God is angry

In a post Hurricane Katrina country, the racial divide continues to prosper (though progress has been made):

“Most Americans believe there has been significant progress in achieving Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream of racial equality, though blacks are more skeptical, an AP-Ipsos poll found. Racial integration has swept across much of American life and blacks have gained economic ground since the height of the civil rights movement. Two decades ago, the government established a federal holiday in honor of the slain civil rights leader.

“‘For a big portion of the African-Americans, there’s not better education,’ said David Bositis, an analyst of black issues for the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. ‘There have been some gains made, but it’s uneven. A lot of whites basically say: ‘The civil rights movement has been done. I don’t want to hear about it anymore.'”

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While Katrina may have fallen off the media radar, many residents of New Orleans are claiming racial discrimination:

“The house at 2345 Andry Street had always been a sturdy pillar in Calvin Turnbough’s life. His father built the humble three-bedroom stucco structure in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans, and for the past half a century, Turnbough has never called any other place home.

“But 2345 Andry recently relocated. Clawed off its foundation by Hurricane Katrina four months ago, the house shifted about one block down the street, where it has remained for months, dilapidated but intact.

“The storm left Turnbough dislocated, as well. The 48-year-old forklift operator is now living with family in Houston, awaiting word from his insurance company, the government, or anyone, about the fate of his home. Having received virtually no information about how the reconstruction process is affecting his property, he said, ‘I really feel as though I’m being left out.'”

Recent comments by Mayor Ray Nagin are unlikely to help:

“New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin suggested Monday that Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and other storms were a sign that “God is mad at America” and at black communities, too, for tearing themselves apart with violence and political infighting.”