HURRICANE RITA AND KATRINA - IS RACE A FACTOR IN ALL FUTURE HURRICANE COVERAGE ?

Hurricane Rita is pounding the coast of Louisiana and Texas as this post is being written. First our thoughts and prayers go out to the people in the path of this powerful storm. Yet even as the winds blow and the rains continues to fall the race card once again shows its ugly face in the path of Rita as it did with Katrina. A Fox News story covering the plight of the black and Hispanic population in the Houston area stressed that those ethnic groups because of poverty didn't have that same opportunity for evacuation as did those with better financial means. Now don't get me wrong my heart goes out to ANYONE who remains in the path of a powerful hurricane, but let's face facts. Every hurricane regardless of where it makes land fall effects poverty stricken areas and communities with less diversified ethnic groups such as black and Hispanic. Yes, means should and are made to evacuate those who do not have the means and personal responsibility is also a factor in any evacuation but since the aftermath of Katrina and the scenes that were played over and over again in New Orleans this seems to have become one of the lead stories in hurricane coverage. Hurricanes do not discriminate according to race or income nor do they specifically choose an area that has more or less poverty, yet since Katrina the press is obsessed with both and race has now become a factor in hurricane coverage. With Katrina it has become such a force that much of the suffering that took place has been over shadowed and hardly covered. The Mississippi coast suffered FAR more damage and physical devastation than New Orleans, yet the focus of 80% of the coverage and the fund raising events that followed have been toward New Orleans because of how poverty and race were played out in the aftermath thus leaving others effected by the storm left out in the cold. This is not to say that other parts of the coast are not being helped but knowing from experience how donated monies are allocated if the donation is specified for a certain area or need THAT is what that money is used for! With all of the emphasis on New Orleans for the reasons mentioned above, New Orleans and its residents have received the lions share of the assistance which can cause shortages to others who deserve it just as much. With the race card beginning to show its face in the coverage of Rita let's hope that it fades as the storm diminishes in strength. Recovery from a hurricane is difficult enough without ones ethnic background playing into the equation. Everyone affected in the storm is an American and as an American should be treated equally regardless of who he/she is. This emphasis on race and financial means must not continue to be a factor in the future or we will soon find ourselves knit picking in an evacuation in order to be politically correct and one of these storms will leave thousands dead in its wake.

Ken Taylor