#51. The Nashville Flood

Natural disasters have the ability to bring out the best in people and in many cases, the worst. Tornadoes that level small towns draw families - whose every possession now litters roadways – together.

In the seminal book Bowling Alone, Harvard sociologist Robert Putnam bemoaned the declining sense of community in America (which eerily parallels the decline of Pre-Obama America), and it is in natural calamities that people showcase their innate kindness and benevolence.

In the earthquake that ravaged Haiti, billions of dollars was sent by people in America to help that already beleaguered nation. Curiously, the same gifts to the nation of Chile were small when compared to the generosity bestowed to the Haitians, even thought the earthquake that hit the South American nation was of much greater severity and ferocity.

Looking back on Hurricane Katrina that ravaged New Orleans in 2005, one can again see the outpouring of grief from Americans for those people unfortunate enough to leave the city before intense flooding, panic and widespread looting was afoot. Lawlessness raged in New Orleans prior to the hurricane, just as lawlessness raged in Haiti prior to the earthquake.

In both cases, an outpouring of donations and relief was given philanthropically to the citizens who were incapable of containing the aftermath of Mother Nature themselves. The Chileans were ignored.

You recall, Kanye West went on national TV in 2005 and stated that “George Bush doesn’t care about Black people,” as the rapper decided the president’s response to the ongoing looting, murder and mayhem in New Orleans was the fault of a white president, when it was Black people engaging in said activity.

However, a flood of much greater brutality has devastated another southern city as of late, and yet the media is curiously absent from covering this remorseless act of nature. Oddly, incidents of rioting, looting, murdering and congregating inside a sports arena are noticeably absent from the news emanating out of Nashville.

Instead, citizens working together for the common good of overcome nature’s tragic indifference are all that seems to be transpiring. No “We are the World” telethons are being conducted to raise needed funds to combat the emotionless water that rises in Nashville, flooding such landmarks as the Grand Ole Opry.

Black people in others city paying attention to the flood in Nashville can only look on with utter horror at the dignity and civility in which the citizens of that town go about helping one another out to battle the forces of nature, without demanding governmental aid. The home of country music, Toby Keith has yet to get on national TV and state that “Barack Obama doesn’t care about white people."

Instead, citizens of Nashville fight the flood themselves and in the process illustrate that the thesis of the book Bowling Alone is grossly inaccurate. Whitopia’s still possess the ability to maintain a culture that breeds commonality and trust among their citizenry.

Indeed, it is times of trouble and anguish that neighbors showcase their true colors either pulling together to overcome obstacles that could endanger a fellow citizen or engaging in behavior more akin to anarchy. An odd correlation between the number of white people present in a city or country (think Chile) and the response to the natural disaster is appearing. Conversely, the amount of Black people and the exacerbation of a natural disaster only ensure the complete ruination of that city (New Orleans) or nation (Haiti).

In the case of the latter, millions upon millions of dollars will be collected through private philanthropy to help rebuild what was already broken – Haiti was a mess prior to the quake, New Orleans was the most dangerous city in America before 2005 and recently reclaimed that title though its Black population had been dispersed throughout the south – while Nashville will be left to rebuild by the citizens of that city alone.

One writer for Newsweek stated the flood in Nashville didn’t provide a strong enough “narrative” to warrant massive news coverage, despite writing that the flood could end up being one of the most expensive natural disasters in U.S. history a mere paragraph before:

As you may have heard, torrential downpours in the southeast flooded the Tennessee capital of Nashville over the weekend, lifting the Cumberland River 13 feet above flood stage, causing an estimated $1 billion in damage, and killing more than 30 people. It could wind up being one of the most expensive natural disasters in U.S. history.

Or, on second thought, maybe you didn't hear. With two other "disasters" dominating the headlines—the Times Square bombing attempt and the Gulf oil spill—the national media seems to largely to have ignored the plight of Music City since the flood waters began inundating its streets on Sunday. A cursory Google News search shows 8,390 hits for "Times Square bomb" and 13,800 for "BP oil spill." "Nashville flood," on the other hand, returns only 2,430 results—many of them local. As Betsy Phillips of the Nashville Scene writes, "it was mind-boggling to flip by CNN, MSNBC, and FOX on Sunday afternoon and see not one station even occasionally bringing their viewers footage of the flood, news of our people dying."

So why the cold shoulder? I see two main reasons. First, the modern media may be more multifarious than ever, but they're also remarkably monomaniacal. In a climate where chatter is constant and ubiquitous, newsworthiness now seems to be determined less by what's most important than by what all those other media outlets are talking about the most.

Many people now openly wonder if Barack Obama doesn’t like white people for his callow attitude toward refraining to acknowledge the floods in Nashville (recall, he spoke of the great tragedy that was the earthquake in Haiti mere hours after it hit Port-au-Prince) bespeaks someone completely neutral to the calamity unfolding in the heart of Tennessee.

This is besides the point and a query that is unnecessarily asked. Instead, the question Black people should be asking themselves is why is Nashville unlike New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina?

Why is the National Guard not being called into duty to police the streets of Nashville as they were needed to do in New Orleans of 2005 (and potentially war-torn Black areas of Chicago in 2010)?

The Tennessean reports on areas of Nashville that have received scant help from the government save the kindness of neighbors:

"If it wasn't for individuals saying, 'I'll help,' we'd be in a bad situation," East Nashville Councilman Jamie Hollin said. "I'm not sure what government infrastructure support we've received, if any. The reason East Nashville has done so well is because of its volunteers stepping up to the plate and taking ownership of this situation."

Unlike “The Chocolate City” New Orleans, Nashville doesn’t have as many pitiful Black faces to showcase to the nation and cause feelings of inadequacy and self-pity among Disingenuous White Liberals. Unlike Atlanta, Birmingham, Detroit and other majority Black municipalities that are poorly run and stand on the verge of collapse and ruination (currently and if a national disaster hit), Nashville is a majority white city:

As of the 2005-2007 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, White Americans made up 64.8% of Nashville's population; of which 60.2% were non-Hispanic whites. Blacks or African Americans made up 28.3% of Nashville's population; of which 28.1% were non-Hispanic blacks. American Indians made up 0.3% of the city's population. Asian Americans made up 3.1% of the city's population. Pacific Islander Americans made up less than 0.1% of the city's population. Individuals from some other race made up 2.4% of the city's population; of which 0.1% were non-Hispanic. Individuals from two or more races made up 0.9% of the city's population; of which 0.8% were non-Hispanic. In addition, Hispanics and Latinos made up 7.3% of Nashville's population.

White people helping out white people is inherently racist, which is why philanthropy must always go from white people to blighted Black cities or nations (or the entire continent of Africa). Giving money to fellow white people makes little sense to white people, as they only feel moral superior when they give their money to piteous Black people. As the situation in Nashville illustrates, white people are perfectly capable of taking care of themselves.

Thus, why the Nashville flood is receiving a complete media blackout, and why precious few dollars flow into the city in the form of relief for those citizens who dare band together and brave the elements and flood alone.

Like the flood that ravaged Des Moines, Iowa a few years back, the act of nature affected the wrong population group. Had it been Cleveland, Ohio instead of lily-white Des Moines, then the national news would have had a natural disaster worth covering.

Stuff Black People Don’t Like includes the flood in Nashville, for the stark differences between disparate demographic groups battling the uncontrollable elements is once again on display for the world to see. Haiti vs. Chile once round one. New Orleans vs. Nashville is round two.

The white response to natural disasters is now cemented through the peaceful flood battle in Nashville, while the Black response is sadly remembered through Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and the tragedy that continues to befall Haiti.

When – not if – a situation like the one in Greece (national insolvency) occurs in the United States, would you rather be in a city like Nashville or New Orleans?

#344. The Earthquake in Chile

Disingenuous White Liberals (DWLs) salivate over the opportunity to help those less fortunate than themselves, especially if those people are Black.

When the 7.0 earthquake devastated an already devastated nation in Haiti, DWLs jumped at the opportunity to showcase the horrendous state of this poor, 99 percent Black nation and gave a multitude of reasons why every effort to lift up a nation already propped up through massive foreign aid and charity must be helped once again:

Eight days after the devastating earthquake struck near Haiti's capital, donations for relief efforts are still pouring in -- in excess of $305 million..

Charities, companies, individuals and celebrities across the U.S. have been rallying together in the aftermath of the 7.0-magnitude quake last Tuesday, and their efforts are paying off.

As of Wednesday afternoon, over $305 million in donations had been raised, according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy, a newspaper covering nonprofit organizations. The estimate is based on a survey of 29 charities contributing the largest amounts of money to Haiti.

Haiti, a Black republic run by the (Black) people, for the (Black) people and of the (Black) people, was in such a melancholy state prior to the seismic activity that leveled the shanty town of Port-au-Prince that showing pictures before the earthquake and after would leave people scratching their heads as to which depicted the devastation from the geological event.

We've said it before: Haiti shows the sad reality of human existence (while simultaneously showing the altruistic spirit that white people are famous for bestowing on the Black world) and it also paints an unsettling picture for Black people in America.

Looking around majority run Black cities and counties (Jefferson County in Alabama and Clayton County in Georgia), one can see signs of a slipping to Haiti-like conditions - see Detroit - and this worries Black people.

Riots, nothing new to Haiti, were prevalent before the earthquake and ubiquitous after, despite the onrushing of aid to the Black Republic:

At a makeshift tent city in a schoolyard in Port-au-Prince’s Delmas neighbourhood, now home to between 5,000 and 7,000 homeless people, violence broke out over food.

“Too many people need to eat — it’s not organized,” said Guerline Stjour, standing on the sidelines with other women.
“People are desperate,” said Birgit Zeitler. “We asked for security. It didn’t come.”

The six Nepalese UN blue helmets sent to help the German group watched on the sidelines, helpless to stop the riots and unable to communicate with the large group.

Haiti’s national police officers waved their guns in the air to no avail.
Then a convoy of large trucks arrived in the school’s parking lot and the crowd rushed forward. The trucks carried medication and the people walked away with looks of desperation.

A refusal to have rioting in Chile, swiftly defused with a proficient military incursion. Why didn't that happen in New Orleans after Katrina, when even police resorted to looting?

We are the World, the theme song for white people who fancy themselves as cool, hip and crusaders in the cause of leveling the biological inequities that exist among disparate population groups, won’t be used as a selling point for guilt-trips to send money to Chile.

That nation in South America is not privy to the largesse accumulated through the efforts of celebrities through telethons and endless commercials for one reason: a lack of a pathetically inept Black population to feel paternalistic toward.

Chile was hit with a horrifying 8.8 earthquake on the Richter scale on Saturday (the equivalent of nearly 32 billion tons of TNT for Seismic Energy Yield, as opposed to the paltry 32 millions felt in Port-au-Prince) that left just under 1000 dead:

Buildings caught fire, bridges collapsed and debris blocked streets across swathes of central Chile, but the initial death toll was relatively low from a quake packing many times more power than the one that devastated Haiti last month.

A 15-storey building collapsed in Concepcion, the closest major city to the epicenter, and overturned cars lay scattered below a fallen overpass in the capital Santiago. Telephone and power lines went down, making it difficult to assess the full extent of the damage and loss of life.

The rioting that Haiti has had to deal with since the earthquake (and well, since Haiti was founded) has not been quelled in the same manner that riots are stymied in Chile:

Chile's president sent the army to help police attack looting on Sunday and appealed for international help in the wake of an earthquake that shattered cities and killed at least 708 people…

Police said more than 100 people died in Concepcion, the largest city near the epicenter with more than 200,000 people. The university was among the buildings that caught fire around the city as gas and power lines snapped. Many streets were littered with rubble from edifices and inmates escaped from a nearby prison.

Police used water cannon and tear gas to scatter people who forced open the doors of the Lider supermarket in Concepcion, hauling away everything from diapers to dehydrated milk to a kitchen stove.

Black people look at the images from Chile and cringe. Some in the media have tried to discuss the glaring differences in the earthquakes between the undeniably poor Haiti and prosperous Chile:

The earthquake in Chile was far stronger than the one that struck Haiti last month — yet the death toll in this Caribbean nation is magnitudes higher.

The reasons are simple.

Chile is wealthier and infinitely better prepared, with strict building codes, robust emergency response and a long history of handling seismic catastrophes. No living Haitian had experienced a quake at home when the Jan. 12 disaster crumbled their poorly constructed buildings.
And Chile was relatively lucky this time.

Saturday's quake was centered offshore an estimated 21 miles (34 kilometers) underground in a relatively unpopulated area while Haiti's tectonic mayhem struck closer to the surface — about 8 miles (13 kilometers) — and right on the edge of Port-au-Prince, factors that increased its destructiveness.

"Earthquakes don't kill — they don't create damage — if there's nothing to damage," said Eric Calais, a Purdue University geophysicist studying the Haiti quake.

The U.S. Geological Survey says eight Haitian cities and towns — including this capital of 3 million — suffered "violent" to "extreme" shaking in last month's 7-magnitude quake, which Haiti's government estimates killed some 220,000 people. Chile's death toll was in the hundreds.

Mr. Calais can be pardoned for his rather misinformed statement. No one can know how many people died in Haiti, but the number can be ascertained in Chile for one reason – they are a nation that is capable of taking care of itself.

And Black people know another apparent reason is true too – the Black person in Chile is as rare a sight as the Black person at a Tea Party or a Republican function in America. Out of 16 million people, Chile has so few Black people that they constitute a statistical anomaly and aren’t even registered as an ethnicity by the CIA Fact Book:

Studies on the ethnic structure of Chile are non-conclusive and might vary significantly from one study to the next.

UNAM professor of Latin American studies, Francisco Lizcano, believes Chile has an estimated 52.7% of European descent, with mestizos estimated at 44%.

A study conducted by the University of Chile found that within the Chilean population 30% are white, the mestizos component of predominantly white ancestry is estimated at 65%. Other study of the University of Chile and other found a white majority that would exceed 60% to 90% of the Chilean population.

According to the Census 2002, 4.6% of the Chilean population considered themselves indigenous, although most show varying degrees of mixed ancestry

Chile has no Black people. Haiti has an overabundance of Black people that make the island nation look like District 9, compared to the nation of Chile that looks like Avatar in comparison.
Haiti has 9 million Black people.

Of those 9 million, 99 percent live in such a state of poverty that their Black ancestors, who slaughtered the white people in the 1790s and early 1800s, might reconsider their actions if they could see the surreal, truculent life their actions helped pave the way for.

Stuff Black People Don’t Like includes the earthquake in Chile, for the power of that quake was of such a higher magnitude than the one that destroyed the already destroyed Port-au-Prince that the only obvious answer for why that could be is due to the population dynamics that helped create each nation.

Chile has white people and no Black people. Haiti has 9 million Black people and realizes on the generosity of white people to function at even a 3rd world level.

These are facts of the highest discontentment to Black people (look at the history of Haiti vs. Chile for more information on this melancholy realization).

We are the World? Chileans have no use for “being” the world nor helping every nation become Haiti. Black people wonder when Atlas will shrug in Black Run America (BRA), for he never had to in Chile.