Mississippi's Invisible Coast

[DFWdem]

This editorial from the local South Mississippi newspaper is a couple of weeks old, but it is a very important read. We can't allow the nation to forget about the plight of ALL of the victims of Hurricane Katrina. I posted this in the Editorials section, but I believe it also warrants posting in General Discussion so that these people do not fade from the American conscience.

(more at link)

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

"There is no question that the New Orleans story, like ours, is a compelling, ongoing saga as its brave people seek to reclaim those parts of the city lost to the floods. But it becomes more and more obvious that to national media, New Orleans is THE story - to the extent that if the Mississippi Coast is mentioned at all it is often in an add-on paragraph that mentions "and the Gulf Coast" or "and Mississippi and Alabama."

"While there has been no study to quantify the amount of coverage accorded to the plight of so many here or in New Orleans, it is obvious to any observer that the number of news stories on New Orleans is many times that of those focused on Mississippi. So, why does that matter? It matters first as it relates to journalism's obligations to cover human beings whose conditions are as dire as those that exist here. The depth of the suffering and the height of the courage of South Mississippians is an incredible story that the American people must know. But, in the shadows of the New Orleans story, the Mississippi Coast has become invisible and forgotten to most Americans."

"The second reason that the coverage matters is in the realm of politics. If the American people and their elected representatives do not truly know the scope of the destruction here, and if they are not shown the ongoing conditions afflicting so many, then there are consequences which are playing out even this week in Washington, where Congress will act, or not act, to relieve the incredible pain that has reduced the condition of so many American citizens to Third World status or worse."

If the people do not know, they cannot care.

[SoCalDem]

1. I hope the dems in MS are planning to use Hayley's comments

as their campaign commercials.. He was very happy to go on camera and tell everyone how things were "just fine" in MS, and what a great job FEMA had done for them.. Probably most people in MS have family or friends who live in the affected areas, so they know the truth.. Perhaps a reminder is warranted...along with some footage of how things really are.. Just because some casinos reopened. does not mean that everything is "fine"

[Gildor Inglorion]

2. It's discouraging, but what's the answer?

If you took a vote of the entire country as to which state of the 50 would be missed least if it disappeared, I'm afraid the overwhelming answer would be "Mississippi." Who cares about us? Not the Repukes...they take us for granted and probably feel they've done more than enough anyway. Not the Democrats...why feed the hound that bites you? I get a big yawn when I tell my family members in other states how truly horrible the devastation is here. "Well, why stay in that awful place anyway?" is the usual answer. "You could earn more money elsewhere and not have to associate with 'those people.'" (Meaning: racists, bigots, rednecks, Ku Klux Klan members, etc.) The general MISperception of Mississippi is of a place just a little short of hell, and nobody wants to hear anything different. I LOVE it here. Mississippi is my home, and my heart breaks daily for my fellow citizens. But we can't force everyone else to care. People have a soft spot for New Orleans. The best that can be said for how they feel about Mississippi is indifference; the worst is loathing and contempt. Tell someone from almost anywhere else in the country you're from Mississippi, and the reaction is "ewwww..." How do you overcome that? I haven't a clue.

[Bake]

9. Thanks for your post, G.I. I love it here too.

Mississippi is my adopted home now, and it is beautiful and filled with wonderful people. Yeah, we've got some bad ones. But I do love it here. And what has happened to our coast, to our people, is heart-wrenching. People need to know that.

Gulfport is mostly GONE. Biloxi is mostly GONE. Waveland? Bay St. Louis? ALL GONE.

Bake

[DFWdem]

3. kick so as not to prove the editorial right!

[misanthrope]

4. When I've heard this...

...line of thought in the last few months, it has been as a lead-up to "...because the lib'rul media only cares about the minorities in black-run New Orleans. People in Mississippi look after ourselves. We're good, God-fearin' white folks, not on government handouts all the time and so the lib'rul elites don't care."

[DFWdem]

5. I'm not sure which newspaper you've been reading

But all the editors at this paper are saying is, "Katrina was a terrible disaster, and the storm devestated a huge area. New Orleans is a tragic story, but no more tragic than the story of the MS Gulf Coast. Whereas New Orleans was flooded, the MS Gulf Coast was levelled. Please don't forget the tens of thousands of homeless people living in tents in Mississippi."

[misanthrope]

6. Not from newspapers...

...from individuals.

[pitohui]

13. similar comments heard here

i've heard comments from lakeview, new orleans east etc. that they feel there has been bias in the media coverage and it does seem sometimes that largely white areas except st. bernard parish are not getting the same amt of coverage

the entire parish of cameron, louisiana is still utterly destroyed and under an evacuation order, does anyone remember them?

i feel myself that there is bias, but i don't believe it is caused by any fictional liberal bias since the media is largely republican and conservative owned

i assume the bias is intentional, to lull middle-class white people in other areas of the country into believing that only poor people or only poor black people have been affected

if the middle class homeowner knew what is really going to happen to him if there is a major earthquake in the midwest or california today, if they really knew that "regular good old boys" were abandoned just like anybody else, it would really shake their world

you see it in florida hurricane and midwest tornado coverage also, big emphasis on distancing you from victims by portraying them as trailer trash

my theory only, it could be wrong, but the bias in reporting seems apparent to me

another theory i had was that reporters are lazy and why go any distance to pursue a story, when you can just stroll over from yr hotel to the superdome and do a wrap

we shouldn't let media laziness divide us, this storm hit all colors and classes

[progressivebydesign]

7. I received a desperate email newsletter from a knitting/yarn company.

Believe it or not... A company, Lion Brand Yarn, sent out a newsletter recently asking for help for people in the Biloxi and Pass Christian areas.... seems that many, many, families are still living in tents in brutal weather, and through the holidays. Also, many people are still living in substandard conditions in FEMA trailers... They need blankets and clothing and other supplies, and are being completely ignored in the media.

Lots of knitters I know poo-poo Lion Brand yarns because they feel they aren't haute couture enough for them, but they have earned my unending support through their actions like these, and their other altruistic activities.

[EFerrari]

8. Kick and recommend.

:kick:

[Bake]

10. Joe Scarborough!!

I cannot think of a pundit on cable news with whom I generally disagree more, but Joe has been GREAT in keeping the story of the Mississippi Gulf Coast in front of people.

If politics makes strange bedfellows, then truly a natural disaster makes more. And I appreciate Joe's efforts to keep the spotlight on the Gulf Coast.

Bake

[KamaAina]

11. MSNBC's "Rising from Ruin" is on the case

focusing on two of the hardest-hit (i.e. all but wiped out :( ) towns, Bay St. Louis and Waveland.

http://risingfromruin.msnbc.com/the_towns.html

I sheepishly admit to focusing on New Orleans to a degree termed "obsessive" by my own mother, but plead the excuse that I lived there for over two years, back by the end of the St. Charles streetcar line. I have not, however, forgotten the Coast the way so many others seem to have; it's tough to do at DU when we have people like merh, whose house was obliterated (but at least she got her FEMAnsion!).

[pitohui]

12. kick

the situation in bay st. louis, waveland, etc. is beyond belief and should not be forgotten

last i heard the feds hadn't even done anything repairing the bridge on hwy 90!