How Blacks interpret Katrina debacle

September 10, 2005

Nancy:

I'm glad you commented about how people of different ethnic groups have perceived this disaster. Polls have shown that blacks and whites do see it differently. Speaking for myself, I was profoundly depressed and horrified during that first week after Katrina hit. As I and many blacks saw it, once again, our people were left high and dry. I knew that could have easily been me and my family.

To see that the majority of people left stranded at the Superdome and Convention Center were black brought up deep wounds for us. Before I say what I am about to say, please understand that I am not playing the "which ethnic group has been abused the most" card. I know that evil and ethnic cleansing have been and still are occuring around the world.

As an American-born black woman, everyday, I and others like me, have to live with the fact that we are hated, ignored, abused, put-down, stereotyped, and attacked. As a woman, everything from the kink in my hair and to my big booty is considered abnormal. Because of the color of my skin, people assume that I am uneducated, not married to the father of my children, ignorant, stupid, and that eveything I have worked for I got through some government quota.

Historically, the continent that my ancestors are from has been raped, on every level. Afrikan religions and history are constantly vilified. My female ancestors were raped and beaten, forced to give birth to babies by the white men who enslaved them. My male anscestors were lynched for sport...as entertainment. Entire all-black towns were destroyed (see Black Wall Street in Tulsa, Oklahoma). I've been told to my face that "I'm not like those other black people." What they really meant was because I can speak proper English, that I wasn't like those other crazy niggers who run wild in the street. I have also been called a nigger to my face as well.

I could go on and on. My point is this: black people wear two faces: the face that goes along to get along and the face that is angrier than Hell's greatest fury. Just that fact that we get up every morning and continue to live in what we consider a hostile environment is a testament to our faith.

Black is beautiful, but most people don't think so. I dread having to explain to my children that we are all God manifest but everybody doesn't know that. As my black boys become men, they will have to live with the fact that they can be pulled over for no reason (called Driving While Black), shot and killed, and their murder can be covered up. White women will grab their purses when my sons get on elevators. Taxis will pass them by...but life will not because they will be armed with their spiritual protection.

But back to Hurricane Katrina...let me break it down to you how we saw it: Black folk better their evacuation and survival butts in gear because when the next disaster strikes, man-made or natural, we are on our own.

Sad? Of course. True? You better believe it. And it will be this way until everyone raises their consciousness and knows that we are all God having a human experience and that our true nature is spiritual.

I have more to say, but I'll leave it there. I'm trying my best to explain why we see our gov't as evil. Most of us don't have any reason not to. My sadness and anger are rising up again, so I need to leave and calm myself down.

Althea Hughes Wills"The Psychic Housewife" http://www.altheahugheswills.com/andjoin my ! group to receive once-a-month angel messages:MochaAngels-