Survey debunks Katrina evacuees stereotype

[Brewman_Jax]

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/14357365/detail.html

A study authored by a Georgia State University professor says portrayals of Hurricane Katrina evacuees as lazy and reliant on government aid is inaccurate.

The study, authored by sociology professor Timothy Brezina, aims to punch holes in beliefs that many evacuees who were rescued from the rising flood waters stayed in New Orleans because they wanted the government to save them.

It is based on data from a poll conducted in Houston-area shelters by The Washington Post and the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation just two weeks after the hurricane.

Brezina's report shows that the majority of Hurricane Katrina evacuees were working poor who began looking for jobs just weeks after the storm displaced them in faraway cities.

Nearly 70 percent of those surveyed were employed before the storm, with half of respondents holding full-time jobs. And 60 percent of evacuees polled were looking for jobs at the time of the survey.

Just more than half said they didn't leave New Orleans because they were unable, either because of lack of transportation or because they were caring for a family member unable to evacuate.


These people have been so cruelly and inaccurately stereotyped after having their lives upended deserve the truth being told about them.

[aquart]

1. Thank you. This is very needed here on DU.

These people worked hard all their lives and were justly proud of what they had, and lost it all.

[Lisa]

2. thanks for posting!

I hope that people don't let Barbara Bush forget her callous comments about how the evacuees were so much better off in Houston's stadium, because they were "underprivileged anyway".

http://www.snopes.com/politics/quotes/barbara2.asp

[MisterP]

3. hell, thousands of studies have wrecked the fabulation that the poor have

no motivation, are welfare queens, and use their "victimhood" to dodge responsibility for their own plight
but that doesn't stop the Reagan-Gincrich-Cosby machine

[Brewman_Jax]

8. One of the neocons main principles...

Don't cloud the issue with facts.

[zbdent]

4. probably the ones who were causing all the trouble were the

people who lived in the relocation area all their lives and used the "Katrina" excuse to say why they were having all the problems ... (That damn "Katrina refugee" is using up all the $$$, I can't get a job!")

[Grandrose]

5. Thanks so very much for posting.

It is so sad that a survey like this was needed!
Those who perpetrated the stereotypes will probably not acknowledge the truth and considering the negligent MSM, most people will not even get this information.
:kick:

[Brewman_Jax]

6. You are correct

I was searching the some news outlets, and this got so little coverage. :(

[malaise]

7. Thanks for this

WE know they won't let facts get in the way.

[MedleyMisty]

9. So - so many people judged the victims of a natural disaster

based on class, that there had to be a study done to show that the judging wasn't true?

Hmm.

[matcom]

10. Local RW radio was discussing this on my way home

how the people in San Diego were soooooo classy and it was like a RESORT in that stadium today!

I was SCREAMING at the radio, "YOU F*CKING IDIOT! The people in San Diego have TOILETS! WATER! they aren't DYING due to the F*CKING HEAT you ASSWIPE!

:argh:

[intheflow]

11. K&R'ing to bust stereotypes!

Not all NOLA residents are poor black trash, and not all Southern Californians are rich, white Repukes.

:kick:

[NorthernSpy]

12. FLAMING IRONY! This --THIS -- comes out when Malibu is burning, and DU is on fire...

... with righteous indignation against any who might forget that the rich are people too...


Yes, just remembering all the things people said about the Katrina victims, and how even the most obscene slanders (freezers filled with murdered children, survivors trying to shoot down rescue helicopters) didn't seem to warrant much of an apology from anyone who had helped to spread the lies.

Then there was the invidious nagging of the "why don't they help themselves" contingent, and of course the people who thought that the real story of a day that also saw 1,420 mere people drown was the ransacking of a WalMart.


The irony is that even on a "progressive" site, the defense of the humanity of the poor is little and late. The defense of the humanity of the affluent is swift and overwhelming.

[Karenina]

13. K&R!!!

:kick:

[knitter4democracy]

14. I never understood that stereotype, frankly.

We had some people from NOLA evacuated up here, and they wanted jobs right away. Some churches in town got them jobs, and everyone pitched in to give them what they needed at the National Guard barracks to make them more like home--blankets and supplies and food and such. Those who decided to stay were helped with getting places to live and kept working. They are hard-working, amazing people, and I'd bet that the vast majority of the evacuees were, too.

That whole looter story was a scam. The whole stereotype was a scam--a bigoted, small-minded version of the "lazy poor" myth.

[KittyWampus]

15. So 49% didn't leave NOLA even though they WERE able to. That's a cautionary tale, please evacuate

if you are able to.

That includes hurricanes, fires. I live in a hurricane prone area. Some people act all macho about staying put.

"just more than half said they didn't leave New Orleans because they were unable, either because of lack of transportation or because they were caring for a family member unable to evacuate".

[NorthernSpy]

16. reading comprehension a problem, eh?

The article said:

Just more than half said they didn't leave New Orleans because they were unable, either because of lack of transportation or because they were caring for a family member unable to evacuate.

It doesn't say that the rest were blithely hanging out in the path of a hurricane, let alone for no particular reason, despite being freely able to leave. That's just a nasty little invention of your own.

Oh, and before anyone leaps to the conclusion that I'm being unfair to you, I'd recommend that they peruse this thread first. This is absolutely typical behavior for you where certain groups are discussed.