Who is a Looter? In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, many photographs such as the one seen in Photograph number one flashed across the news channels around America, and throughout the world. The images show a happy, free-for-all style looting of a local New Orleans business, which was closed prior to the storm, and, in the stranded aftermath of the storm, after many of the city's police, firemen, and in the absence of the state's National Guard troops, was being looted by residents who had not evacuated the city (Garrett, Brandon, and Tetlow, Tania, 2006, 127)
Such organizations such as churches played an active role in the relief effort. According to a book entitled There is no such thing as a natural disaster: race, class, and Hurricane Katrina Church groups were instrumental in getting people relocated in the aftermath of the storm (Hartman)
Hurricane Katrina was one of the most devastating natural disasters to ever occur in the United States (Mills et al
The author explains that "Due to its rigidity, both in structure and attitude, ARC failed to recognize some of the critical needs of the communities they were serving, which stemmed from both a lack of diversity within ARC's staff, board and volunteer corps and a lack of knowledge and experience with diverse communities, resulting in several of the organizations mistakes during the response phase. These missteps included volunteers evicting Latino hurricane Victims on the presumption that they were workers and not actual survivors; preventing bilingual professionals from directly assisting Spanish dominant survivors (Muniz, 2006, )
2 million people who left their homes and communities within hours or days before Hurricane Katrina's landfall along the Gulf Coast on August 29, 2005 (Gregory 1989). Due to the subsequent flooding of New Orleans, the 100,000 to 120,000 residents who remained in the city were rapidly transformed into a second wave of evacuees, greatly intensifying the need for shelter and housing (Nigg et al
Located in the poorest region of the United States, the city lacked a scientifically sound public infrastructure. Katrina has therefore been called "the most anticipated natural disaster in modern American history," (King 2006)
Though the basic aspects of the Mardi Gras celebration date back to Medieval Europe, most of the traditions of the modern celebration -- which occurs not just in New Orleans but in many other cities as well -- can be traced definitively back to the New Orleans areas as long ago as 1703 (Mardi Gras New Orleans 2009). Though it is generally thought to be a celebration with roots in Christianity, a celebration similar to Mardi Gras known as Lupercalia was celebrated by the Romans, in which a circus-like festival played a major part (Davis 1997)
The river used to dump a large amount of silt at its mouth, forming these important wetlands, but when diverted by levees and canals, the river instead dumped the silt into the Gulf of Mexico, helping lead to the gradual disappearance of these vital wetlands. In fact, they have been losing up to 24 square miles of coastline, including these wetlands, a year (Spotts)
KARL MARX: Marx believed that in the history of all societies, some kind of class struggles have taken place. First, what is a "class" according to Marx? Edward Andrew, writing in the Canadian Journal of Political Science (Andrew, 1975), writes that Marx did not believe that classes are based on "alleged biological differences, such as race or sex," in the same was castes are classified
." Writing in Nieman Reports, Boston Globe journalist Kevin Cullen outlined the media's "bias against poor people, especially poor black people" in terms of how quickly unconfirmed reports of looting, rapes, hostage situations were accepted as fact, albeit those rumors only helped to feed the notion that somehow angry blacks were out of control (Cullen 2005)
In sum," Niman concludes, "federal policies have allowed New Orleans' black community to drown." Meantime, the devastation to New Orleans was not merely the work of a hurricane, according to an article in Social Policy (Flaherty, 2006); indeed, the damage to New Orleans "came from brutal negligence, a lack of planning and a stunningly slow response
These groups, Flaherty asserts, provided the first organizers in shelters, and continue to support the homeless and luckless victims of Katrina. Meanwhile, an article in the journal Reason laid out the race and class dynamic with forceful simplicity: "Obviously, race and poverty are intertwined in America, and to that extent race was related to who survived in New Orleans" (Young, 2005)
For the purposes of this discussion, we will focus on Social disorganization theory particularly as it relates to residential instability. According to National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS) social disorganization theory can be described as an inability of community members to achieve shared values or to solve jointly experienced problems (Bursik, 1988; Social Disorganization and Rural Communities)
The article explains that As a result, areas with the lowest average socioeconomic status will also have the greatest residential instability and ethnic diversity, which in turn will create social disorganization (Bursik and Grasmick, 1993). Accordingly, many studies have found that urban neighborhoods with high rates of poverty also have greater rates of delinquency (Warner and Pierce, 1993; Social Disorganization and Rural Communities, n
This is because they did not have to coordinate as much with federal and local officials. (Brinkley, 2006, pp
This made it difficult for relief organizations to provide any kind supplies in these areas and it helped to make response / recovery efforts slow. (Brinkley, 2006, pp. 499 -- 540) (Griffin, 2008, pp
However, once president Bush declared the catastrophe a national disaster, the superdome was opened and those who could not leave the city were allowed in, the Louisiana National Guard delivered a food supply that was enough for 1,500 people for 3 days, troops from Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida were all ready for operations. Once the hurricane had made a landfall on August 29, and the situation was dire, JFMCC (Joint Force Maritime Component Command) was formed and established at the Naval Air Station Pensacola under the command of Rear Admiral Kilkenny Joseph and was charged with the marine coordination of the delivery of relief food as well as the rescue operations in the entire Gulf Coast, to give the support in the operations for the civil authorities and FEMA, coordination of all the maritime forces and the naval aircraft as well as the ultimate restoration of the destroyed naval shores facilities in the gulf region (Naval Sea Systems Command, 2007)
Many air crews most of whom had lost their homes during the catastrophe began a round the clock rescue effort in new Orleans, and along the Mississippi and Alabama coastlines, by the afternoon of August 29, all aircraft were returning towards the Gulf of Mexico by the afternoon of August 29. (Stephen Barr, 2005) By August 26, the possibility of unexpected and highly volatile cataclysm was already being considered
The storm surge of Katrina later destroyed the levee system that protected New Orleans from Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi river. (Stewart & Stacy, 2005) As a consequence the city was subsequently flooded mainly by water from the lake
The strong flood 1927 erased the levees, lined with concrete and funneled marsh-building sediments to the deep waters of the Gulf. Engineers also severed more than 8,000 miles of canals through the marsh for petroleum exploration and ship traffic (Bourne 2005)