When Wolf Blitzer on CNN at the end of the week said, "Had this happened in a predominantly white community, the federal government would have responded much more quickly," he was probably right. Had not reporters made racist assumptions about black behavior and given airtime to a few purveyors of hatred, rescuers would not have had to view their operations as demanding military precaution rather than merely humanitarian speed. Had commanders not seen the need to arrive at the convention center with overwhelming force, they probably would have been able to evacuate people from there a day earlier.
Instead of tamping down hysteria, network talkers regularly stirred up racial anger. On NBC, anchor Brian Williams lectured that the hurricane would "necessitate a national discussion on race, on oil, politics, class, infrastructure, the environment and more." On ABC, Ted Koppel began by orating that New Orleans is 67 percent black, and, "The slow response to the victims of Hurricane Katrina has led to questions about race, poverty and a seemingly indifferent government." CNN's Blitzer repeatedly called the hurricane victims "so poor and so black," and prodded interviewees to find racism in the government's response.
The facts, though, indicate that Katrina was an equal-opportunity drowner. Of the identified victims released to families from a makeshift New Orleans morgue, 44 percent were African-American, 47 percent Caucasian, 3 percent Hispanic and 8 percent unknown. Nor were blacks the only ones to see their homes destroyed. Katrina's storm surge demolished 95 percent of the homes in 95 percent white St. Bernard parish.
One broadcaster from that parish noted: "It was over five days before the federal government showed up. ... Sixty-six thousand people live in my parish. ... They're picking up pets in the city, and I still have people in the attics trapped, waiting on roofs for someone to come rescue them."