Document Type

Working Paper

Publication Date

10-25-2005

SSRN Discipline

Legal Scholarship Network; Law School Research Papers - Legal Studies; Litigation, Procedure & Dispute Resolution eJournals; LSN Subject Matter eJournals; Law School Research Papers - Public Law & Legal Theory

Abstract

The horrifying images of Hurricane Katrinas aftermath frightened mostly AfricanAmerican survivors huddling on rooftops awaiting rescue without food or water abandoned for five desperate days herded into the Superdome with an astonishing lack of planning that left the survivors surrounded by dead bodies sewage stench and inadequate police protection were televised again and again bringing issues of race and poverty to the forefront of the collective public consciousness Although the ravaged areas often were referred to as the Gulf Coast region the focus of media attention was unmistakably New Orleans with at most an occasional passing reference to the even greater devastation in rural Mississippi and Louisiana The omission of any serious focus on rural areas following Hurricane Katrina is consistent with the lack of attention given to rural areas generally Even in the subsequent wellintentioned consciousnessraising that called for increased attention to and discussion of issues pertaining to race and poverty one consideration has consistently been overlooked There are not two but three components to the population that is forgotten hidden and indeed repressed from view and memory components not only of race and poverty but also of place

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