They are poor because of decisions they have made. There are opportunities abound for people who are willing to work, not to mention the affirmative action programs, and gov't $ available for schooling for minorities. I had to put up with that "diversity" crap all through college, and aside from some legitimately helpless people, they made their bed. You are where you are in life because of choices you make. You can't change all that in 4 days before a hurricane...
This is true only in part.
There is a moderately large (say, ten million) population of third-world people living among us. They are concentrated in certain urban and rural areas, and if you don't live or work where they live, they are quite invisible.
Most of them are of African descent, but most Americans of African descent are not like them.
This group of people has little political power, except in urban areas of high concentration, of which the former city of New Orleans was clearly one.
These people of whom I speak are not in a position to benefit from work, or government $ for schooling, or affirmative action (all of which have been a tremendous engine of progress for many other African-descended Americans). They are living like rural Africans live today, they are way, way out of their depth in a 21st-Century first world nation, and nobody has any idea what to do about them.
I don't believe you realize just how profound the statement you made here really is. It is absolutely irrefutable.
IT is written that Jesus said, "The Poor you shall have with you always." In the years after I was first saved, and still learning his teachings; I often wondered how a Loving God could allow people to live in poverty. I have since learned that it is in fact not his will for anyone to live being dependent on others, but to be dependent on him.
I am 47 years old now, and the fullness of what Jesus was actually saying in that statement, is suddenly becoming clear.
Thanks