LOOTING
NEW ORLEANS AND AMERICA'S POVERTY CRISIS
By
Earl Ofari Hutchinson
Two
things happened in one day that tell much about the abysmal failure
of the Bush administration to get a handle on poverty in America.
The first was the tragic and disgraceful shots of hordes of New Orleans
residents scurrying down the city's Hurricane ravaged streets with
their arms loaded with food,
clothes, appliances, and in some cases guns, that they looted from
stores and shops. That same day, the Census Bureau released a report
that found that the number of poor Americans has leaped even higher
since Bush took office in 2000. While criminal gangs who always take
advantage of chaos and misery to snatch and grab whatever they can,
did much of the looting, many desperately poor, mostly black residents,
saw a chance to grab items that they can't afford. They also did their
share of the looting. That makes it no less reprehensible, but it's
no surprise. New Orleans has one of the highest poverty rates of any
of America's big cities. According to a report by Total Community
Action, a New Orleans public advocacy group, nearly one out of three
New Orleans residents
live below the poverty level, the majority of who are black. A spokesperson
for the United Negro College Fund noted that the city's poor live
in some of the most dilapidated, and deteriorated housing in the nation.
But New Orleans is not an aberration. Nationally, according to Census
figures, blacks remain at the bottom of the economic totem pole. They
have the lowest media income of any group. Bush's war and economic
policies don't help matters. His tax cuts redistributed billions to
the rich and corporations. The Iraq war has drained billions from
cash starved job training, health and education programs. Increased
American dependence on Saudi Oil has driven gas and oil prices skyward.
Corporate downsizing, outsourcing, and industrial flight have further
fueled America's poverty crisis. All of this happened on Bush's watch.
The 2 million new jobs in 2004 Bush touts as proof that his economic
policies work have been mostly smoke and mirrors number counting.
The bulk of these jobs are low pay jobs, with minimum benefits, and
little job security in retail and service industries. A big portion
of the nearly 40 million Americans that live below the official poverty
line fill these jobs. They're the lucky ones. They have jobs. Many
young blacks, such as those that ransacked stores in New Orleans,
don't.
The poverty crisis has slammed them the hardest of all. Even during
the Clinton era economic boom, the unemployment rate for young black
males was double, and in some parts of the country, triple that of
white males.
During the past couple of years, state and federal cutbacks in job
training and skills programs, the brutal competition for low and semi
skilled service and retail jobs from immigrants, and the refusal of
many employers to hire those with criminal records have further hammered
black communities and added to the Great Depression era high unemployment
numbers among young blacks. The tale of poverty is more evident in
the nearly one million blacks behind bars, the HIV/AIDS rampage in
black communities, the sea of black homeless persons, and the raging
drug and gang violence that rips apart many black communities.
Then there are the children. One third of America's poor are children.
Worse, the Children's Defense Fund found that nearly 1 million black
children live not in poverty, but in extreme poverty. That's the greatest
number of black children trapped in dire poverty in nearly a quarter
century.
Bush officials claim the poverty numbers do not surprise them. They
contend that past trends show that poverty peaks and then declines
a year after the jump in new job growth. But the poverty numbers have
steadily risen for not one, but all five years of his administration.
There has been no sign of a turnaround. For that to happen, Bush would
have to reverse his tax and war spending policies, and commit massive
funds to job, training and education programs, and provide tax incentives
for businesses to train and hire the poor. That would take an active
national lobbying effort by Congressional Democrats, civil rights,
and anti-poverty groups. That's not likely either. The poor are too
nameless, faceless, and vast in numbers to target with a sustained
lobbying campaign.
While the NAACP hammers Bush on the war, and his domestic policies,
poverty
has not been their top priority. The fight for affirmative action,
economic parity, professional advancement and busing replaced battling
poverty, reducing unemployment, securing quality education, promoting
self-help and gaining
greater political empowerment as the goals of all African-Americans.
That
effectively left the one out of four blacks that wallow below the
official poverty
level out in the cold.
The looting in New Orleans, though deplorable, put an ugly public
face on a crisis that Bush administration policies have made worse.
The millions in America that grow poorer, more desperate, and greater
in number, are bitter testament to that.
Comments?
Send to Hutchinsonreport@aol.com
Interview Requests
Contact: 323-296-6331
Earl Ofari Hutchinson is a noted author of nine books about the African
American experience in America. His numerous published articles appear
in newspapers and magazines across the country as well as some of
the most popular web sites on the Internet. He is a radio host and
TV commentator. He has received several awards for his writings. Earl
Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. He is the publisher
of The Hutchinson Report Newsletter, an on-line political newsletter:
subscribe: hutchinsonreport@aol.com
or visit the web site: http://thehutchinsonreport.com
Weekly Event
The Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable will feature a debate on three
strikes reform, Saturday October 2, 10-11AM, Lucy Florence Coffeehouse,
3351 W. 43rd St, L.A. (Leimert Park)
