Mississippi's Invisible Coast

2sisters

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As Aug. 29 recedes into the conscious time of many Americans, the great storm that devastated 70 miles of Mississippi's Coast, destroying the homes and lives of hundreds of thousands, fades into a black hole of media obscurity.

Never mind that, if taken alone, the destruction in Mississippi would represent the single greatest natural disaster in 229 years of American history. The telling of Katrina by national media has created the illusion of the hurricane's impact on our Coast as something of a footnote.

http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/13402585.htm

I wanted to post this, the MS gulf coast has been put on the back burner for 4 months now not recieving the help or attention New Orleans has gotten and it is infuriating. Both areas need and deserve help, not just New Orleans. We recently went to Gulfport, MS and the things you see are just heartbreaking.
 
Holy cow, I truly had no idea. The reporter is so correct. New Orleans and Natalee Holloway - both important stories too - dominate the news. But there's never mention of Mississippi that I have heard.

Well, I think it's time Websleuths starts writing Greta and Nancy and the others like we do for missing persons cases. We get results.
This writer poured out his heart and his emotions.
We can only respond by doing the same.
Let's get a move on, Mississippi needs us.
Mississippi is part of our country. We need to take care of the USA and our people first and foremost.

What's happened there is a true tragedy.
Where's the coverage?

I'm starting now.

Thanks for posting the article.
 
2sisters, you're absolutely right when you say New Orleans has received the lion's share of the publicity. And since publicity is what drives help, its no wonder New Orleans would receive most of the help.
I don't know the financial breakdown of who has received more money, but I have no doubt New Orleans is in the lead. Other places were hit by Katrina as well, yet the news organizations do not treat it as an ongoing story. I suppose if hurricane force winds were still blowing, they would still be here with cameras rolling.
I'm sorry, but the news media can kiss my *advertiser censored*.
The people of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama need help rebuilding. We still need it. We'll need it for years to come.
 
2sisters, I'm so glad you posted this. I will write to my Alabama reps. I noticed from the beginning how unbalanced the reporting was. I barely heard mention of the damage in Mobile, and it is truly a SHAME how little coverage the Mississippi coast has received. My parents lived in New Orleans before I was born, and before the storm were visiting several times a year. While down there, they never missed a visit to Biloxi, and a little town called Pass Christian. My mother loved it's charming little antique stores etc.She mentions it often now. I can't imagine the feelings of the people who are in the midst of this devastation.
 
That the coast of Mississippi is more or less gone breaks my heart. My husband and I have been there many times. In fact, I believe that I have a photo of the cemetary that was in that link. It was so pretty, I couldn't not take a picture. All of those gorgeous old homes destroyed. I pray those people receive the help that they desperately need to rebuild. They are in my heart.
 
Mississippi was predominantly white.

New Orleans was predominantly black and poor.

The media outlets and politicians saw an opportunity to lay the failure of people to account for their own well being and safety and the failure of local politicians at the feet of the current Presidential administration. People don't get behind the plight of 'rich' white people who may have lost their vacation home or were insured and will suffer minimal financial loss.

So the media saw a chance to pounce and hurt the administration so they tried it. To hear the media, not one single white person died or lost everything they owned. It was only poor black people....if you listen to the media.

There was a report out the other day that I bet you didn't even know about. Do you know who lost more lives in the storm and aftermath? White people. Ask yourself why the media didn't report that story? Because it didn't fit with their agenda, that's why.

Cal
 
Of course Mississippi was devastated during Katrina. However, I think that it is kind of stupid to compare the black/white ratios of Mississippi and New Orleans since one is a state and the other a city.
 
I think it is typical and all that some people can do but to miss the forest for all the trees.

The poster didn't mention a City specifically so let's just say coastal Mississippi versus coastal Lousianna. My premise still applies.

Cal
 
There's a whole lotta of black Mississippi folk who were devastated by Katrina. They were portrayed by the media along side of their white neighbors. Some were poor, some were middle class and some were affluent.
 
Granted.......

However, the perception is that NO was a poor black town and that towns in Southern Mississippi and Southern Alabama were resort towns made up primarily of resorts and condos. Of course, poor people of all colors lost their homes there.

However, it wasn't predominantly black and therefore there was no story and no albatross to be hung around the administration's neck.

One other piece of it is that with the relative affluence of the costal area, private enterprise and insurance companies were involved. They paid the tab whereas a majority of the poor black in NO didn't have insurance because they didn't own the property to begin with.

How else do you, in your world, explain the fact that Mississippi and Alabama received so very little attention?

Cal
 
Wrong....destroyed is destroyed.

There were plenty of people in MS and AL that lost everything. However, it seems that losing everything in MS and AL is different than losing everything in NO. Wonder why that could be?

Cal
 
What I am saying is that the whole controversy surrounding the levees is why NO was portrayed the way that it was. I agree that destroyed is destroyed.
 
calus_3 said:
Granted.......

However, the perception is that NO was a poor black town and that towns in Southern Mississippi and Southern Alabama were resort towns made up primarily of resorts and condos. Of course, poor people of all colors lost their homes there.

However, it wasn't predominantly black and therefore there was no story and no albatross to be hung around the administration's neck.

One other piece of it is that with the relative affluence of the costal area, private enterprise and insurance companies were involved. They paid the tab whereas a majority of the poor black in NO didn't have insurance because they didn't own the property to begin with.

How else do you, in your world, explain the fact that Mississippi and Alabama received so very little attention?

Cal
One reason there was more focus on New Orleans is that it is one of the oldest cities in this country, and as such odds are more people throughout the nation and the world have been there/ are familiar with it that Gulf Springs, Biloxi, Bay St. Louis and Pass Christian. TV jounralists know that since more people have been to NO, the odds are viewers will have more of an emotional connection to the city and be interested in what's going on. And what bleeds, leads. You can't NOT cover the collapse/destruction of a major amaerican city.
You might also ask why 9/11 is symbolized by the WTC and not the Pentagon as well. A lot of that had to do with the accessibility of cameras. News cameras were able to cover NYC in far greater depth than the Pentagon because the CIA & NSA would not allow cameras near the building for fear of security breaches.
 
That's a better argument, but I am not buying it.

With the "George Bush doesn't care about black people" comments and the attempt to make it his fault. Nah.

Cal
 
calus_3 said:
That's a better argument, but I am not buying it.

With the "George Bush doesn't care about black people" comments and the attempt to make it his fault. Nah.

Cal
I don't think that George Bush cares about Black people. I don't think that he cares about anyone who is not his base - the elite.
 
:D :D :D :doh:

That's the best one I heard all week. Oh please.

Cal
 
No matter what color you are or where you live it is hard to lose everything and have nowhere to go. It shouldn't be about race. Yes alot of the beach homes were expensive and owned by wealthy people but that doesn't make it any easier to lose your home, everything you ever worked for, pictures,clothing etc. It is devestating whether you are rich, poor, black, white. Not all of the MS coast is wealthy, go past the waterfront property and it is regular working class people of any race and there are also poor neighborhoods. Just the casinos being gone left countless displaced and unemployed and they aren't rich people otherwise they wouldn't be working there. Many of them also lost their homes. Same as in New Orleans. Bayou La Batre, AL is a lower income fishing community and I haven't heard much about them and they pretty devesated there too.
As someone who was in MS before, during, and after Katrina I think what it boils down to is what makes a better story and apparently New Orleans was the better story.
 

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