« COMMENT CHIRAC PEUT-IL SORTIR DU PIEGE DE L'AFFAIRE DE LA NON-BAISSE DE LA TVA DES RESTAURATEURS? | Page d'accueil | EUROPE : ET SI ON PARLAIT DE CE QUI FACHE? »
mardi, 24 janvier 2006
THE UNITED STATES’ LESSON OF HUMILITY
The consequences of Hurricane Katrina have revealed individual united states as opposed to a unified United States. The absence of an immediate response from the Bush administration led the American people to believe in the philosophy of everyone for himself. Yet in that catastrophic situation, the motto should have been all for one and one for all. The natural disaster has become a parable for this country’s deep, and too often hidden, problems. Jim Hollifield, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, said, “What happened in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mississippi exposes the weaknesses in American society. Not everybody is living the American dream.” Hollifield, whose areas of teaching and research include international and comparative political economy, argued that white people benefit from stronger support networks than African Americans. “There is a racial element involved,” he said. “Blacks are unprivileged.” When facing difficult, or in this case, extreme situations, whites have better family support and more money in their families than black people do. As a result, they have somewhere to go, somebody who can help them, which is not true for African Americans. They do not have that network, and consequently rely more on the government’s help. “Blacks are poorer because they are poor socially,” Hollifield said. The government has not acted in a responsible manner because funds meant to reinforce the levees were cut by 80 percent to pay for the war in Iraq instead. Such cuts have occurred despite years of warnings of potential catastrophe. When the Bush administration is unable to respond to a state of emergency, people who get hurt are African-Americans because they are dependent on the help from the government, according to Hollifield. (lire la suite…)
Pauline Forté est journaliste
13:23 Publié dans PAULINE FORTE, RELATIONS TRANSATLANTIQUES | Lien permanent | Commentaires (0) | Envoyer cette note | Tags : Europe
Les commentaires sont fermés.