The Soft Bigotry of Low Expectations

To validate my point in an earlier post about the need to confront issues of bigotry and racism which are sure to come up as evacuees land in various parts of the country, I present Exhibit One: Barbara Bush, our President's mother, speaking as her husband and Bill Clinton visited the evacuees in the Astrodome.

What I'm hearing -- which is sort of scary -- is they all want to stay in Texas. Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality.

And so many of the people in the arenas here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this is -- this is [quiet chuckle] working very well for them.

Because, you know, having a clean cot on the floor of a stadium with no belongings and no ability to know when or if you will ever be able to return to your home is so much better than the way those people allowed themselves to live before, now isn't it? Aren't they lucky?

It actually sounds worse in her voice than when you read it. The public radio Marketplace has it as part of one of their stories.

The logistics and economics of how our nation will cope with population of an entire city that will have to remain mostly vacant for months are pretty complicated. I'm sure it'll go easier if we believe them to be our fellow human beings, worthy of respect. Katrina has already shown them enough indignity and contempt.