Tragedy in Black and White

[raccoon]

"By three to one, African-Americans believe that federal aid took so long to arrive in New Orleans in part because the city was poor and black. By an equally large margin, whites disagree.

<snip>

But in a larger sense, the administration's lethally inept response to Hurricane Katrina had a lot to do with race. For race is the biggest reason the United States, uniquely among advanced countries, is ruled by a political movement that is hostile to the idea of helping citizens in need.

<snip>

And who can honestly deny that race is a major reason America treats its poor more harshly than any other advanced country? To put it crudely: a middle-class European, thinking about the poor, says to himself, "There but for the grace of God go I." A middle-class American is all too likely to think, perhaps without admitting it to himself, "Why should I be taxed to support those people?"

Above all, race-based hostility to the idea of helping the poor created an environment in which a political movement hostile to government aid in general could flourish."

http://www.pkarchive.org/column/091905.html


Yesterday Newswolf56 posted a link to this great essay in another thread, "The Tide is Not Turning" (in GD). I thought this essay deserved its own thread.

To me, this helps answer the questions, "Why doesn't the US have a national health plan?" and "Why doesn't the US have a safety net similar to some of the Western European countries?"

[Southpaw Bookworm]

1. Thanks for passing this along.

Some good food for thought on a Friday morning.