Lessons from Katrina: Do We Even Know Bias
When We See it In Ourselves? (cont'd.)
All of this played itself out painfully in our reactions to Hurricane Katrina. When people accuse governmental officials of not acting fast enough because of a lack of concern about the largely low-income African American population of New Orleans, the reaction is strong . . . and defensive. "How could you suggest such a thing . . . I would never make such a decision." And yet, might there have been a faster reaction if the people in trouble were people more similar to those in leadership? In fact, it is very likely . . . but not necessarily consciously or intentionally. Our sense of outrage and concern may still have been there, as it was, for example with the Tsunami or the Pakistani earthquake, but our sense of urgency is clearly greater when people affected are more similar to us, as in the case of tragedies that occur within our own country. And reactions to crises are based on past cultural experiences. The reaction of citizens to government warnings may have been based on how much our history has taught us to trust government, Access to resources needed to evacuate may impact people's ability to do so. People's willingness to evacuate may be impacted by how welcome they feel they may be in another location. Willingness to listen to the advice or encouragement of law enforcement officials may be impacted by our historical relationship with law enforcement officials, etc. All of these factors, as well as many others, are likely to be impacted by race and class.
We also saw numerous examples of how difficult it is to put ourselves “in someone else’s shoes” when trying to appreciate the impact of the tragedy. Commentaries that “people should have listened to the warnings and just left!” belie the difficulty of evacuating a city when you have no money, no place to go, and no way to get there. But they also indicate how easy it is for us to assume that they should just do what we would do. Reactions to the post Katrina conditions also demonstrate this lack of understanding. One example of this was former First Lady Barbara Bush’s infamous comment upon visiting the Astrodome, “And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this, this is working very well for them,” a sentiment that few of the victims themselves shared.