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What happened in New Orleans to the African
Americans is a prime example of institutionalized discrimination and blatant
segregation. Katrina simply exposed a festering sore that has been ignored
for decades.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, September 17, 2005 4:31
AM
Subject: TEACHSOC: Re: example of
institutional discrimination?
Besides Claudia's
and others' suggestions, isn't the aftermath of Katrina also a good and
current example of institutionalized discrimination? It's no accident that
those who were "stuck" had high poverty rates, lacked health insurance, had
numerous health problems, no transportation, etc, That is, when inequality is
built into institutions (especially the economy), the results can be dire (and
cumulative) even though individuals (like the mayor of New Orleans and others)
aren't racist.
I'm also
including a recent notice of a Kaiser Foundation study if some of you haven't
seen it yet.
niki
__________________________________________
Nijole (Niki)
Benokraitis, Ph.D., Professor of Sociology
University of Baltimore,
1420 N. Charles St., Baltimore, MD 21201
Fax: 410-837-6051; Voicemail:
410-837-5294
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
| Friday, September 16,
2005 |
To give voice to people whose lives have been devastated by
Hurricane Katrina and the ensuing floods, The Washington Post, the
Kaiser Family Foundation, and the Harvard School of Public Health conducted a
unique survey of evacuees in shelters in the Houston area. More than 1 in 10
(14%) Hurricane Katrina evacuees report a family member, neighbor or friend
was killed by the storm or subsequent flooding and more than half report that
their home was destroyed (55%) and that they are separated from or missing
members of their immediate family (53%). The survey also found that evacuees
in Houston shelters face serious health challenges that will complicate relief
and recovery efforts.
Key health-related findings include:
- 52% report having no health insurance coverage at the time of
the hurricane. Of those with coverage, 34% say it is through Medicaid and
16% through Medicare. Before the hurricane 66% of the people evacuated to
Houston shelters used hospitals or clinics as their main source of care and
of those, a majority (54%) used Charity Hospital of New Orleans,
substantially more than the second most common care site (University
Hospital of New Orleans, at 8%).
- 33% report experiencing health problems or injuries as a
result of the hurricane and 78% of them are currently receiving care for
their ailments.
- 41% report chronic health conditions such as heart disease,
hypertension, diabetes and asthma.
- 43% say they are supposed to be taking prescription
medications, and of those, 29% percent report having problems getting the
prescription drugs they need.
- Of the 61% who did not evacuate before the storm, 38% said
they were either physically unable to leave or had to care for someone who
was physically unable to leave.
Among those surveyed, 98% are from the New Orleans area and
about three-quarters of those (73%) have lived there their whole lives. In
surviving this tragedy, an overwhelming majority of the evacuees in Houston
shelters (92%) say that religion played an important role in helping them get
through the past two weeks.
The Survey of Hurricane Katrina Evacuees is based on sample of
680 randomly selected adults ages 18 years and older, staying in the Houston
Reliant Park Complex (which includes the Reliant Astrodome and the Reliant
Center), the George R. Brown Convention Center, and five smaller Red Cross
shelters in the greater Houston area. Interviews were conducted face-to-face
September 10-12, 2005. The survey was conducted and analyzed jointly by
The Washington Post, the Kaiser Family Foundation, and the Harvard
School of Public Health. Interviews were conducted by 28 professional,
Houston-based interviewers under the supervision of staff from Kaiser and
ICR/International Communications Research, and with input from The
Post staff in Houston. The Red Cross gave The
Post/Kaiser/Harvard interviewing team permission to interview at the
various centers, but was not a co-sponsor of the survey and bears no
responsibility for results presented here.
Full survey toplines and methodology and a link to the
Washington Post article are available online
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, September 15, 2005
12:53 PM
Subject: TEACHSOC: Re: example of
institutional discrimination?
This may complicate matters, but I often include a discussion
of environmental racism in my Intro unit on institutionalized
discrimination. The film "Green" from Two Birds Films* is a good
discussion-starter for this topic as is Bullard's book Dumping in
Dixie. Green is especially timely now since it deals with
environmental problems in "Cancer Alley", Louisiana.
* http://www.twobirdsfilm.com/home.htm
-
Claudia
On 9/15/05, John
Glass <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:
hi
i was wondering if anyone had an example of institutional
discrimination that was thought to be effective in getting students to
grasp the idea. if so, would you be willing to share it? i have a couple,
but would like to get some new ideas.
thanks
john
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