Racial Divide

One of the most striking aspects of the whole terrible situation left in Hurricane Katrina's wake is the racial one. Everyone who has seen any pictures or footage of the hundreds of thousands displaced by Katrina has seen what I have - an overwhelming majority of black faces, with a token white here or there, usually elderly or disabled.

The NY Times has an interesting breakdown of the demography of New Orleans that explains some of why there was such a strong racial aspect to this.
First of all, New Orleans is a city that was more than two-thirds black, as compared to nationwide, where the black population is at about 12%. In addition, a much larger percentage of people live below the poverty line in New Orleans than do nationally. 35% of black households didn't own cars, compared to 15% of white households. The people who were left behind in the mandatory evacuation of the city were mostly the poorest, and those were overwhelmingly black. In addition, those living in the lowest-lying areas, and therefore the areas most affected by the breached levees, were overwhelmingly black. The Lower 9th Ward, the lowest-lying area, was 98% black.

So it's not that hard to understand why so many faces in the crowds of victims were black.

Another issue being raised is why it took so long for aid to reach the stranded victims.
If you agree with rapper Kanye West, the reason for it was our country's deliberate lack of interest in coming to the speedy aid of the poor and the black:

A celebrity telethon for Hurricane Katrina survivors took an unexpected turn when outspoken rapper Kanye West went off script during the live broadcast, declaring America is set up "to help the poor, the black people, the less well-off as slow as possible."

I have trouble believing that this country that we live in deliberately drags its heels when confronted with a tragedy or a crisis that affects those with less resources or a certain skin color. I'm sorry. There are many reasons why the majority of the storm refugees from New Orleans are black - but I don't think any of those reasons are rooted in a neglect for those who aren't rich and white. Please recall that many of those affected by the storm in other areas were not as overwhelmingly representative of the black community - the footage was just much less dramatic than that of the thousands upon thousands stranded in New Orleans, so the networks chose not to air it as often.
The fact, however, that those in charge of the rescue efforts seemed to move much more slowly than was needed is a fact. Why were we able to airlift supplies to the survivors of the Tsunami halfway across the Earth, yet encounter such delays in getting the same basic supplies to our own citizens? The Federal governement and FEMA must answer to those charges. As must the local government of New Orleans, who knew the demographic breakdown of their city, knew that many did not have access to private transportation and would not be able to heed a mandatory evacuation order. Why weren't these people provided with busing to evacuate them?
Putting blame aside, though, this piece is very interesting. Slate points out that even though it may be understandable that so many blacks vs. whites were affected in New Orleans, and the root cause of the delay in aid was not based in racism, it doesn't allow us to ignore the very salient point that this disaster did affect blacks so disproportionately.

When disaster strikes, Americans—especially journalists—like to pretend that no matter who gets hit, no matter what race, color, creed, or socioeconomic level they hail from, we're all in it together. This spirit informs the 1997 disaster flick Volcano, in which a "can't we all just get along" moment arrives at the film's end: Volcanic ash covers every face in the big crowd scene, and everybody realizes that we're all members of one united race.

But we aren't one united race, we aren't one united class, and Katrina didn't hit all folks equally. By failing to acknowledge upfront that black New Orleanians—and perhaps black Mississippians—suffered more from Katrina than whites, the TV talkers may escape potential accusations that they're racist. But by ignoring race and class, they boot the journalistic opportunity to bring attention to the disenfranchisement of a whole definable segment of the population. What I wouldn't pay to hear a Fox anchor ask, "Say, Bob, why are these African-Americans so poor to begin with?"