Gotcha, Uncle Sam

IN Opinion | 13/09/2005

Hurricane Katrina was an occasion for Indians to gloat. They didn`t, perhaps because those who live in glass houses should not throw stones.

You don`t say!

Darius Nakhoonwala

Last week, Indian leader writers showed their mettle, namely, their ability to be restrained and fair. The topic was irresistible, of course, Hurricane Katrina, that laid New Orleans low.

Given the ineptitude and carelessness with which the Bush government handled the flooding, one might have expected some gloating in the vein of "see, even a super power screws up, just as we do. Why, the chief minister of Maharashtra, who came under some very sharp criticism for the way his government handled the Mumbai rains, even turned up in Sonia Gandhi`s home with clippings about New Orleans.

But our edit writers are made of sterner and better stuff. They refused to indulge in what the Germans very nicely call schadenfreude or taking pleasure in the misery of others. Instead, they pointed out that nature can sandbag anyone; what separates the good from the bad is the attitude and competence of the authorities who have to deliver succour.

Here, clearly, the various US governments - local, state and federal - all failed spectacularly. The TV pictures have left no one in any doubt about that. The Indian leader writers` response was measured. The Pioneer was the first off,  saying "It is laughable that while Americans, including children, were starving in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina had unleashed its full fury, Congress was busy approving $10.5 billion in emergency assistance. It is not surprising that angry people should have taken to the streets, forcing the police to beat a hasty retreat." It also asked the question that is bothering many Americans, namely, what happened to the much vaunted Homeland Security Bill that has curtailed so many freedoms? If a hurricane can do this, what can something worse perpetrated by a terrorist do?

The Telegraph said that "as television reaches its moving images of the disaster and its aftermath to the world, what the world cannot help reading through these images, with growing horror, are the grimly evident stories of poverty and racial inequity in America. The majority of Katrina`s victims have been desperately poor African-Americans, most of whom did not have cars, and hence had been unable to evacuate their homes unaided. The story of Katrina is not just the story of failed `homeland security` or the callousness of the Federal Emergency Management Agency."

It was, however, left to the Hindu to point out the obvious conclusion that has been drawn by billions in the world: had New Orleans been a predominantly white city, things would have been very different. After observing that the "superpower was reduced to seeking international help for blankets, food, medicines, and trucks, "the paper asked . Not surprisingly, it went on to say that "the Bush administration is now on the defensive, fending off charges that the delayed response was on account of the colour of the skin of the trapped people. Katrina has reopened the old wounds of racial discrimination — and brought home to Americans the ugly truth that the disparity between the privileged and the underprivileged could also be the line separating those on safe ground from those in a watery grave."