Privileged Eyes In A Flood
"You wouldn't believe what people are saying about the flood victims in Louisiana," my mom huffed with exhaustion. She sat down to dinner after spending part of the afternoon on an online discussion group this past Saturday night. My mom participates in online discussion groups all the time. She's particularly attracted to the ones that discuss issues of poverty and race. Over the Labor Day weekend, she witnessed the first tide of backlash against the victims of the New Orleans flood.I didn't think I'd see this kind of backlash in the context of the worst natural disaster in U.S. History. The current death toll estimates are 10,000. That's 10,000 souls. That's five 9/11's. 10,000 brothers and sisters, mom's and dads, students, workers and professionals. 10,000 Whites, Blacks, Native Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans and tourists from overseas. 10,000 dreams... gone... forever.
In my work over the past 6 years as an ethnic & racial reconciler, I've come to expect the spirits of self-actualization and rugged independence to rear their heads in discussions of race and racism. The comments usually come from those who have benefitted from affirmative action on behalf of America's ethnic majority and they sound something like this:
"Well, they just need to get off welfare and get a job."
or
"My grandfather pulled himself up by his own bootstraps. He was poor and didn't have a dime to his name during the depression. He started his own business. He taught us that we could do anything we put our minds to."
or
"They have such a victim mentality. When are they going to take personal responsibility for their position in the world."
When discussing poverty and class, these comments seem logical and even wise at first glance. I mean, shouldn't everyone be responsibile for his or her own fortune and future? Isn't it degrading to have to depend on the government for one's livelihood. This seems like good sense. Yet, this line of thinking reveals something else far more insidious and pervasive in our country today.
It reveals a view of the world as seen through eyes of privilege. These privileged eyes usually have no idea they are privileged. They have all but forgotten their own the privileged majority's dependence on the government sponsored "welfare" programs of yesteryear designed specifically to benefit White Americans. For example:
1. Government Instituted Free Labor. 1640. Maryland becomes the first colony to institutionalize slavery. Massachusetts follows in 1641 with written legislation that changed the status of African indentured workers to chattel slaves. This lays the foundation for nearly 225 years of free labor building the economy for the ancestors of White Americans. Both the north and south benefit from the international cotton trade one of the most lucrative investments in American history. Free labor paved the way for America to become the economic super power that it is now.
("The African American: A Journey from Slavery to Freedom", Long Island University, B. Davis Schawartz Memorial Library, http://www.liu.edu/cwis/cwp/library/aaslavry.htm#beginning)
2. Government Handouts - Free Land. A Cherokee boy discovered gold in Dahlonega, GA in 1828. Before long 15,000 miners moved in and set up camp on Cherokee land without asking permission. Soon, the U.S. government gave plots of Cherokee land to the miners while the Cherokee still lived there. By 1838, the Cherokees were removed from their land along with the other 4 "Civilized tribes" of the southeast (The Choctaws, Chickasaws, Creeks, and Seminoles).
3. Government Handouts - Free Land. The Cherokees were offered "Indian Territory" land by the U.S. Government "in perpetuity" (which means "forevermore") in exchange for their lands in Georgia and North Carolina. Then on March 2, 1889, the U.S. Congress passed the Indian Appropriations Bill opening "Indian Territory" in Oklahoma to settlment by White settlers. At noon on April 22, 1889 White settlers participated in a first come, first served horse race to grab 1.9 million acres of free land.
~ Source: "Built in a Day: The Oklahoma Land Rush" http://www.nps.gov/jeff/oklahoma_rush.html
4. Workfare - The New Deal's Civilian Conservation Core. As part of FDR's New Deal, the CCC was created to get Americans effected by the Great Depression back to work. The program helped multiple racial groups, yet White Americans were the greatest beneficiaries by far. This government help laid foundations of economic stability for thousands of ethnic majority families at a make it or break it time in American history. Without this help, thousands of American families enjoying stablity today would not have been able to find their financial footing during the years of the great depression. (see http://www.cccalumni.org/history1.html for more information).
For the past few days network news anchors have been pressing questions of race, poverty and the federal response to hurricane Katrina. They've asked, "Has the slow response time been a reflection of our government's lack of care for African American citizens?" It's understandable that questions of race and poverty have been raised. 67% of New Orleans is Black and over 30% of the population is living in poverty. There has been no debate. The initial federal response to Katrina was a failure.
So, my mother sat down to dinner late Saturday night with an incredulous look on her face. She'd just engaged in an online discussion group where the opinions of the conversants went something like this conversation I found on the MSNBC.com Katrina Boards today:
Original Post by "Looloo", 9/6/05, 2:28pm, "People Take Responsibility!"
"No one should be denied food and water especially in this country. But for goodness sake!!!Many of those people are young, healthy and able bodied individuals. At some point they should have realized what a dangerous situation they were in and taken some precautions. Did they not hear about Katrina on the news?
But the excuse is "they were poor." Well stop being poor. And stop depending on the government for money. This is such a vicious cycle and as long as hand-outs exist - with more money given for each new child, the longer poverty due to welfare will exist.
The rest of us have to sweat it out at work - without handouts, and pay our taxes. Do you see us getting checks every month for our expenses? No. And that's the way it should be.
This does not include people who are truly sick, or elderly. They of course get a pass and the government ((we the taxpayers)) should take care of them."
Response from "Meemee", 9/6/05, 2:36pm
"you said it exactly."
Response from "NAS", 9/6/05, 2:49pm
"and what have you done to help the cycle? besides complain?"
Response from "Luke", 9/6/05, 3:10pm
"Besides complain??? Probably pay his taxes to support all of the services. He said what so
many of us feel. If more people would realize that help comes at the end of our own arms, we wouldn't have so many left in this situation. Again, the sick or elderly get a pass. In fact, if more people would take the proper responsibility for themselves, we would be able to increase services to those who truly need it."
Response from "Really", 9/6/05, 3:18pm
"They were told leave and did not."
Response from "Mooseman", 9/6/05, 3:29pm
"Amen! Read on..."
Response from "George", 9/6/05, 3:30pm
"Yes. People do not use proper judgement and don't seem to make choices that will better themselves and the lives of the people around them. I must admit that I am quite confused at why people who are clearly living in poverty would continue to keep creatingnew life. I simply couldn't believe the amount of babies involved in this horrible scene. It seems so selfish to me to see a person who could barely manage to support themselves and yet they have a child. (and in some cases several) Why would anyone want to bring a child into the world and offer them nothing but hardship?"
Response from "RealityMan", 9/6/05, 3:35pm
"Right on the money. One would think that after a couple hundred years the race would have bettered it's position in society. It has not. The last great black man was Dr. King. Think about that. The "woe is me" syndrome is getting old. When you are unable to support yourself much less contribute something positive to society and the economy, who will continue to support you? This is a democratic society, not a socialist society. The government isn't required to provide lifetime support for anyone."
Dear Jesus,
Give us the humility that leads to listening that leads to understanding. Give us empathy to feel what it's like to walk in the shoes of the other. Give us compassion that leads us to act on behalf of the other. Give us wisdom, discernment and courage to truly understand what happened in New Orleans so that it might never happen again.
Amen.
posted by Lisa Sharon Harper @ 12:18 AM
2 Comments:
Thank you and then some for your comments and "history" laid bare here - Have you ever read "Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee" by Dee Brown?
When people have no knowledge, sense, or empathy with history...it leads to short-sightedness and an inability to see the souls in the people all around them.
I'm from the South, born in South Carolina and graduated high school in Arkansas, and the poverty down there is just unimaginable, I'm talking 3rd World levels of poverty! I think it's pretty much human nature for people to shut the door behind them once they've made it through, and privlegded Americans forget about all the free breaks they got and how their enrichment came through the oppression of others. In the African-American community I feel that young motherhood is probably the biggest contributing factor of poverty, but these girls really have no hopes & dreams for the future, and the baby is probably the greatest enjoyment that they get out of life. I posted about the NYTimes article on Ivy League educated women who go on to be nothing more than stay-at-home moms, and it resulted in quite an uproar! But the only difference between an affluent white stay-at-home mom and a poor black welfare mom, is that one woman was more successful at hooking a man. A lot of life is about chance, and most people perpetuate whatever it is that their parents were. So if dad was a doctor the sons will probably be a doctor, and if dad is a bus driver then son will probably be something like a bus driver. Economic class is not something you really choose, rather, you are typically born into a certain class. Escaping poverty is an uphill battle.
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