And another thing- because I feel so strongly about it just in case folks in this simulated discussion circle may not journey over to the "White woman needed" thread, I'm repeating what I "said" there because it speaks to Guest's question about what could have been done differently [and why it wasn't]:

"Back in 1903 African American writer, historian, sociologist, and civil rights activist W.E.B Du Bois said that "the problem of the twentieth Century is the problem of the color line."

In my opinion, one of the lessons of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina is in the 21st century the USA still has a racial problem, but poverty + race tromps color.

I know of African Americans from New Orleans who have money and cars. These Black people were able to evacuate New Orleans and did so.

I wondered about the Black university students and faculty in New Orleans and appreciate GUEST's [03 Sep 05 - 07:26 AM] post that the [presumably on-campus] students of Xavier were evacuated. I agree with Guest that the reasons why these Black people were evacuated and not some others was that "they have middle and upper class advocates outside the region, and the students and staff at the universities aren't perceived as 'dangerous and desperate'"...and
"the only difference between the people there and the people blocks away from them was class. Not race, class."

But the problem with economic class is that one can't always tell which class a person is by looking. Americans [particularly those of us who live in geographic regions where there are significant numbers of people of color] are unconsciously socialized to determine a person's race [and ethnicity in the case of Latinos] by using the visual clues of skin color, hair texture, and physical features. Of course, there are times when we "guess wrong" [for instance, in the case of very light skinned African Americans who can "pass for White" because they have "White" hair texture and "White" physical features] because they either have one birth parent who is White or because their birth families have more White ancestry than Black. Though it is a widely repeated cultural belief among African Americans that we can "always tell" a Black person who is "passing" {either purposely doing so temporarily or permanently or who just looks like he or she is White} that is not always the case.

My point is that if middle class Black people are removed from their {our} material props [nice clothes, cars, jewlery, hair care etc] they {we} can't be distinguished from poor Black people. There are contemporary stories about how prominent Black people were unable to get taxis in New York City or were pulled over by state troopers while driving expensive cars. In effect given certain circumstances we are vulnerable to the same racist bulls**** as poor African Americans and other poor people of color.

And the beat goes on from century to century until America learns to practice what it preaches [equality; freedom; equal treatment under the law; equal access to governmental, health care, and support services etc] or until America is no more.