midwest. Thousands of people, perhaps hundreds of thousands, lost everything in a great drought in the midwest plains states ...they lost everything, some were deeply in debt. They picked up and left ...moved to California and started new lives. And most of them did it without ANY help from the government!

I'm not sure about America, but in Australia, finding a well paying job is like a treasure hunt. .... These people are the very reason 'government handouts' exist.

Life can be a real bitch sometimes, can't it! But that's no reason why the government should elect to help some people and not others! For those people in need, there are private charities, church organizations, etc to turn to for help when needed. But it's NOT the responsibility of the government to help those people with billions in handouts and give-aways .....especially when they do it for some, but not others!

Baron Max

Professor Charles Brooks, writer and director of the performance, says both slaves and hurricane survivors were treated less than human.

Can't speak for the slaves, but here in Houston, the NOLA people have rapidly made a reputation for themselves as idiots. Usually, they are identified by license plates.

Shoot at rescuers, get abandoned, go figure...

:m:

Nevermind the fact that all kinds of people, of all races, have been enslaved throughout history.

In ancient times it was common for empires to enslave conquered peoples, or integrate them into their military.

Unfortunately some of these Katrina "survivors" think this can be used as some sort of feasible excuse for failure.

Nevermind the fact that all kinds of people, of all races, have been enslaved throughout history.

In ancient times it was common for empires to enslave conquered peoples, or integrate them into their military.

Unfortunately some of these Katrina "survivors" think this can be used as some sort of feasible excuse for failure.
'krieg order'...? yer name sounds like the name of some SS stormtroop ---ia this where ya got it from, cause yo words speak same
what the fuk do you know about livin in povery in New Orleans, or even abourtbeing black in a dominant white society

tell us......what?

two questions i am inerestd in:

is ya white?

is ya middle claaaas?

'krieg order'...? yer name sounds like the name of some SS stormtroop ---ia this where ya got it from, cause yo words speak same
what the fuk do you know about livin in povery in New Orleans, or even abourtbeing black in a dominant white society

tell us......what?

two questions i am inerestd in:

is ya white?

is ya middle claaaas?

Forget the screen name, Duendy, and concentrate (if that's even possible for you) on the content. What he said is accurate. I've been to New Orleans many times - both before and after the storm - as well as several other places with the same mix of races.

And for what it's worth, no one (that I'm aware of) is complaining about those that had no choice about leaving. The complaint is with those that think the government OWES them help. I even went down there twice at my own expense to provide aid. But the main point is neither I nor the government or any one else OWED it to them. Yet many think we/they do.

New Orleans - black, white or other - is a complete shithole and always has been.

It would be nice to cut BS and pronounce social darvinism as the Law of the Land in the USA. Seems it's the only value most of the Americans share. poor and rich alike. Lead the way. Something extraordinary will happen, the gigantic leap for humanity maybe :)

I've never stopped wondering where is the logic. An average American lives in the trickle up society, where bulk of the wealth is sucked up to the top. The rest is given the myth that everyone can make it in a hierarchical society:). The myth aside, the bottom 20% enjoy something like 4% of nation's wealth just to be blamed for all its economical problems. Aren't those plutocrats controling 80% of the wealth + American brains smart? No need for rude force, just transform every isolated, greedy&selfish human unit into its own jailer.

Hey, I am one of those 20% of the population with 4% of the wealth. I'll tell you what 99% of that 20% absolutely believes that the government, charities, and their own families owes them a comfortable existance. Now I am trying to better myself with a higher education. Funded via financial aide. I work my ass off to keep excellent grades so my financial aide doesn get an unexpected hiccup. Now I could file for foodstamps and social secuirity as well, but I don't. I volunteer at a local agency for my sundries. I help take care of my sick father for my room an board.

Now the place i volunteer for runs a resale shop and part of the proceeds is split up amongst the volunteers as vouchers. You can get neccisities like gascards, groceries, pay your bills with these vouchers. You also earn store credit.

So when this group of Katrina refugees came in and explained that they were going from charity to charity collecting money for clothes we gave them some. One outfit per person. While they were picking them out the adult were complaining about how they had nothing to do. So i suggested they could volunteer, earn some credit for more clothes and vouchers for neccesities. They refused on the basis that they shouldn't have to do anything like that to get help from our agency. When I explained that we were a hand up not a hand out they just stuck up their white noses.

Hey, I am one of those 20% of the population with 4% of the wealth. I'll tell you what 99% of that 20% absolutely believes that the government, charities, and their own families owes them a comfortable existance. Now I am trying to better myself with a higher education. Funded via financial aide. I work my ass off to keep excellent grades so my financial aide doesn get an unexpected hiccup. Now I could file for foodstamps and social secuirity as well, but I don't. I volunteer at a local agency for my sundries. I help take care of my sick father for my room an board.

Now the place i volunteer for runs a resale shop and part of the proceeds is split up amongst the volunteers as vouchers. You can get neccisities like gascards, groceries, pay your bills with these vouchers. You also earn store credit.

So when this group of Katrina refugees came in and explained that they were going from charity to charity collecting money for clothes we gave them some. One outfit per person. While they were picking them out the adult were complaining about how they had nothing to do. So i suggested they could volunteer, earn some credit for more clothes and vouchers for neccesities. They refused on the basis that they shouldn't have to do anything like that to get help from our agency. When I explained that we were a hand up not a hand out they just stuck up their white noses.

Congratulation on your personal efforts, Mr. Scott!! That's exactly the way to make some progress.

And you've accurately described the group I was talking about. Also, it matters not if they are white, black, yellow, brown or pink. A leech is still a leech regardless of color. And the basic fact that some people are just too lazy to make any effort is what defeats the idealists with all their "help" programs. The ones we're talking about want only the help/handouts.

Hey, I am one of those 20% of the population with 4% of the wealth. I'll tell you what 99% of that 20% absolutely believes that the government, charities, and their own families owes them a comfortable existance.
Been there. Don't buy that. But let's assume you are correct, and those 20% are so worthless they must die. I still don't see logic in blaming them for economic ills. Cause top 1%, owning 80%, is on true state "welfare"; more exactly, state works for top 1% (not for poor schmos). Amazingly, top 1% is being blamed for nothing. Why? I guess cause they've got $. And having $ is a true measure of the right and wrong, of working hard and being lazy, of success and failure, etc., etc. in the West (well, since recently, everywhere else). So called "Free" market is a true God, who can't do wrong.


Now I am trying to better myself with a higher education. Funded via financial aide. I work my ass off to keep excellent grades so my financial aide doesn get an unexpected hiccup.
You are good example how American plutocracy control masses to be able to accumulate the bulk of nation's wealth and still keep power .
step 1. Transform humans into isolated units trying to "better" themselves and having no doubts, or even thoughts, about the system they live under.
step 2. Create a myth that everyone can make in a hieararchical society, if he tries hard. If one didn't make, obviously, he didn't try hard enough and thus should blame himself. The structure of economical pyramid is perfect, it's just human imperfections prevent everybody from reaching the top (or middle, at least) :). Idiocy of such a view is plain obvious, however it works for plutocracy well because of #1.
step 3. No mercy to the fallen in a rat race. It's their damn fault.
step 4. Most recent invention. EDUCATION industry. - You can't get ahead in the rat race cause you don't have enough of education. Never mind that most grunt jobs (requiring college degree) need just plain RRR , maybe some HS stuff, and common sense. I truly hope, you are getting the right kind of education, because millions of already educated and "bettered" ones discovered that education is NOT the answer (sure, government statistics suggest otherwise, but we know for whom government works).

Now I could file for foodstamps and social secuirity as well, but I don't.
Be consistent.

I help take care of my sick father for my room an board.
American Family/friendship ties never stopped amazing me. Compared to the rest of world, they are so superficial. I guess it's the price to pay.


So when this group of Katrina refugees came in and explained that they were going from charity to charity collecting money for clothes we gave them some. One outfit per person. While they were picking them out the adult were complaining about how they had nothing to do. So i suggested they could volunteer, earn some credit for more clothes and vouchers for neccesities. They refused on the basis that they shouldn't have to do anything like that to get help from our agency. When I explained that we were a hand up not a hand out they just stuck up their white noses.

OK, comment will not be quite direct to the written above. Seems you think that instead of getting handouts here and there, folks should get crappy retail jobs, paying for junk food and roach infested appartment and better themselves from there? Those who could not get retail jobs should take $2/hr. jobs Mexicans usually do. Those who could not get Mexican jobs should work for a bowl of soup. Work, work, don't think about the system draining bottom to enrich the top. Don't think period, just work. There is 0.0001% probability of one joining the exploiter class, what else in the hell one could wish? That's why I think, social darvinism should be declared the Law of the American Land. I think some people on the bottom see more light than brainwashed participants of rat race. and they say "FUCK the system and its worshipers".

The popular perception that African-Americans living in New Orleans were disproportionately victimized by the government's Hurricane Katrina rescue effort, or lack there of, turns out to be true - at least according to preliminary death statistics released by the state of Louisiana.- but opposite from what Black nationalists such as Jesse Jackson have led us to believe...

The surprisingly low death rate for black Katrina victims comes despite the fact that New Orleans itself was more than two-thirds black [67 percent] when the storm hit. White residents made up less than a third [28 percent] of the city's population, according to U.S. Census bureau numbers. Fewer than half of the victims of Hurricane Katrina were Black(despite the fact that they make up more than 2/3 of the city), and that Whites died at the highest rate of all races in New Orleans(despite the fact that they make up less than a third of the city). Whites make up 28 percent of the city's population, but the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals indicates that whites constitute 36.6 percent of the storm's fatalities in the city.

Of the 883 bodies processed so far by medical examiners at St. Gabriel, 562 have been identified by race. Slightly less than half that number - 48 percent - are African-American.
Forty-one percent are white, 8 percent unknown and 2 percent Hispanic.

Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan in October said that the Federal Emergency Management Agency wasn't fit to help the storm's victims because "there are not enough blacks high up in FEMA" and added that, "certainly the Red Cross is the same."
Hispanic.

To view the statistics on Katrina dead released by the state of Louisiana, go to: http://www.dhh.louisiana.gov/offices/publications/pubs-145/DECEASED%20Victims%20released_11-14-2005_publication.pdf

Those are interesting statistics, but death rate alone is not a full measure of victimization.

Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan in October said that the Federal Emergency Management Agency wasn't fit to help the storm's victims because "there are not enough blacks high up in FEMA" and added that, "certainly the Red Cross is the same."
Hispanic.
Ya, we all know how well blacks can take care of one another.

Just look at Africa

Do you really mean that?
Joke