Here is an even more revealing debate segment concerning the issue of race. It's truly shocking how some (conservative) candidates chose to answer Matthews' very direct question. Some pols are comfortable talking about race, and some plainly aren't, so they pretend racial problems don't exist anymore. Some believe racism, (as well as more subtle unconscious provincialisms) were vanquished long ago, except for the horrible legacy of dependence created by liberal programs formed in the 1960's. That's where the REAL racism occurs nowadays. In short, some believe we've progressed a great deal since a majority of whites voted for David Duke in his run for Louisiana Governor AND Senator. After all, that was way back in the nineties-- like over a decade ago-- and those were mainly protest votes against Edwin Edwards' corruption, anyway. Now, in post-racist Louisiana the only color white voters see is Love. And even if Big Daddy and Tony Perkins paid big money for Duke's list of supporters, well, that was before everyone united as one when Bush spoke into the bullhorn after 9/11... and on... and on...
In addition to all that nonsense, keep the following truths in mind while you read the transcript below: 1) there will always be urban poor, 2) no city will ever be 100% evacuated for a storm, and 3) most of the post Katrina flooding in New Orleans was due to faulty levees.
So, here is a very revealing sequence that occurs between the 16 and 20 minute marks of the debate telecast. (My highlights, edits and emphases. Note that this is a rushed transcript that may not be perfectly accurate).
Chris Matthews: [Post Katrina Video of distressed, predominantly black crowds at the Convention Center is on the screen] ... If those faces had been white, would the reaction from the people of America have been different?
Ron Forman: No, I don't believe so. I believe the reaction of the people in the country saw a city that failed twenty years before the hurricane. We are not educating our kids.... [discusses how poverty is due to a failure of government leadership].
Norman Robinson: Well, did they see the face of poverty representing one particular group? And did that make a difference?
Forman: I think, I think no it did not make a difference...
Matthews: Do you all want to leave that lie? That if the faces had been white there would have been a different, stronger reaction to this... ?
Mitch Landrieu: I think America looked itself in the mirror and did not like what it saw. It ignored the issues of race and poverty for years and years and years and all of a sudden they found out there were people that were living in dangerous circumstances and they felt helpless because the greatest country in the world couldn't help them.
I do think the reaction was slower. I think the issue of race is a very difficult issue, I do think white and African-Americans got hurt equally in this storm. But I think there is a curious twist to this, and it is the most difficult issue that we're facing in the city, it's a reason why we have got to come together, as one people get beyond the issue of race and think about getting people back in their homes.
Ray Nagin: ... I saw a change in the response as the images started going out across this country. And I talked to the president, I talked to the governor and I couldn't get them to act. And you know when I got them to really move? (Besides going off on the radio.) When I started talking about people in hotels, that were now being displaced and people from all over this country that were moving into the Convention Center. [Ed comment: the people in the hotels were mostly white.]
Robinson: Time's Up. Thank You...
Peggy Wilson: The good news is, is when we saw those people in front of the Convention Center all of a sudden corruption isn't funny anymore, the poor school system was not funny anymore...
Ron Couhig: We all wish the response had been better.... It wasn't about race. It was a catastrophic thing. I disagree with Mitch and Ray. It wasn't about race. It disturbs me a great deal that whenever they get a chance to use racial pandering they do.
Matthews: Who's "they"?
Couhig: The Mayor in particular...
Robinson: [Who else?]
Couhig: And Mitch has a tendency to do the same.
Virginia Boulet:... We also don't need to be criticizing President Bush or Governor Blanco, Ray [looks at Ray Nagin]....
I could unpack this exchange for hours, and what it reveals about people's thinking (or lack thereof) about race. Matthews' question comes across much clearer on video, but, as his follow up makes plain, he is asking: do you think the exact same national reaction/response would have occurred if there were thousands of white folks trapped for days on end without food, water, medicine... etc.
Deep down, everyone knows the answer to that, whether they want to admit it or not.
And don't give me any of this "Are you saying Bush doesn't care about black people because, ya know, Condi Rice is black. Are you saying Bush deliberately played guitar and napped and ate cake while happily ignoring stranded black people? Are you saying the American public didn't care, because there was a lot of contributions made after all that televised moaning and wailing."
No. Sorry. Like Landrieu correctly observed, the so-called issue of "race" is complex. Not everything fits neatly into simple categories of "Klan" or "Colorblind". One thing I will bet my child's eyes on, though: there would have been a quicker response to alleviate the suffering if those crowds were white. Heaven and Earth would have been moved. Period.
Can I prove that assertion? Well, not exactly. But let's perform a little thought experiment.
Can you name one of the thousand New Orleanians still missing from Katrina-- just one name is all I need. You can choose any young, attractive, missing black woman; perhaps one whose life includes interesting, mysterious details... whatever floats your boat. Perhaps she is alive, perhaps dead. Perhaps she assumed a new identity and travelled to a Carribean island. All I need is one name; I'll use the first one off the top of your head-- the missing Katrina victim whose story is most compelling to you, the one you've followed closely over the last seven months. You know... HER. That interesting missing black woman from New Orleans who disappeared after the floods. The one for whom you spend all that mental energy speculating and hypothesizing. The one they discuss on all those talk shows. Yes, her. You can picture her face. I want her name. From you. Right now.
Ok, good. Thank you kindly. Now hold on to that name for a couple more 'graphs.
See: the national reaction would have been the same no matter what color the faces at the Convention Center were. That's the lie that most of our mayoral candidates affirmed in front of a national TV audience last night. Candidates from New Orleans said that race was not a factor in the Katrina aftermath. Only Mitch and Nagin had the nerve to directly confront this bald, obvious lie, rather than insult black New Orleanians with willful ignorance. And then Couhig has the gall to pile on, and claim that Nagin and Landrieu engaged in "racial pandering". That's outrageous! Couhig asserts that race was a total non-factor in the response, and that those who disagree with such a laughable claim must be doing so in order to "pander" to black voters. No, Rob, the real pandering is to pretend we're in a hunky dory colorblind society because it's too uncomfortable a topic for whites to wholeheartedly address. That's where I see the "pandering".
For the record, Ron Forman also limply denied that race played a role, and Wilson and Boulet skirted the issue, while Watson ineffectively redirected the question to talk about race relations prior to Katrina. Other than Mitch's masterful response (and Nagin's) weren't you similarly disappointed in how the candidates tackled this important, but thorny issue?
Alright, now do me a favor and plug your missing New Orleanian's name into a Google Search and note how many results come up. Then compare it, to, say, Natalee Holloway. (She's a white girl, btw.)
Wow, 3 million results for Natalee. Amazing!
Maybe that wasn't fair. Who keeps track of individual names after a man-made catastrophe, anyway? Let's instead search for a more general term, like levee failure. Hey, look at that, almost half as many results as Natalee!! That's progress.
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President Bush, Speech at Jackson Square, 9/15/06:
Within the Gulf region are some of the most beautiful and historic places in America. As all of us saw on television, there's also some deep, persistent poverty in this region, as well. That poverty has roots in a history of racial discrimination, which cut off generations from the opportunity of America. We have a duty to confront this poverty with bold action. So let us restore all that we have cherished from yesterday, and let us rise above the legacy of inequality.
