Monday, October 24, 2005
KATRINA'S VICTIMS
For rapper Kanye West, Hurricane Katrina was all about race:
George Bush doesn’t care about black people.
Gullible James Wolcott, who fell for wild media exaggerations like the bodycount cheerleader that he is, preferred to focus (in Vanity Fair; no link) on class:
Race is never off the table as a touchy topic in this country ... The true eye-opener from Katrina was the flap lifted on the specter of lower-depths poverty in this country.
But an overlooked element turns out to be age:
At least 60 percent of the dead identified so far were 61 or older, according to state data.
"You had a combination of devastating flood waters and elderly and infirm populations with fewer resources. That equals fatalities,” said Dr. Jullette Saussy, director of Emergency Medical Services for the city of New Orleans and one of those who fielded desperate cell phone calls from New Orleanians trapped by water.
Oldster site As Time Goes By predicted this back on September 13, noting that 70% of threatened nursing homes weren’t evacuated despite state laws requiring Louisiana nursing homes to have comprehensive evacuation plans:
Without dismissing the suffering of other victims of Hurricane Katrina, nor comparing one to another, it may be the elderly and infirm who have been disproportionately affected and in need of ongoing special attention.
At the same site: a very useful blogging guide for the older, crabbier citizen.