The Impact of Hurricane Katrina on the Race and Class Divide in America

Abstract

In the days immediately following the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina, media attention primarily focused on the rescue and relief operations, the extent of the physical damage, and the slow response by local, state, and federal agencies to one of the worst disasters in recent American history. However, it would not take long before journalists, researchers, and political analysts turned their attention to the social problems and issues created by the destruction that resulted from Hurricane Katrina. Two social issues that recently have been vigorously debated by the media, journalists, academicians, and the general public are whether or not black residents received more exposure to damage from Hurricane Katrina than white res­idents and whether or not lower-class residents received more exposure to damage than middle- or upper-class residents. These issues are related to a larger issue con­cerning the extent to which Hurricane Katrina exacerbated the race and class divide in New Orleans, as well as other large American cities in the United States, and what can be done to remedy the problem of inner city poverty exposed by the hurricane.