Hiller Instinct: Hurricane Katrina

The Hiller Instinct: Hiller Instinct: Hurricane Katrina

Unless you're color blind, you've seen it! Virtually all of the victims of Hurricane Katrina, an American tragedy, are African-Americans:

As the desperation and grief grow, it’s no longer possible to ignore the issue America prefers to avoid: race.

"We must reassure the residents of those states that we are indeed one nation under God, the United States," Rep. John Lewis (D) Georgia said.

Saying that New Orleans was one of the poorest cities in America before the levees broke...or that Katrina has crippled 90,000 square miles of the nation an area about the size of Idaho doesn't erase rage over perceived racism:

Little comfort comes from the comment of a former mayor of New Orleans: "...many of the people who did not evacuate could not evacuate...they are people who are African-American, mostly but not completely."

And there has been some biased news coverage... like these two pictures: one, showing a young black man, captioned with the word "looting"...the other--of two whites--described as "finding bread and soda from a local grocery store."

As pictures like this fill television screens around the world, black officials are angry that words like "anarchy" and "chaos" are used to describe them.

"Who are we to say what law and order should be in this unspeakable environment?" Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D) Illinois said.

Even before he began viewing the Gulf States today, the President conceded government has failed:

"The results are not acceptable," Bush said.

We come in many colors, but we all share the same basic need: to survive.

The battle in the Gulf States is a fight for life, so how different do you think it would be if, instead of New Orleans, Seattle were submerged?

I suspect you'd see what's happening after Katrina is black and white.