When reading “Dismantling Toxic Racism” by Robert Bullard, I was struck by his statement “There is a clear racial divide in the way government responds to emergencies” (24). The reason that this statement stood out to me so much is that, if it is indeed true, we have a serious problem as a nation. Emergency situations affect the health and quality of life of citizens and to respond to any situation like this in a “lethargic” way is unacceptable. To take this problem even further and say that the action taken by the government is dependent on race, is simply awful. That being said, this idea by Bullard is more than familiar.
On a random google search to find a direct quote, I found what I was looking for.
“The internets have had their way with Kanye West's new single "Gold Digger." An ass-kicking protest remix is now online at FWMJ -- it features Kanye's infamous "George Bush doesn't care are about black people" quote, and skewers the Bush administration's response to Hurricane Katrina.”
Five days in this motherfucking attic
I can't use the cellphone I keep getting static
Dying 'cause they lying instead of telling us the truth (...)
Screwed 'cause they say they're coming back for us, too
but that was three days ago and I don't see no rescue(...)
Swam to the store, tryin' to look for food
Corner store's kinda flooded so I broke my way through
Got what I could but before I got through
News say the police shot a black man trying to loot
(Boing Boing)
The Bullard article probably reminded many of us about the ongoing controversy of the government’s response to Hurricane Katrina. A theory parallel to Bullard’s, was made by Kanye West and widely available to the public. The question then, is why this did not cause more of a stir than it did? When the lives of the victims of Hurricane Katrina were at stake and now, their quality of life, is still at stake, where is all the media? Bullard points out the health risks that black communities face even without environmental emergencies, but in a case where the government is aware of what is going on and is slow to act or provide the truth, it is nothing short of ridiculous. With a pattern like this set by the government, there is no way to even consider ending racial inequality.
1 comment:
While reading that line in the article, I immediately thought of the whole Hurricane Katrina incident as well. Bullard's article seems to reinforce this idea that the response to Hurricane Katrina was slow because of the presence of the predominantly black and impoverished individuals that lived in the areas. Bullard brings up some past evidence of this as well, and it is pretty difficult to challenge. What perplexes me though, is why would the government be like this? What agenda do they have? It seems to create this notion that the government is hypocritical and two-faced, their actions defying the words of the constitution and the civil rights laws that have been passed.
I think the questions you ask about why the media did not publicize Kanye West's ideas more is because he often says outrageous things (for example he blames the government for creating AIDs). I'd imagine any outlet other than MTV or E! would get into a lot of trouble. In addition, the media is so dominated by money, unless someone pushes them to report on certain issues, they can probably attract more viewers/readers/listeners by reporting about the newest, most current issues as opposed to something that has been lingering around for a year or two.
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