it's official. well, at least heard from an official. the death toll from Katrina is in the thousands.
the news is frightening. violence and looting. people eating corpses to stay alive. but why all this talk of race? 28% of people in new orleans live in poverty and 84% of those are black. 35 percent of black households didn't have a car, compared with just 15 percent of whites. without a car or money for a hotel, it's difficult or near impossible to evacuate. it's really not about race. it's about class. it just so happens that the majority of the poor are black.
the racial and class issues that have surfaced in the past few days have always been there. it just took a hurricane to show it to us all.
bush admits that federal relief efforts have been unacceptable. let's hope that there will be help for all very soon.
at least there are bars open.
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