Look South Column
Is it coz I iz black?
It was the infamous catchphrase of UK comedian Ali G — “Is it coz i iz black?” — that perversely came to mind as I watched the desperate scenes unfolding in the US in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
It was not the most politically correct thought to have, since Sasha Cohen, the Cambridge-educated white man who plays Ali G, a misogynistic black man, has been criticised for his strange brand of humour by some black comics — but in Katrina’s aftermath his little adage is worth considering.
To put it another way; was the slow response by the US federal government because those mainly affected were indeed black and poor?
Some feel convinced about this. Well-known Rapper Kanye West stated at a recent benefit concert that “George Bush doesn’t care about black people”.
Jesse Jackson weighed in with his usual emotive language, comparing the situation of many of the evacuees to “Africans in the hull of a slave ship”. The reply from the US administration has been to fob these criticisms off. Bush supporters brand such views Leftie hatred for Bush and nothing more. But let’s face it, the initial response was pitiful. If the areas most affected were upmarket Boston or even George W Bush’s beloved Texas would there have been such a lacklustre attitude? I doubt it.
