Hurricane Katrina: Racial and Classist Motivations of Federal Disaster Relief

Abstract

This paper reviews the events of Hurricane Katrina’s impact on New Orleans and the lack of response from the government. New Orleans is well known for having a large Black population and having some of the highest poverty rates in the US. The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s response to the disaster has been widely regarded as slow and incompetent, and there is reasoning to infer that New Orleans’ racial and class makeup might be why. Poll responses and statements by African Americans were used to support the claim that the lack of response to Hurricane Katrina in the New Orleans area was potentially racially motivated. This paper aims to provide another perspective to motives and issues in American federal disaster response.