The Rude Pundit: Katrina Proves Liberals Were Right All Along (Part 2: Poverty Edition)

The only time most of America recognizes that poverty exists is when riots happen, and then the political divide is something along the lines of "Niggers have no self-control" to "Rioting is bad and maybe the negroes ought to be helped." Yep, poverty exists for all races (and is growing), but the black face of it is all many Americans ever see.

Every once in a while, though, something untinged (for the most part) by violence occurs that demonstrates the real, awful, degrading condition in which millions of Americans attempt to exist (and this is not even to address the horrible conditions for the migrant workers and illegals attempting to create some simulacrum of an American life). For urban and suburban Americans, poverty exists as "the projects" or the neighborhood to avoid. And in rural America, poverty exists as Brigadoon-like towns, except shitty and shack-filled, seemingly appearing and disappearing (and this is not even to address the horrible conditions for Native Americans on reservations attempting to create some simulacrum of an American life). For the most part, though, poverty is colored black, a perception which is borne out not just by the images from New Orleans, but by the latest stats, which say that the poverty rate for whites is 8.6 percent and 24.7 percent for blacks (with Hispanics a close second at 21.9 percent).