I think it is fair to say that, presented with those two pictures without any caption, a lot of white people, who are in no way consciously racist, would be likely to make the same assumption that the caption writer for AP is reasonably suspected of making.

But I think it is also reasonable to assume that a lot of white writers would have made the same assumption had the photo been of a white person.

I remain bemused by this. Had it been the same organisation even producing the pictures, I might open up to a some possibility. Had it been the same writer, there certainly would be questions to ask...

As it stands though, the only way I can read it is that there are simply too many variables to reach any firm conclusion and there are plenty of (more likely IMO) reasons why this could have occured without bringing in the race card.

I think things as iffy as this actually do the race issues a disservice. And their remains a far bigger race issue, one that I don't believe several innocent possibilities exist for. Quite simply (and basing this now on more I've read):

How come there are such a high % of black Americans near or below the poverty line in NO? As far as I can make out, they comprise rather more than they do in the overall 67% average of the total population.