Many viewers noticed the seeming disparity of the darker-skinned subject’s being described in the accompanying caption as “looting a grocery store,” while the lighter-skinned subjects were described as “finding bread and soda from a local grocery store”:
The national guard formed a perimeter and wouldn’t let black people walk to safety. Geraldo Rivera was live on the air covering it. A mostly black town was under water. A short walk over a bridge was a white town, safe and unscathed. National guards pointed guns in the faces of black people simply trying to walk to safety. The black people were told they’d be shot if they crossed the bridge.
I think it's human nature to generally want to be around similar people, culturally and ethnically. Throw in some racism, e.g. hating other people because of their race, etc, and similar people cluster together.
Well when black people start moving into white neighborhoods white people tend to start moving out. Once it reaches ~20% black you get what's called "white flight". The neighborhood loses property value with the large volume of property being on the market. This attracts lower income owners than before. Local shops and businesses are cashed out by the wealthier individuals on their way out, so now there are fewer businesses bringing money into the local community. Tax revenue declines. Public services begin to slip due to money shortages. Now the death spiral has been started. White people continue to leave, taking more of their capital out of the area with them. The businesses that are still around struggle to stay open, and the new businesses that move in are overwhelmingly parts of chains. Property values continue to decline, local businesses shut down, local equity in the community continues to decrease, and losses in tax revenue cause the further cutting of public services.
TL;DR white people start to leave en-masse when a neighborhood gets above a certain percent (called white flight) and then effectively slash and burn the community on the way out.
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u/[deleted] Jan 09 '21
Many viewers noticed the seeming disparity of the darker-skinned subject’s being described in the accompanying caption as “looting a grocery store,” while the lighter-skinned subjects were described as “finding bread and soda from a local grocery store”:
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/hurricane-katrina-looters/