Katrina, race and the South

Among the many issues brought into stark relief by the impact of Hurricane Katrina is the persistent racial divide in the American South.

The national media patted itself on the back for noticing that most of those who suffered in the wake of Katrina were African-Americans. That's because race and class overlap in this country, especially in urban areas, and being poor was a major disadvantage in the evacuation procedures and subsequent relief efforts.

But the Southern culture of racial segregation can be observed in other ways as well. Some communities are resistant to accepting African-American refugees. Take this example, from a New York Times article:

Before the evacuation, blacks made up about half the population of Baton Rouge and almost 70 percent of New Orleans, and in conversations in which race is often explicit or just below the surface, voices on the street, in shops, and especially in the anonymous hothouse of talk radio were raising a new question: just how compassionate can this community, almost certainly home to more evacuees than any other, afford to be?

[. . .]

Like many people in and near Baton Rouge, Mrs. Smallwood, her 1,700-square-foot house now sheltering 14 people, is trying to balance the need for compassion with the vertigo of a changed city. And so while she wishes all the evacuees well, she said she feared an influx of people from the housing projects of New Orleans, places, she has heard, where people walk around in T-shirts that read, "Kill the cops."

Such feelings will surely lead to pressure to continue segregational practices in determining where permanent refugees will settle and in which schools their children ultimately enroll.

Still another racial dynamic will be observed in the region's political calculus, as a solidly Democratic voting bloc of African-Americans is dispersed, reducing their collective power and the strength of the party.