A lot of newscasts have discussed how those left in the city were black and poor - meaning both African-Americans and poor people of all colors were left.
But what it looks like to me, with some exceptions, is that the ones left in New Orleans were the poor African-Americans. You weren't left if you were black, you weren't left if you were poor - you were left only if you were both black and poor. In other words, our most marginalized citizens.
There are a lot of poor white people in New Orleans - yet the crowds of refugees were almost entirely black.
There are a lot of middle class black people in New Orleans, yet the crowds of refugees were consistently described as composed of the poor.
And then there was the reaction to the looting. Across the board there was not statement from the politicians that if someone has no food or water they need to loot in order to survive. Instead it was a discussion of bringing back "law and order." There was no discussion of getting food and water to people, instead it was issuing orders to "shoot to kill."
In short, there was no compassion, just a move to bring the "untamed masses" back under control. (Yes, looting for items other than food & water occurred and there is no excuse for that. But there was no discussion of the difference.)
In short the government failed its most helpless citizens. And it clearly had a gigantic racial component in that decision to abandon them. Because I think the response would have been a lot different if the tens of thousands were middle class whites.
