There's a horrible email making the rounds for the last few months. It even has a
Snopes entry. I tried ignoring it, but finally I had to comment on the implied racism and classism in this, especially since I've seen it republished this week in a HAM radio newsletter by people who likely didn't see the racism implied in it. On the flip...
Sorry, but this hit a nerve. I'm on a soap box...
The email (box below) totally underestimates the damage from Katrina. North Dakota knows they get tons of snow every winter, often trapping people. They are prepared and expect this from their winters, and in this case of the "cat 5" snow storm, the gov't via the police and sherrif actually did help many stranded people. (See Snopes link above.)
The people in Mississippi and Louisianna lost their homes. That is totally different from having your house intact and buried under snow.
The people in ND were effected for a week, two at the most. Seven months later the people in LA and MI have no home, no running water, no nothing but the piece of land where their house once sat. No jobs because the business where they worked no longer exists. There was no way to bring in food from restaurants, as in ND, because there were no restaurants.
I also think this email is a bit of conservative rhetoric to try and justify not helping people after the hurricane (especially hints of racism with what happened in New Orleans). I find the last sentence about the world not owing you a living is a fallacy and doesn't apply at all to Katrina victims--or victims of any real disaster. The whole point of government is to secure the nation and its people. With Katrina, our gov't failed miserably. Imagine if you lost everything. What would you do if the only possessions you had were the ones currently on you.
As for the people needing to help themselves get out of harm, I'd like to see this author say that to the elderly who have dementia and don't understand what's going on, or to the handicapped who couldn't physically get out of harm's way, or even to the totally poor who have no car or no money to buy tickets on busses, which incidentally weren't even running. The only way people could leave New Orleans was by car, which means only those well off enough to own a car could leave. We also have to remember that the hurricane passed up New Orleans and that the
people there died from flooding caused by old and insufficient levees which the gov't knew needed repairs.
I get really angry at these kinds of emails, especially when it's from some white person with a
decent job and a car who's trying to imply that all the problems in NO were because (whether stated or implied) all blacks are lazy. The author of this email implies this by using affirmative action gov't" and "up here it is 'work or die'. Using language like this seems inoccuous at first, but when you parse it, you see it for what it is: racism.
The email implies that up where everyone is white, they work hard and take care of their own. This language sets up an implied "other" from the "south" which is worse than everything glorious about the land north of the 48th parallel. (We could read this as Canada, but I digress.)
The email fails to understand poverty in the US and how destitute many people are. It also fails to recognize the complete and utter destruction of hundreds and hundreds of miles, which has absolutely nothing to do with race.
The middle class north doesn't understand what it's like for people who have no checking accounts, who live paycheck to paycheck, who can only find minimum wage jobs at $5.15/hr, which amounts to about $4.50/hr after taxes, if they are lucky enough to have a job. The email also implies that the poor were somehow benefitting from welfare. This reinforces the stereotype of who is on welfare and why--"they" are lazy, "they" are stupid/uneducated, "they" don't deserve our help. When you set up an "other" like this, you resort to strawman arguments. Of course the reality is much more complex.
I also find it odd that many of the people with these attitudes are so-called Christians who are showing no compassion for those in need. Would Jesus have said, "help yourself" to those stuck on roofs? Would Jesus have said, "it's not the government's role to help you." Would Jesus have said, "you don't deserve our help because you are angry at the gov't and cursing that this happened to you." I don't think so.
Anyone in North Dakota should be thankful that their house is still standing, that no one died, that they were adequately prepared for their yearly snow dump, that they have a job they can return to the day after the snow plow moves through town. Instead, this email is trying
to be overtly judgmental of people who are suffering. It sets up and argues against a strawman. It implies racial overtones in the north v south, rich/middle v poor, hard workers v welfare recipients. I highly doubt Jesus would approve of this.
Judge for yourself.
North Dakota News-- This text is from a county emergency manager out in the western part of North Dakota after the recent snowstorm.
WEATHER BULLETIN: Up here in the Northern Plains we just recovered from a Historic event --- may I even say a "Weather Event" of "Biblical Proportions" --- with a historic blizzard of up to44" inches of snow and winds to 90 MPH that broke trees in half, knocked down utility poles, stranded hundreds of motorists in lethal snow banks, closed ALL roads, isolated scores of communities and cut power to 10'sof thousands.
FYI: George Bush did not come....
FEMA did nothing.... No one howled for the government... No one blamed the government
No one even uttered an expletive on TV...
Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton did not visit
Our Mayor's did not blame Bush or anyone else
Our Governor did not blame Bush or anyone else either
CNN, ABC, CBS, FOX, or NBC did not visit - or report on this category 5 snow storm
Nobody demanded $2,000 debit cards.....
No one asked for a FEMA Trailer House....
No one looted....
Nobody - I mean Nobody demanded the government do something. Nobody expected the government to do anything either.
No Larry King, No Bill O'Reilly, No Oprah, No Chris Mathews and No Geraldo Rivera
No Shaun Penn, No Barbara Striesand, No Hollywood types to be found.
We just melted the snow for water, sent out caravans of SUV's to pluck people out of snow engulfed cars. The truck drivers pulled people out of snow banks and didn't ask for a penny.
Local restaurants made food and the police and fire departments delivered it to the snowbound families. Families took in the stranded people - total strangers. We fired up wood stoves, broke out coal oil lanterns or Coleman lanterns. We put on extra layers of clothes because up here it is "Work or Die".
We did not wait for some affirmative action government to get us out of a mess created by being immobilized by a welfare program that trades votes for "sittin at home' checks.
Even though a Category"5" blizzard of this scale has never fallen this early...we know it can happen and how to deal with it ourselves.
"In my many travels, I have noticed that once one gets north of about 48 degrees North Latitude, 90% of most of the world's social problems evaporate." It does seem that way, at least to me.. I hope this gets passed on.. Maybe, SOME people will get the message.......The world does not owe you a living..