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
It's great to have this statistic. So much for the Bush administration let blacks die. I see that more whites died than black in New Orleans during Katrina and won't forget that tidbit the next time we hear some leftist complaining about Republican bigotry in responding to natural disasters.
Hope the guys at Accuracy in Media keep us informed.
It only shows nature is racist. It killed more whites than it should.
How could they tell they weren't visiting from Africa or some other place?
How can you tell where someone is born, with out an ID card?
Could some of been African-Africans?
BTTT
Excellent work, Carl.
Facts ALWAYS contradict racial compaints.
Democrat's complaints, too.
But I repeat myself.
*Ping*
Some could have been Black-Creole and they look down on African-Americans.
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?
What a relief. How horrible it would have been if more of the dead had been black. Since so many whites were killed, I guess it's not as bad.
Hmmm?
no no no... it shows nature is 'progressive'
I happened to see a box of Wheaties the other day. It had a picture of Roberto Clemente on the front, with the words "First Hispanic inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame." I always thought that Roberto was Black. Silly me!
Of course, this stat ingnores the hundreds that died in Mississippi, probably most of them white.
Oopsies. Do you think the liberal fanatics in the media will issue an apology to white America?
Uh...well.. that 52% musta' gotten in the way of that 48% that Bush wanted to kill.
Free Tookie!!! Free Tookie!!! DOn't be Kill'in a man of peace!!! Free Tookie--
or else I'm gonna put a cap in your a__ B--ch!!!
ah-ight?
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