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Voices in Urban Education
Archives
Equity after Katrina
VUE Number 10, Winter 2006
| VUE Home | Archives | Order Print Copy |
EXCERPT:
Now They're Wet: Hurricane Katrina as Metaphor for Social and Educational Neglect
By Gloria Ladson-Billings
Gloria Ladson-Billings is the Kellner Family Professor of Urban Education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is president of the American Educational Research Association.
> Author's Biography
The "aggressive neglect" that has existed since long before Katrina in New Orleans and other cities has denied
educational opportunities – and, indeed, citizenship – to poor children and children of color.
My first glimpse of Hurricane Katrina came from almost 4,000 miles away as I attended a conference in London, England. I was even more of a news junkie than usual during this trip because London had recently experienced a terrorist attack on its transit system, and the university where my meetings were being held was located near the spot where one of the busses was bombed. However, little of what I saw on the BBC and CNN World News focused on terrorists or bombings. Instead, I saw the horror that was the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and those images left me sad, depressed, and angry. The more I watched, the more agitated I became. The e-mails I received from friends, family, and colleagues back in the States did little to alleviate my concerns. Things were not only as bad as they seemed on the news; they were worse.
By about the third day of the catastrophe, a Londoner at my hotel asked, "What in the world is happening in your country?" It was then that I had a painful insight and remarked to the questioner, "Actually, the only difference between the people you are seeing on television today and their status two weeks ago is now they're wet!" My cynical comment addressed the just-below-the-surface frustration I have been living with for many years. The hurricane was not just about government breakdowns in the face of a natural disaster. It was about the failure of government (and, by default, much of the nation) to take seriously the plight of the poor and disenfranchised. It was about the kind of nation we have created and how we can continue to live as we have for so many years.
Glaring Inequities, Long before Katrina
My first visit to New Orleans was in the mid-1980s. I went with a dear friend and colleague to give a paper at a conference. We arrived in the city late on the night of Mardi Gras. By the time we arrived at our hotel, the New Orleans police had done their final sweep of the French Quarter, all the revelers were off the street, and the city coffers were filled with the profits from another Fat Tuesday. However, in the light of Wednesday morning, the Big Easy did not look so festive or so easy.
After giving our paper, my colleague and I decided to explore the city. We traveled through the city's Garden District with its beautiful Victorian mansions and the lovely campuses of Tulane University and Loyola University. We wanted to visit Xavier University.We had read about a wonderful program in mathematics education that the university had pioneered.We also knew that Xavier was one of the more successful historically Black universities – known for its high rate of sending African American students to medical, pharmaceutical, and veterinary programs.
Archives
Equity after Katrina
VUE Number 10, Winter 2006
| VUE Home | Archives | Order Print Copy |
EXCERPT:
Now They're Wet: Hurricane Katrina as Metaphor for Social and Educational Neglect
By Gloria Ladson-Billings
Gloria Ladson-Billings is the Kellner Family Professor of Urban Education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is president of the American Educational Research Association.
> Author's Biography
The "aggressive neglect" that has existed since long before Katrina in New Orleans and other cities has denied
educational opportunities – and, indeed, citizenship – to poor children and children of color.
My first glimpse of Hurricane Katrina came from almost 4,000 miles away as I attended a conference in London, England. I was even more of a news junkie than usual during this trip because London had recently experienced a terrorist attack on its transit system, and the university where my meetings were being held was located near the spot where one of the busses was bombed. However, little of what I saw on the BBC and CNN World News focused on terrorists or bombings. Instead, I saw the horror that was the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and those images left me sad, depressed, and angry. The more I watched, the more agitated I became. The e-mails I received from friends, family, and colleagues back in the States did little to alleviate my concerns. Things were not only as bad as they seemed on the news; they were worse.
By about the third day of the catastrophe, a Londoner at my hotel asked, "What in the world is happening in your country?" It was then that I had a painful insight and remarked to the questioner, "Actually, the only difference between the people you are seeing on television today and their status two weeks ago is now they're wet!" My cynical comment addressed the just-below-the-surface frustration I have been living with for many years. The hurricane was not just about government breakdowns in the face of a natural disaster. It was about the failure of government (and, by default, much of the nation) to take seriously the plight of the poor and disenfranchised. It was about the kind of nation we have created and how we can continue to live as we have for so many years.
Glaring Inequities, Long before Katrina
My first visit to New Orleans was in the mid-1980s. I went with a dear friend and colleague to give a paper at a conference. We arrived in the city late on the night of Mardi Gras. By the time we arrived at our hotel, the New Orleans police had done their final sweep of the French Quarter, all the revelers were off the street, and the city coffers were filled with the profits from another Fat Tuesday. However, in the light of Wednesday morning, the Big Easy did not look so festive or so easy.
After giving our paper, my colleague and I decided to explore the city. We traveled through the city's Garden District with its beautiful Victorian mansions and the lovely campuses of Tulane University and Loyola University. We wanted to visit Xavier University.We had read about a wonderful program in mathematics education that the university had pioneered.We also knew that Xavier was one of the more successful historically Black universities – known for its high rate of sending African American students to medical, pharmaceutical, and veterinary programs.
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