Daily Kos: Hurricane Harvey is Racist

NewImageAnd the 2017 solar eclipse was racist, too, because it didn’t cover enough black populations equally. 

Who knew that hurricanes has the smarts to avoid white people? 

The Daily Kos writes:

This is shaping up to be another Hurricane Katrina—complete with a devastating impact on black and brown communities. Southeast Texas and the coastal bend regions of the state are expected to be the hardest hit. While Hispanics make up about 40 percent of the state’s population, Texas has one of the largest black populations in the country. And they live concentrated in the areas that are predicted to be hardest hit.

Collectively, black people are the most populous minority in Southeast Texas though they are scattered around. This demographic data is important because it tells the story of who is likely to be impacted. In short, this hurricane is going to do incredible damage to the areas where black people live and many aren’t in positions to evacuate or financially withstand the impact.

The website then segues into — you guessed it — racial economic inequity:

Noteworthy also is the high percentage of people in poverty [in Texas] who are African American women, especially single parents. Of the 24% of African Americans below poverty level, single mothers make up 65%.

Black women are a particularly marginalized group in Texas. Not only are many of them living in poverty, Texas has the worst maternal mortality ratein the developed world and black women in the state are more likely to die from pregnancy complications than white or Hispanic women.

And then, of course, an attack on the GOP:

While the state does have a group of lawmakers who have formed a maternal mortality task force to look into the issue, Republicans are much more interested in passing bills to limit access to abortion and cutting family planning funding. That means they aren’t at all worried about saving the lives of black women and this hurricane is unlikely to be any different.

Finally, the implicit accusation that white folks just don’t care about blacks:

… since no one is even talking about the potential racial and socio-economic impact of this storm, it’s doubtful that local and government officials will be thinking about it during the clean up, either.