INJUSTICE BY THE NUMBERS
count 'em down
(Note: I asked a friend and colleague, Professor David Leonard at Washington St. Univ., if there was anything he wanted to say regarding Katrina and since he's been posting in the comments on several threads. This is what he sent. -- O.W.)
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Injustice by the Numbers
compiled/written by Dr. David Leonard
125
MPH Winds
Not what destroyed New Orleans, that left the lives of so many in ruins
Facing an uncertain future already uncertain within Bush’s America
71.2
Million Dollars
Sliced from the Budget of the Army Corp of Engineers
Leaving the levees and water pumping system unable to save New Orleans
33.8
Billion Dollars
Allocated to the Department of Homeland Security
Protecting who from what, just not Hurricanes or poverty
67
Percent
Of New Orleans is African American
Surviving race riots, Jim Crow, deindustrialization and an unavailable American Dream
30
Percent
Of New Orleans lives below the poverty line
Astounding to some, but the end result of Hurricane free market
120,000
People
Without Cars, and thousands more without options
Media blaming them for their stubbornness, for choosing not to leave
5
Days
People desperate to survive, to hug and feel their loved ones again
Waiting for food, water, transportation and security
90
Percent
Of those stranded on 1-10, without food, water or the spoils of America were Black and poor
Demonstrating that American continues not to be America for much of America
100s
Of questions
To victims of American Racism, of poverty, of another hurricane
Wondering why they didn’t just leave, work harder, and pull themselves up by their bootstraps
1000s
Of Images
Those looters who take food, bread, shoes and televisions
Stealing from the hand that feeds them no water, food, or Future
2
Comments
From Bill O’Reilly, that unfair and unbalanced media hack
Calling them, the victims, those black victims, a urban menace that deserves to be shot
SHUT UP!
1000s
Of comments
On the Internet, in the street, and behind closed doors
Blaming the victims, those black victims, referring to them as animals and savages
SHUT UP!
1
Image
That of Mardi Gras, beads, flaming desserts, and parties
Denying the reality of New Orleans, of America, one of poverty, inequality and despair
SHUT UP!
George Bush, T.D Jakes, Michael Brown, Bill O’Reilly, that asshole at Nuevo, Barbara Bush, skinheads, haters and those who tell Kanye to sit down, who deny race, who laugh at the death, who make jokes, who don’t give, who live in their bubble . . . . Shut up and Listen and Learn
40
Percent
Illiterate
50
Percent
Of Children Living in Poverty
50
Percent
Drop Out Rate
$4,724
Spent Per Child
48th
In Teacher Salaries
60
Students Drop out each day
50,000 students
Absent each Day from School
No Child Left Behind??
No Child Left Behind
Left Behind in Angola State Prison
Number 1
Factor
Being Race in the geographic organization of communities
Leaving people of color in the worst, most vulnerable places
10,000
Dead
Mostly African American men, women and children
Dying not from a natural disaster, but from racism, from neglect from the violence of America
100,000s
Dead
Mostly men, women and Children of color
Dying not from natural causes, but from greed, from capitalism, from violence
Hurricane Katrina
A Natural Disaster
If only poverty, police brutality, structural adjustment, the prison industrial complex, environmental racism, neglect, ignorance, and white supremacy were natural
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