More Than Black And White

Prospect: Fallout Over Relief Spreads Beyond Racial Issues

(The American Prospect)  Although it's still a taboo subject, sexual relationships between blacks and whites also played a role in blurring the color lines in the South, producing a series of fine gradations that still determine class status in New Orleans and other southern cities. The perception that the lighter your skin color, the greater your chances of achieving economic prosperity and higher social status has lasted throughout the 20th century.

Many light-skinned African Americans attempted (and succeeded) in "passing" for white in order to gain access to better jobs and educational opportunities. Others "passed" to challenge racist segregation laws. For example, Homer A. Plessy -- the plaintiff in the landmark 1896 Supreme Court case Plessy v. Ferguson, which upheld a Louisiana law sanctioning the segregation of railway carriages -- was so light-skinned that the train conductor did not know his race until after Plessy had entered the “whites only” section of the train. Plessy was a member of the Creole middle class in New Orleans and was chosen to test the segregation laws precisely because his race was not obvious. He used the ambiguity of his light skin color to prove that race should not determine class status on a train or anywhere else in society. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court did not agree, and the Court’s decision to uphold the doctrine of “separate but equal” solidified the insidious covenant between race and class that persists in American society today.

In the South, poverty transcends racial lines. But Hurricane Katrina has reminded Americans that poverty is an unforgiving reality for a disproportionate number of blacks. The dual southern legacies of slavery and segregation mean that you can’t really talk about class without talking about race. Many of the interviewed hurricane victims, black and white, denied that their suffering was solely a result of their race but rather a result of their class. As the hurricane approached the coast, wealthy blacks were able to flee New Orleans just as wealthy whites did. Those who were left to fight the floodwaters stayed because they were poor. Sadly, so many of them also happened to be black.

It’s hard to believe that race and class still determine who lives and dies in America. But, the worst of the horrors is still to come. As New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin has reiterated, when the waters are drained from New Orleans and its suburbs, Americans might see several times the number of casualties that resulted from the terrorist attacks on September 11. Many of the dead will be poor and black. It is unclear what will happen to New Orleans’ displaced residents, but it is clear that New Orleans’ social landscape will be dramatically different.

After the last victim is rescued and the rebuilding process begins, we should not forget the horrific images of thousands of people fleeing the rising floodwaters, nor should we forget the abject poverty that many of them left behind. New Orleans’ history is an intrinsic part of American history, but it is also a reflection of the racism and classism in America that Katrina’s fury has made it impossible to deny.