Anyone watching the coverage of New Orleans cannot help but notice that those left behind after the evacuation seem to be African-Americans, those experiencing homelessness, those living in poverty, the elderly, and the ill.
Then he will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.” – Matthew 25:45 (NRSV)
Wil Haygood wrote today in The Washington Post:
While hundreds of thousands of people have been dislocated by Hurricane Katrina, the images that have filled the television screens have been mainly of black Americans -- grieving, suffering, in some cases looting and desperately trying to leave New Orleans. Along with the intimate tales of family drama and survival being played out Thursday, there was no escaping that race had become a subtext to the unfolding drama of the hurricane's aftermath.
Would the chaos we’ve witnessed this week have occurred if most of those facing the crisis had been white and rich? Sadly, most of us can admit the answer is no. The government would have gotten their act together and food and water would have moved into the area long before it has in this case.
America left the least of these behind again this week.
Related Post: Hurricane Katrina: Has America Failed?
