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The Power Of Poverty

Hurricane Katrina is considered to be one of the strongest hurricanes to ever hit U.S. soil. With winds that exceeded 160 mph, many authorities were frightened of the effects the hurricane might have on New Orleans, a city six feet below sea level. Although New Orleans is six feet under water, the city is protected by levees that were only able to withstand a category 3 hurricane. Katrina’s strength was anticipated to be much stronger. With the concern of the residents in New Orleans, mayor Ray Nagin ordered a mandatory evacuation of the city of New Orleans days before the hurricane would strike. The city was deserted by its fellow residents trying to flee to higher land and out of danger.
The days that followed Katrina would be seen by citizens throughout the world. News broadcasts covered the southern region of Louisiana non stop. Dead bodies on the side of the road, elderly people being pushed in a shopping cart, innocent children crying for their parents, parents crying for their lost children are just a few of the horrifying images seen on the news. Seeing images of people desperate for food and shelter made it clear that the government was not doing its job quickly enough. After watching the news for a couple days, many Americans came to a strong conclusion: President Bush does not like black people. Many of these people felt that the government was not responding quickly to the relief effort because most of the victims were African-American. Kanye West and Howard Dean were two prominent figures to sound off saying race had played a role in the relief efforts (Bumiller).
Although race probably played a role in the aftermath of Katrina, the most prominent problem was poverty. Most of the victims that were left to wander the water infested streets were people that lived in poverty. While majority of people living in New Orleans were African-American, there were still plenty of Caucasian and Hispanic people living in New Orleans, leading to not only...