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THE BLAME GAME: Racialized Responses to Hurricane Katrina

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 August 2006

Kathryn A. Sweeney
Kathryn A. Sweeney
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, Emory University
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Abstract

Response to Hurricane Katrina and public commentary by high-profile individuals has made race a focus in the media and brought racial inequality to the attention of people in the United States. Analyzing responses to an article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, I find that, even after this very public event that brought race to the forefront in the U.S., people relied on the ideologies of meritocracy and color blindness to rationalize inequality. Findings of how the myth of meritocracy is utilized, along with how people argue against it, can be used to keep race at the forefront of the nation's attention while furthering discussions of inequality. The academic community is challenged to keep the voices of alternative ideologies in the spotlight and to use the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina to create change.

Keywords

RaceInequalityRacismColor-blindMeritocracyResponsibility
Type
STATE OF THE ART
Information
Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race , Volume 3 , Issue 1 , March 2006 , pp. 161 - 174
Copyright
© 2006 W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research

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Footnotes

This paper would not have emerged without conversations with and the constant support of Dave Brewington. Thank you to Delores P. Aldridge, Anne Borden, Cindy Hinton, and Nital Patel, for their time, comments, and ideas. And finally, thank you to all those who continue to help me see my own privilege along with systemic racism, and to those who will do something to help create social change.

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