No child left behind?

No child left behind... unless they were among the poor and/or black of New Orleans. Am I being too harsh? Due to a muddle of prejudice, incompetence and systemic  disregard for the underclass, the response of our government is shameful. In its urgent charitable work and political response, the Jewish community ought not overlook the injustice(s) at work.

"Hurricane Katrina pulled back the curtain, exposing the things many knew existed and even more wished not to acknowledge: race, class, privilege, cavernous health and income disparities; poverty amidst opulence..."  (Effect Measure)

The Commons: "60 percent of New Orleans residents are black, but it has been little noted that a third of those black families do not own a car -- nor do 15 percent of white families. It is these people who were left behind when those with cars evacuated."

"We all have seen over the years images depicting the horrors faced by refugees in third world countries.  But the images of people in our own country, rich as it is in so many ways, without any food or water for days, using the floor as toilets, sitting among rotting cadavers, or women with infants (in one report I read) being given two diapers and told to scrape them off and reuse them, are hard to accept.

[... This] not only raises questions about how we treat the poor among us, but forces us to confront some difficult issues about race in this country. Ann Althouse asks over on her blog, "Were the provisions for flood prevention and for evacuation and shelter so inadequate because mostly black people were affected? Would the rescues have come more quickly if the victims were white? Would viewers and reporters express more utrage at the pace of relief if we were seeing white victims?"  Good questions." From Susan Stabile at Mirror of Justice (Catholic legal theory blog)

As New Orleans journalist Mark Schleifstein and many others had forewarned, the levee failure was predictable and predicted so "either the President doesn't know what he's talking about, or he's not telling the truth" when he claimed otherwise. (Mark Kleiman)

Surely the dreadful emergency response will be investigated. Maybe the delay was caused by the deal to hire Halliburton has been hired for storm cleanup in Louisiana and Mississippi?! Or maybe the Federal Emergency Management Agency was busy directing donations to Rev. Pat Robertson!? (Courtesy of Hungry Blues coverage of justice aspects) Even Newt Gingrich criticized the relief effort (Timnah, with more tales of injustice in New Orleans.)

Why the foot-dragging, why the dreadful responsiveness to those who were left behind?

Arguably, BusinessWeek noted, the Bush Administration had us "mistakenly lulled into thinking" that terrorism is the most urgent threat. Homeland Security? (Dubious public health measures?) Perhaps hurricane Katrina will wake us up. Too many people are threatened at home by economic and social injustice, by environmental and health risks, by political invisibility. Hurricane or not, their vulnerability is real. In a world of complex risks, it is our responsibility not to get too distracted.

Certainly, the resourceful Jewish community should be taking care of our own displaced families and children. At the same time, I suggest that our tzedakah (charity) also reach those with far less resources, who are most exposed in a structural economy of prejudice and uncertainty.

 

Kaspit

Previous posts on Katrina: where to donate (and global warming), social justice, looting for food under Jewish law, toxic pollution, Mark Schleifstein, and BusinessWeek noted.   

Comments

[Stam]

I was riveted to last week’s parashah [Torah reading]. The parahah in effect creates a framework in which tzorchei tzibbur [public needs] is the primary focus – through the various tithes. The transition point is the pasuk [Dt 15:4] that essentially says you will have no evyonecha [your poor]. Of course, the torah later states [Dt 15:11] that, of course, there will always be evyonecha. How do you reconcile all of that? The answer, I believe is that we are obligated to create a tax and similar structure that is designed to maximize welfare so that there is minimal unemployment and other social problems. When the problems arise, however, we are obligated to do give tzedakah to deal with the needs of the poor and needy. The problem in New Orleans is that the government failed miserably on tzorchei tzibbur.

[brackets by ed.]