On the night of October 19, the Adamson Wing in Baker Hall became the venue for a panel discussion and town hall meeting, "Katrina: Disaster and the Politics of Race and Class in America." The diverse audience was comprised of a variety of people in age and background, from high school boys from Central Catholic to Carnegie Mellon professors. The Town Hall Meeting was organized by the Department of History and the Center for Africanamerican Urban Studies and the Economy (CAUSE).

Joe Trotter, history professor and director of CAUSE, got the discussion started. As the panel's moderator, Trotter provided a context for the meeting by looking historically at the relationship between African Americans and the United States.

Trotter explained that the politics of race and class in the 1960s and the "tragic conceptualization of Negro History" were typified as the "tragic sameness as a characteristic of the black experience in America." In light of recent events, Trotter suggested that "maybe it's time to rethink the black experience. There is a long-time standing, persistent problem blacks have with America."

Trotter sees the relationship between blacks and the U.S. as having two periods: the first period of slavery and the second of Jim Crow. The first period was characterized by migration and uprooting, both of which tore apart black communities. The second period was, because of and along with Jim Crow laws, marked by development in the 1920-50s that moved blacks from agricultural southern areas to the cities.

The first speaker on the panel was history faculty member Vagel Keller. Looking up at the audience, he paused before speaking and made a disclaimer about his feelings over the Katrina aftermath: "If you see a dark cloud forming above my head, please warn me."

To begin his discussion of the historical relationships between race and disasters, Keller noted that Katrina was not a disaster, but a storm that came in contact with decisions made by people. The result was a "failure in 2005 of technologies and policies."

Then Keller proceeded to recount how race was a factor in the government's response to tragedy in the past. The yellow fever outbreak in the late 1700s was the first example Keller cited in the country's history of handling disasters and the dual issues of government responsibility and race/poverty/class. In 1793, Philadelphia had a population of around 42,000. When the fever broke out, 20,000 fled. However, the elderly and a thriving, yet segregated, African American community were left behind. Keller also spoke of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, after which Irish and German immigrants were neglected in receiving government assistance, and the 1889 South Fork Dam break in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, which could have been prevented if the government had attempted necessary reconstruction work. 

Keller tied these events together by pointing out that they exemplify the fact that there is a link between the government's response and race of the people it is supposed to help.

"The only change," Keller said, "is the racial group that occupies the lowest position." In the case of Hurricane Katrina, Keller said it was the African Americans.

In concluding his portion of the discussion, Keller focused on administration responsibility and warned: "Never assume that because a person is in a position of responsibility they are acting responsibly."

The second speaker of the panel was Chris Hendrickson, professor and department head of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Hendrickson spoke concerning the geographical factors that led to the Hurricane Katrina disaster. He used maps and related diagrams to illustrate the flaws in building planning in the area.

Hendrickson showed how New Orleans' location on a peninsula added to the difficulty in evacuation. The fact that New Orleans is mostly below sea level only compounded the danger and highlighted the irresponsibility of planners. Hendrickson was not surprised that 80 percent of the city ended up under water.

Hendrickson also commented on the weather patterns in recent years. He noted that it is clear that we are moving into a period of intense storm activity and offered a possible preemptive solution to the upcoming storm seasons. Hendrickson closed his talk by suggesting two things: raising the elevation of New Orleans and continuing to rebuild the community and culture.

The final speaker on the panel was Johanna Fernandez, a postdoctoral fellow with CAUSE and the Department of History. Her perspective on the handling of the Hurricane Katrina aftermath was political and contemporary.

The occurrences that resulted from Katrina have revitalized the discussion of racism. Overt acts of racism are unacceptable in the United States on the whole, which wasn't the case before the Civil Rights Movement. Because "racial minorities" were integrated into the U.S. educational system, many people think that racism is no longer a problem. However, according to Fernandez, covert racism still is. Fernandez explained that money to build the levees surrounding New Orleans was part of the agreement that occurred after the Civil War when the government enlisted former slave owners to rebuild the South. This occurred particularly in Louisiana and New Orleans, which was a main part of Southern economy. Although this helped the economy, the fact that those who were in charge before emancipation were still in charge after it affected the treatment of blacks in the area. Fernandez showed how these kinds of problems were hauntingly mirrored in recent events.

According to Fernandez, the logic of the government today is such that it does not see itself bound to cultural responsibility toward its residents. There is still a view that "success is determined by individual virtue and poverty is a sign of personal flaws," Fernandez pointed out. For example, media outlets criticized New Orleans residents for staying in the city through the hurricane while not recognizing the fact that 28 percent of New Orleanians do not own cars.

When Fernandez drew to a close, she encouraged the country as an entity of responsible individuals to ask who we are. "How can we launch a rocket and not help the poor of our country?" Fernandez asked. "The United States is having a serious problem."

With that statement, comments turned to the floor. The discussion session, which lasted over an hour, followed on the heatedtone set by the final speaker on the panel. The comments were a mix of funny and impassioned expressions.

"Is anyone doing a survey of what the media thinks we [the public] want?" HSS faculty member Anthony Butts asked. "Because they keep giving us what looks like polite racism."

"The media wants what you want," Trotter replied. "It's characteristic of the country to want to hear 'black looters' and 'white gatherers.'"

The panel told its audience that to answer what went wrong, we must look at the other places where things went wrong. To heal, we must address the issues that this disaster has raised.

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