Posted on 12/12/2005 9:00:53 AM PST by Carl/NewsMax
The popular perception that African-Americans living in New Orleans were disproportionately victimized by the government's botched Hurricane Katrina rescue effort turns out not to be true - at least according to preliminary death statistics released by the state of Louisiana.
On Wednesday, Congress heard dramatic testimony from black Katrina survivors, who complained that racism drove the federal rescue efforts and resulted in an unnecessarily high number of African-American deaths.
"People were allowed to die," storm survivor Leah Hodges testified, telling a House panel that black residents of New Orleans had been victims of "genocide and ethnic cleansing."
But preliminary figures compiled by the morgue in St. Gabriel, Louisiana, which is the primary facility handling the bodies of Katrina deceased, show that a majority of the dead in New Orleans and surrounding parishes were actually not black.
Of the 883 bodies processed so far by medical examiners at St. Gabriel, 562 have been identified by race. Slightly less than half that number - 48 percent - are African-American.
Forty-one percent are white, 8 percent unknown and 2 percent Hispanic.
The remarkable numbers, which undermine claims that Katrina rescue efforts were somehow infused by racism, have been completely ignored by the national media, with only the Lousiana-based news web site, The Bayou Buzz, devoting any coverage at all to the story.
The surprisingly low death rate for black Katrina victims comes despite the fact that New Orleans itself was more than two-thirds black [67 percent] when the storm hit. White residents made up less than a third [28 percent] of the city's population, according to U.S. Census bureau numbers.
The two hardest hit areas were Orleans parish, which is the city itself - with 720 people killed by Katrina - and St. Bernard parish, with 123 dead.
St. Bernard parish is 88 percent white, but the total population before the storm was just 65,554 people. The city of New Orleans, on the other hand, had 484,674 people before the storm, 67 percent of whom were black.
The two populations combined were still over 60 percent black - twelve points higher than the percentage of black residents killed by Katrina.
To view the statistics on Katrina dead released by the state of Louisiana, go to: http://www.dhh.louisiana.gov/offices/publications/pubs-145/DECEASED%20Victims%20released_11-14-2005_publication.pdf
Oh I agree that both sides are guilty of agenda driven "news".
"Well, I thought 'hispanics' were white... stupid me... When did 'hispanic' become a race? How is someone from Spain racially different than someone from Portugal or France?"
I think this started with the Clinton administration. I first noticed it then. They do some really goofy things wtih race quotas on federal applications, etc. Mixing up ethnicity with race for example.
exactly right!
So whites died in disproportionate numbers to their actual numbers in the city?
Careful. Someone might call you a racist. ;)
I guess 'hispanic' is more politically correct than 'mullato'. Here in Thailand, I am so happy I don't have to put up with this crap. I have run into a few uber-liberals from the US here and it is a lot of fun to see how angry they get when put into an extremely un-PC environment.
Great statistic to use for future arguments. Thanks.
Seems that blacks in New Orleans were a lot more self sufficient than folks tried to make them.
That ought to be the real story.
susie
Actually, hispanics can be any color, I guess they aredefined by language (Spanish). Doesn't matter. It's all about breaking us into groups so we can vie for a piece of the pie (which the politicians steal from taxpayers and buy votes with).
susie
I think you could have stopped there and been correct.
susie
The surprisingly low death rate for black Katrina victims comes despite the fact that New Orleans itself was more than two-thirds black [67 percent] when the storm hit. White residents made up less than a third [28 percent] of the city's population, according to U.S. Census bureau numbers.
THIS IS PROOF THAT MAYOR RAY NAGIN IS A RACIST!
My claim is just as logical and more justified than the people who have been granted an audience before Congress and the national media. Not to mention the position taken by the national MSM.
Where is my audience? Where is my opportunity to speak to the MSM about this? Give me a microphone so I can tell the world that Nagin is not only an elitist, but a racist.
RANT OVER
BTTT.
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