The Power of the Gentry
Well the gentry at the New York Times have been doing their best to find the silver lining of Hurricane Katrina. Earlier this week they reported that the crime level of the over-burdened city of Houston has risen since receiving the bulk of Hurricane Katrina evacuees, and now they claim that not is all bad for the evacuees - because it took the storm to move some New Orleans residents to move to places of better opportunity - from the article "Katrina Tide Carries Many to Hopeful Shores:"
Hurricane Katrina struck with biblical force, destroying the Marcells’ new home, and chasing them to the outskirts of Atlanta, where they became part of the largest American diaspora since Dust Bowl days. But despite the loss of nearly everything they owned, the Marcells say they have moved up again.
The median household income in their new neighborhood is nearly twice that in the Lower Ninth Ward, and more than four times that in the projects where they had lived. Though they had recently worked their way out of poverty in New Orleans, the Marcells say this mostly black suburb offers much safer streets, better schools and a stronger economy.
The Marcells’ journey illustrates one surprising benefit from an otherwise terrible storm: the exodus took low-income families to areas richer in opportunity.
The New York Times analyzed relocation patterns in 17 counties in and around Atlanta and Houston, two leading destinations for Katrina evacuees. Like the Marcells, the average evacuee has landed in a neighborhood with nearly twice the income as the one left behind, less than half as much poverty, and significantly higher levels of education, employment and home ownership.
Still, it is unclear whether a better environment will bring success, for the Marcells or for others like them.
The Marcells say Atlanta has plenty of jobs, but seven months after the storm they are still jobless. They praise the school their 10-year-old attends but put much of their energy into his nascent rap career, as his reading scores lag. By the time George Jefferson was "Moving on Up," he had seven dry-cleaning stores and a "de-luxe apartment in the sky" — not, as the Marcells do, unemployment checks and subsidized housing.
This seriously sounds like people trying to make the best of shit, people who had decided NOT to leave a sinking ship when they had the chance despite the crime and danger of flooding because they cared about their community, and tried to better it.
This article sounds more like Bush Corp spin than news.
This has been Andy D.
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