Ceci

Class, yes, is a part of it. But, I also think that race was pretty much a part of this disaster. If anyone saw the pictures on the cable news shows comparing Hurricane Katrina to these wildfires (before and after this disaster) in California, not one person who was rescued was ever called a "refugee". Certainly, the reporters carefully used the word, "evacuee".

What people tend to forget is how quickly these services on the federal level came to help the people afflicted by the fires. Now, correct me if I am wrong. Isn't San Diego (La Jolla) a bastion of republicans (conservatives)? If I am correct, politicians like Duke Cunningham came from that neck of the woods.

Now, what if both Gov. Schwartzenegger and President Bush took very restful vacations while those mansions burned? How would those rich white folks have reacted? It would be bedlam, would it not?

The rich (white) people would be beside themselves that they were treated this shabbily. Then, some heads would really have to roll instead of that paltry wrist slapping of Michael "Brownie" Brown and Michael Chertoff.

There are some grand old families in Louisiana as well. What happened to the descendants of the plantation Masters and Mistresses? And what about the "captains of industry" in that area? They were there too. But they were able to get out while the poor languished and suffered due to class and race.

When the city was to be rebuilt, the areas that housed the upper middle class and the rich were started first (along with the French Quarter). Poor areas, like 9th ward, are still neglected for the most part. What does that say?

My question is to compare the earlier incidents of fires in Malibu, the Simi Valley, as well as other parts of Southern California to the Hurricane Katrina disaster as well. Tell me, are the rich (white) persons in those areas ever abandoned?

__________________
Ceci's News and Views Forum