Did Hurricane Katrina reveal a historic reality?

Obviously Carlson is unaware of all the comments made by whites in the aftermath of Katrina as to why “lazy, ignorant blacks” didn’t remove themselves from New Orleans when they heard the storm was coming. She must be oblivious to several incidents that occurred after Katrina struck that support West’s comments and that render hers naive at best, and willfully ignorant at worst. As Tulane University professor Lawrence N. Powell contends, racial animosity for black folk flared when they were barred from the predominantly white neighborhood of Gretna outside of New Orleans, and when a congressman celebrated nature’s destruction of public housing.

I don’t how to get this point across without being blunt, but white supremacists have dropped the pretense of code-speak and are saying flat-out, “don’t let them back in,” using the n-word for emphasis. These raw words echoed at the police blockade on the Mississippi River bridge connecting New Orleans with the West Bank of suburban Jefferson parish, where policemen from Gretna, a notoriously racist town, fired shots over the heads of Convention Center evacuees as they walked toward the on-ramp pursuant to instructions that buses were waiting on the other side to carry them to safety.... A friend who rode out the storm in Uptown New Orleans ... tells of witnessing gas station owners urging the military to keep blacks out. Several Uptown swells and white-shoe lawyers who huddled in the Hyatt Hotel across from the crowded misery inside the sodden and unsanitary Superdome were almost jubilant about the ethnic cleansing wrought by Katrina, so friends in the media report. Republican Congressman Richard Baker, representing a prosperous area of Baton Rouge, said this of the storm’s aftermath: “We finally cleaned up public housing in New Orleans. We couldn’t do it, but God did.”

New Orleans rapper Master P questioned whether West’s comments were genuine or inspired by commercial interests. “I hope the comments that Kanye West made is sincere and this is not a promotional thing to sell records,” Master P commented. “I know he’s got a new album out right now.” Master P’s personal involvement may have clouded his understanding of the critical relationship between politics and the relief for the poor he so desperately desired. “We gotta save people. We need George Bush, we need the Mayor [of New Orleans], we need the [Louisiana] Governor. I’ve lost people, I know how real it is. This ain’t about a promotional thing with me. I’ve got loved ones out there missing.” But unlike Carlson, West understood, indeed felt, the profound disregard for black life that the president’s policies reinforced. And unlike Master P, West understood that one of the reasons more help hadn’t gotten to the black poor more quickly is because of a delayed governmental response that had racial roots.

West proved that his comments were anchored in reason and passionate commitment, and not a one-off rant that was more cathartic than critical, when he defended himself a week later. “People are like, ‘Yo, aren’t you scared that something’s going to happen to you?’” West said. “I was like, ‘I can think of a lot worse things that could happen to me, like how about not eating for five days? Or how about not knowing where my f*** family is? Everybody’s always concerned about theyself.” West was critical of the nation’s denial of poverty, but he warned that it would come back to haunt us. “I just feel like America’s always been pushing the [impoverished] under the counter, trying to act like it’s not really there. And what happens if you’re cleaning the kitchen and you’re always dusting something under the counter? If you spill something, it’s going come up and be in your ... face.”

Not only did West redeem the sometimes sorry state of a hip-hop world careening on the gaudy trinkets of its own success—booze, broads, and bling—but his gesture signaled a political courage on the part of the black blessed that is today all too rare. Many hip-hop artists were encouraged by West’s words, affirming that he echoed the sentiments of less-known artists. Still others took them as the occasion to challenge themselves and their peers to bridge the gap between their art and their practice. “We’ve been screaming this for five years,” David Banner proclaimed about the critique of the Bush administration put forth by many rap artists. “You listen to your David Banners, Dead Prez, listen to rap music period. This is what rappers have been screaming all the time. The problem is America concentrates more on our cuss words. They don’t hear the pain in the music all the time. You just finally had somebody who has the power Kanye has, who said it at the right time.”

Fellow Southern rapper T.I. challenged the tall-talking emcees, who brag about living a lavish lifestyle, to furnish proof of their treasure in their philanthropy. “I called everybody’s bluff who be talking all that ballin’ sh**,” T.I. said. “Popping all them bottles in the club ... talking about how much girls and jewelry and cars they got. Let’s see how much money they’ve got for a good cause. Basically, I told everybody to put their money where their mouths are, and if you ain’t got no money to give to the cause, I don’t want to hear that sh** no more.” Chicago rapper Twista challenged black people to embrace the poor, who are wrongfully neglected by the government. “They’ve been bogus, so what is everybody so shocked about?” Twista said of the political establishment. “I feel the response was real slow, but I look at my own harder than I look at them. I feel like us as black folks were supposed to stop what we was doing, put all that sh** down and get these [disaster victims] straight.”

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