Guest Post by Morbo
It’s not considered polite to mention the racial dimension to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, but the facts are undeniable: Most of those left behind in the Superdome and other parts of New Orleans were poor and black.
Affluent whites would never have been left to stew in a hot, overcrowded sports stadium or convention center without food, water and working bathrooms for five days. Affluent whites would never have been in such a place to begin with.
The utter disregard for the poor African-American community in New Orleans, most of whom simply could not evacuate because they lacked funds, cars and places to go, is sending shocks waves across black America. The New York Times reported:
Many African-Americans across the country said they seethed as they watched the television pictures of the largely poor and black victims of Hurricane Katrina dying for food and water in the New Orleans Superdome and the convention center.
They ought to seethe. But the African-American community needs to do more than that. It needs hold the Bush administration accountable for this travesty.
African-Americans, and indeed all Americans, also need to be alert to the con the administration is preparing to use to spin its way out of this: photo ops with black preachers.
A prominent but anonymous black conservative told The Times that he was alarmed when he saw pictures of Bush meeting with the white governors of Mississippi and Alabama while ignoring the victims in New Orleans. “I said, ‘Grab some black people who look like they might be preachers,'” he said.
Bush took the advice to heart and three days later appeared in Baton Rouge alongside T.D. Jakes, a black TV preacher who frequently fronts for the president. Bush later met with other black clergy to see what could be done.
The pattern is familiar. Instead of actually helping the people in need, Bush finds time for a photo op. Why haven’t members of the black clergy stood up and demanded more? Unfortunately, many of them have been bought off with promises of money through the “faith-based initiative.”
A few years ago, white evangelicals started the WWJD fad — asking themselves “What would Jesus do?” in the face of a moral dilemma. Black clergy might want to resurrect that question today, and add a different letter — WWKD — “What would King do?”
I think it’s unlikely that Martin Luther King, if he could have observed recent events in New Orleans, would have happily accepted a check from the White House and clammed up. King could not be bought. He had the moral authority to rebuke the powers that be, and he wasn’t afraid to use it.
How sad to see some black pastors turn their backs on that legacy and agree to wear a muzzle for the sake of a few of Caesar’s coins. How sad to see others lead their flocks astray with homophobic rants against gay marriage and other right-wing social issues while King’s quest for economic justice is shelved and Republicans continue to pursue policies that have decimated minorities.
Everyone ought to be angry about what happened in New Orleans. As an American, I simply cannot be silent when any of my fellow citizens, no matter what their race, sex or creed may be, are treated as disposable.
Justifiable outrage already exists in the black community. Polls show that two-thirds of African-Americans oppose Bush’s handling of the disaster. The black clergy, due to the respect it has in the African-American community and the power of its pulpits, has a special role to play in funneling that outrage into a vehicle for positive change in America.
Bush will try to buy them off with “faith-based” checks and photo ops. That won’t happen if enough black clergy stand up and behave like King. They could start by thanking Bush for the offering of meetings but then asking some tough questions, mainly: Where the hell were you when our people were dying in the Superdome?