The terrible tragedy in New Orleans has brought into stark relief something that many Americans don’t like to think about: We are a country where class does matter. We like to think we have a society where everybody gets a fair shot.

The people stranded in New Orleans have never had a fair shot. The poor, predominantly black people stranded by the flooding are emblematic of the underclass in the United States today. Richard Nixon spoke of the “silent majority.” These people are the “silent minority.” They have no credit cards. They have no vehicles. They have no health insurance. They often have no hope. And we usually don’t hear about them much because the media rarely writes about them. They are silent.

Franklin Roosevelt tried to address extreme poverty with the New Deal. Lyndon Johnson tried to mitigate it with the Great Society. Since then, we have done what we can to reverse these social programs we see as ineffective. Trouble is, we are now ignoring the problem altogether. Our beloved capitalist system is not going to address this problem. Multinational corporations don’t have a conscience.

We can’t only blame this conservative administration. We must blame ourselves. We must demand that our elected officials work toward a just and fair society for everyone, even if we have to pay for it. Only then can we expect everyone to be saved in the cataclysmic storms we have yet to face.

Bill Frayer, Auburn

Copy the Story Link