Disasters are never unanticipated problems or divine deeds that occur without precedent.
A professor of history at the University of Connecticut recently delivered a lecture at Colgate in which he claimed that there is” no such thing as a natural disaster” because they are “deeply tied to race, class, and state policy.”
Andy Horowitz told the audience that “isasters are not unexpected attacks or functions of God that occur without law,” and that their causes and effects extend much longer than we have typically assumed.
The Connecticut State Historian and writer of” Katrina: A Story, 1915-2015″ said” position policies and economic changes” were responsible for the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina in August of 2005.
Horowitz ( pictured ) said beginning in 1915 federal housing policies “pushed many African Americans into low-lying, flood-prone areas”. That statistical also suffered “disproportionately” after the storm had passed.
” Racism played a fundamental role in determining who was returning afterward”, Horowitz said. Murders of armed black occupants by authorities, FEMA “distributing trailers laced with formaldehyde”, the “demolition of common housing”, and turning the public school system into” a network of contract schools” all, as one scholar in presence put it, “ended up reinforcing inequality”.
Less: College removes the Katrina memorial from a Hollywood production
From the essay:
Top Zack Brown also shared his thoughts on the conversation.
” I thought the talk was very educational and served as a reminder that loss in the government can only make things worse,” Brown said.
Older Grace LaBruno was curious about how Horowitz’s study interacts with various aspects of history as a skill.
When people who have been impacted by an occurrence are still alive or whose relatives are, Horowitz said,” the key social issue is how to engage with story.” Horowitz remarked that a great historian always has emotion in their conversations, and I’ll undoubtedly remember that when I’m working on my thesis.
Horowitz concluded the presentation by sharing how, despite her endurance, ]a dark native ]’s history ended in heartbreak. Her house was bulldozed as she attempted to repair her life because of what the city called a” clerical mistake.”
Horowitz noted what we call a” weather issue” is actually a turmoil of politics.
Only three of the 22 Louisiana governors, including Buddy Roemer, have been Democratic ( three and a half if you add up their party changes during his 1988-1992 term ). Since 1915, seventeen of the governors have been Democratic.
During a 2005 fundraiser for Katrina relief, music star Kanye West ( in ) famously told the televised audience that then-President George W. Bush “does n’t care about black people” based on his alleged indifference to the disaster.
According to his university website, Horowitz’s study deals with “disasters and the questions they give rise to about culture, course, community, trauma, inequality, the welfare state, industrial industry, urban development, and economic change”. He even co-edited the text” Essential Crisis Studies”.
Further: Emory U. professor claims current storms are’ man-made’
IMAGE: U. Connecticut
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