Looting New Orleans and America's Poverty Crisis

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blacknews.com: Two things happened in one day that tell much about the abysmal failure of the Bush administration to get a handle on poverty in America. The first was the tragic and disgraceful shots of hordes of New Orleans residents scurrying down the city's Hurricane ravaged streets with their arms loaded with food, clothes, appliances, and in some cases guns, that they looted from stores and shops.

That same day, the Census Bureau released a report that found that the number of poor Americans has leaped even higher since Bush took office in 2000. While criminal gangs who always take advantage of chaos and misery to snatch and grab whatever they can, did much of the looting, many desperately poor, mostly black residents, saw a chance to grab items that they can't afford. They also did their share of the looting. That makes it no less reprehensible, but it's no surprise.

New Orleans has one of the highest poverty rates of any of America's big cities. According to a report by Total Community Action, a New Orleans public advocacy group, nearly one out of three New Orleans residents live below the poverty level, the majority of who are black. A spokesperson for the United Negro College Fund noted that the city's poor live in some of the most dilapidated, and deteriorated housing in the nation. Read more

reuters: A million people fled the New Orleans area before Katrina hit but tens of thousands of others were unable to get out.

"Many people didn't have the financial means to get out," said Alan LeBreton, 41, the superintendent of an apartment on Biloxi's seaside road, now in ruins. "That's a crime and people are angry about it." Read more

Note on poverty map: People living below twice the poverty threshold includes all individuals whose family has income that is lower than twice the poverty threshold for that size family. Because poverty thresholds are generally considered to be flawed and have not been appropriately adjusted since they were created in 1964, twice the poverty threshold is commonly used as a rough proxy for a living wage. Link to source