HispanicVista Columnists

The People of New Orleans Are Not Refugees

By Robert Miranda/HispanicVista.com
September 6, 2005

The shameful response in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast exposes the darkest side of the United States racism and class continue to be America’s achilles heal. The rich have no concern for the future of the rest of the country. The indifference displayed in the early stages of New Orleans’ desperation clearly shows that Bush and his base of rich elite power barons have no concern about the fate of the poor, blacks, the sick and the elderly in New Orleans. Having abandoned them, the elite will most likely criticize the people of New Orleans for not leaving, for looting - probably for being poor.

That said, someone should call America’s Corporate media and inform them that the people caught in the wake of the disaster in New Orleans, a city that is two-thirds black are not refugees.

It is really insidious how the media has labeled the people of New Orleans as refugees. Why would anyone use the term refugees to describe them? Could it be that the United States white majority looked down on African-Americans for so-long that the U.S. by labeling the New Orleans victims as refugees exposes the true status of African-Americans in this country?

Refugees are people seeking refuge from some calamity, natural or man made, by going into another country. Is the United States media implying that Louisiana is not part of the United States? Is New Orleans an American city?

The slow response to support and help the victims of Hurricane Katrina is pathetic, now the media adds to the pain of the people impacted by this disaster by labeling them REFUGEES, in essence, inferring that Black people are non-American citizens.

The coverage by the media of this catastrophe has revealed some very marked differences in the way the victims of New Orleans, who are mostly African-Americans, are being portrayed as well. Compared to natural disasters in areas that were predominantly white, media reports focusing on looting in New Orleans, which was a reaction to no help coming after the storm hit, exposes the embedded racism that is part of media life in the United States.

For example, during Hurricane Hugo, the media spoke of victims and displaced civilians. The term refugee was not part of the language in reporting the events of that disaster. Of course, most of those impacted were Anglo.

After Hurricanes Andrew and Hugo, what you most often heard was that people have “found” ways to sustain themselves. I wonder how these people “found” food? In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, we seldom hear how people are trying to find ways to support themselves. What we hear most often is that people are looting stores and chaos has taken over.

What are people to do when rescue efforts and supplies have not arrived or have not even been organized? Homes are encroached by water and food has been contaminated in those homes because of the disease-filled waters flooding those houses. Are people to just stay indoors and wait for relief? Relief was slow to come until outrage swelled among African-American leaders around the country.

REFUGEES? Indeed, these are American citizens who have been hurt by one of natures most powerful forces, and what corporate media has done is to reduce their status as citizens within the borders of their own country as REFUGEES—shame on the media and shame on government officials who allowed the use of this term to be applied to the people of New Orleans. These are not refugees; they are not seeking refuge in a foreign land…they are seeking comfort, safety and relief in their own country.

Miranda, a frequent contributor to HispanicVista.com (http://www.hispanicvista.com/),  is a national award-winning columnist, Latino community activist and columnist for the Milwaukee Spanish Journal. Email at: rmiranda@wi.rr.com