the palestinians of the united states
Aug. 31st, 2005 11:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sophiaserpentiaMy prediction is that there will be strong pressure to form a system of gulags to contain the New Orleans refugees, and that NOLA refugees will be treated differently from Biloxi refugees. I won't predict that this will actually happen, i just see a lot of potential for it.
This is one of those times where i really hope i'm wrong.
At present, with the United States in disaster relief mentality, people all over the country are happy to extend invitations to the NOLA evacuees to stay in their shelters and put their children in their school systems.
Before long, though, a perception will form that the NOLA refugees are "ungrateful." They will complain about living in huge dormitories with no privacy and no dignity, wiith no long-term prospects. Some will act from despair and desperation, using the survival skills they learned in New Orleans.
It doesn't matter that this will be a small fraction; NOLA refugees as a class will be indicted in public opinion. Politicians will speak out against the forming prejudice, calling for calm and compassion.
Did i mention that the majority of NOLA residents, and therefore most of the refugees, are black?
Even though it's 2005, it won't be long before many people in the south look around and decide that their city council members have invited a bunch of "unemployed blacks" to live in their arenas and high school gymnasiums... people who "will bring crime, drugs, and guns to their neighborhoods".
What i foresee happening then is talk of tightening restrictions on NOLA refugees still living in camps at that point. They could find themselves required to stay put until they can prove that they have a job or family on the outside. They will be like immigrants trying to establish citizenship in their own country.
In case this sounds outlandish, consider that three years ago New Orleans politicians were seriously discussing the idea of a tent city to house the city's homeless, a place where they could be fed, housed, clothed, and, oh yes, medicated; a place which they would find it difficult to leave. This idea is already floating around in memespace.
This is one of those times where i really hope i'm wrong.
At present, with the United States in disaster relief mentality, people all over the country are happy to extend invitations to the NOLA evacuees to stay in their shelters and put their children in their school systems.
Before long, though, a perception will form that the NOLA refugees are "ungrateful." They will complain about living in huge dormitories with no privacy and no dignity, wiith no long-term prospects. Some will act from despair and desperation, using the survival skills they learned in New Orleans.
It doesn't matter that this will be a small fraction; NOLA refugees as a class will be indicted in public opinion. Politicians will speak out against the forming prejudice, calling for calm and compassion.
Did i mention that the majority of NOLA residents, and therefore most of the refugees, are black?
Even though it's 2005, it won't be long before many people in the south look around and decide that their city council members have invited a bunch of "unemployed blacks" to live in their arenas and high school gymnasiums... people who "will bring crime, drugs, and guns to their neighborhoods".
What i foresee happening then is talk of tightening restrictions on NOLA refugees still living in camps at that point. They could find themselves required to stay put until they can prove that they have a job or family on the outside. They will be like immigrants trying to establish citizenship in their own country.
In case this sounds outlandish, consider that three years ago New Orleans politicians were seriously discussing the idea of a tent city to house the city's homeless, a place where they could be fed, housed, clothed, and, oh yes, medicated; a place which they would find it difficult to leave. This idea is already floating around in memespace.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-09-01 04:00 am (UTC)Thank you.:-D
no subject
Date: 2005-09-01 04:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-01 04:42 am (UTC)*cough*
no subject
Date: 2005-09-01 04:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-01 05:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-01 05:10 am (UTC)But contingencies have been very badly planned and poorly executed, and plans for what to actually do with hundreds of thousands of refugees for 3-6 months are not going to go smoothly. There will be at least small scale incidents.
And, bear in mind that it has only taken 48 hours for "looters" to be almost as bad as "terrorists" in the American imagination.
no subject
Date: 2005-09-01 05:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-01 04:41 am (UTC)... gawd knows what happens when folk shuck off convenient ideology. The yuppies think they prepared badly for Katrina?!
Some wisdom traditions consider a cavalier attitude towards suffering the greatest evidence of malignance. I'm one with that.
no subject
Date: 2005-09-01 05:47 am (UTC)we have extra shelters set up and Aaron told me that they were turning away Alex's homeless folks who were showing up for help too...
its really hard for me to understand... i mean, poor is *poor* right?.. hungry is hungry...
just because the filthy-starving person asking for help happens to be a local, it sounds weird to me that they get told to go elsewhere ...
me and Aaron were also talking about all the talk of supposed "assimilation/absorbtion" of the refugees, and these folks aren't exactly landing in areas that have a 100% employment rate (as if any place in america did)... so its nice for the gov to say "oh, well, they will be welcomed and their kids can go to our schools, and we will help them find jobs, etc." but if the jobs aren't there, then they *ain't* there....
this is just so fucking surreal to me right now...
shalom,
Eve & Co.
no subject
Date: 2005-09-01 06:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-01 01:55 pm (UTC)I figured that Janice and David would keep cool and stay connected with the NOPD. In fact i'm wondering if they had any ability to see to it that someone would specifically check on James.
no subject
Date: 2005-09-01 06:53 am (UTC)Can you explain this? Is this class similiar to the lower classes found in Brazil? The ones that are treated with resentment and intolerance?
I too hope you are wrong. But already, the racial bias against black umerikans is starting to filter in the australian media.
no subject
Date: 2005-09-01 01:45 pm (UTC)This precise topic, the NOLA refugees becoming the "American Palestinians" was the main topic for my meditation this morning.
I had hoped that it was an extreme thought, not likely to happen, but you painted a portrait of the immediate future rather similar to mine...
One of the things you brushed against was the difficulty these people will have at re-establishing identity.
Their birth records are floating in the Gulf of Mexico right now. If they lost their ID, they've got no where to get it back.
no subject
Date: 2005-09-01 03:07 pm (UTC)Lana
no subject
Date: 2005-09-01 03:52 pm (UTC)It is extremely upsetting. Four of the people in my household are from New Orleans and all of us have friends and loved ones who are still unaccounted for. All of this is heartbreaking on so many levels.
Hope you and Shawn are both well.
no subject
Date: 2005-09-01 07:03 pm (UTC)I'm praying for you, your friends and loved ones. I hope they're able to contact you all soon. I pray that they all receive aide and are rescued.
Shawn and I have been married going on a year in December. All is well. Thank you.
no subject
Date: 2005-09-01 11:31 pm (UTC)I wish I could call you crazy.