news
08-14-2015, 03:34 AM
The Chicago Tribune apparently decided the approaching 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina was a great hook for an op-ed extolling the cleansing and restorative virtues of a natural disaster that left 1,833 people dead. (http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/23/us/hurricane-katrina-statistics-fast-facts/)
"In Chicago, Wishing For A Hurricane Katrina," (http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/commentary/ct-chicago-katrina-financial-disaster-landrieu-new-orleans-mcqueary-emanuel-pers-20150813-column.html) written by Tribune Editorial board member Kristen McQueary, drew immediate backlash online. (http://www.nola.com/katrina/index.ssf/2015/08/chicago_tribune_hurricane_katr.html) The original headline and more offensive passages were quickly scrubbed without any annotation, but the original text and headline can be read here. (http://big.assets.huffingtonpost.com/Katrina-Chicago_Tribune.pdf)
McQueary compared the political corruption, financial distress and ruinous school system of pre-Katrina New Orleans to present-day Chicago (http://start.westnet.ca/newstempch.php?article=2015/05/14/chicago-credit-rating_n_7288326.html), writing:
I find myself wishing for a storm in Chicago — an unpredictable, haughty, devastating swirl of fury. A dramatic levee break. Geysers bursting through manhole covers. A sleeping city, forced onto the rooftops.
That's what it took to hit the reset button in New Orleans. Chaos. Tragedy. Heartbreak.
It would be hard to call a city that survived Katrina lucky, but McQueary insists that the hurricane "gave a great American city a rebirth."
The column naively assesses the city's gains as a result of the hurricane: the "overthrow" of a corrupt government, a smaller city budget, forced unpaid furloughs, cut positions, "detonated labor contracts" and a school system unburdened by teachers union demands.
Today, New Orleans rates 14th in the nation for political corruption (http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/05/new_orleans_ranks_14th_in_publ.html) (which is only respectable relative to Chicago's first-place ranking); furloughs cut costs, but in some cases simply pushed the burden elsewhere (http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/25/5/w393.full); and a report out Thursday by the Cowen Institute at Tulane University shows the post-Katrina school system is still in flux. (http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/charterschoice/2015/06/10_years_katrina_new_orleans_school_system_still_i n_flux_report_says.html)But the city finances, at least, are in better shape (http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/09/new_orleans_2014_budget_surplu.html) than 10 years ago.
Based on readers' reactions on social media, the op-ed was not very persuasive:
@StatehouseChick (https://twitter.com/StatehouseChick) As journalist/one of the primary citizens who overthrew corrupt government, no idea how offensive this piece is to us.
— Dambala (@DambalaAshe) August 13, 2015 (https://twitter.com/DambalaAshe/status/631963315548352512)
.@StatehouseChick (https://twitter.com/StatehouseChick) Healthy cities aren't borne of disaster. They're erected with intention. Wishing for storms is disingenuous and cruel.
— Jenn M. Jackson (@JennMJack) August 14, 2015 (https://twitter.com/JennMJack/status/631989331658416128)
@StatehouseChick (https://twitter.com/StatehouseChick) Would you have said, "what Chicago needs is a 9/11" or "it's own 1906 San Francisco earthquake?"
— Matt Baldwin (@thisbrokenwheel) August 13, 2015 (https://twitter.com/thisbrokenwheel/status/631954789635461120)
McQueary did not immediately respond to The Huffington Post's request for comment. She did, however, defend her column after the backlash began, tweeting:
If you read the piece, it's about finances and government. I would never diminish the tragedy of thousands of lives lost.
— Kristen McQueary (@StatehouseChick) August 13, 2015 (https://twitter.com/StatehouseChick/status/631947498358112256)
The most objectionable passage -- which was later changed on the sly -- was especially out-of-touch with the real-life human toll of Katrina (which hit poor black residents the hardest). (http://cretscmhd.psych.ucla.edu/nola/volunteer/EmpiricalStudies/Survival%20and%20death%20in%20new%20orleans%20-%20an%20empirical%20look%20at%20the%20human%20impa ct%20of%20katrina.pdf) Per the op-ed:
That's why I find myself praying for a real storm. It's why I can relate, metaphorically, to the residents of New Orleans climbing onto their rooftops and begging for help and waving their arms and lurching toward rescue helicopters.
As a reminder, here are some images of what actual residents of New Orleans experienced during Katrina:
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. (http://start.westnet.ca/newstempch.php?article=terms.html/) It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
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More... (http://feeds.huffingtonpost.com/c/35496/f/677045/s/48f8ed67/sc/24/l/0L0Shuffingtonpost0N0C20A150C0A80C130Cchicago0Etri bune0Ekatrina0In0I79859620Bhtml/story01.htm)
"In Chicago, Wishing For A Hurricane Katrina," (http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/commentary/ct-chicago-katrina-financial-disaster-landrieu-new-orleans-mcqueary-emanuel-pers-20150813-column.html) written by Tribune Editorial board member Kristen McQueary, drew immediate backlash online. (http://www.nola.com/katrina/index.ssf/2015/08/chicago_tribune_hurricane_katr.html) The original headline and more offensive passages were quickly scrubbed without any annotation, but the original text and headline can be read here. (http://big.assets.huffingtonpost.com/Katrina-Chicago_Tribune.pdf)
McQueary compared the political corruption, financial distress and ruinous school system of pre-Katrina New Orleans to present-day Chicago (http://start.westnet.ca/newstempch.php?article=2015/05/14/chicago-credit-rating_n_7288326.html), writing:
I find myself wishing for a storm in Chicago — an unpredictable, haughty, devastating swirl of fury. A dramatic levee break. Geysers bursting through manhole covers. A sleeping city, forced onto the rooftops.
That's what it took to hit the reset button in New Orleans. Chaos. Tragedy. Heartbreak.
It would be hard to call a city that survived Katrina lucky, but McQueary insists that the hurricane "gave a great American city a rebirth."
The column naively assesses the city's gains as a result of the hurricane: the "overthrow" of a corrupt government, a smaller city budget, forced unpaid furloughs, cut positions, "detonated labor contracts" and a school system unburdened by teachers union demands.
Today, New Orleans rates 14th in the nation for political corruption (http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/05/new_orleans_ranks_14th_in_publ.html) (which is only respectable relative to Chicago's first-place ranking); furloughs cut costs, but in some cases simply pushed the burden elsewhere (http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/25/5/w393.full); and a report out Thursday by the Cowen Institute at Tulane University shows the post-Katrina school system is still in flux. (http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/charterschoice/2015/06/10_years_katrina_new_orleans_school_system_still_i n_flux_report_says.html)But the city finances, at least, are in better shape (http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/09/new_orleans_2014_budget_surplu.html) than 10 years ago.
Based on readers' reactions on social media, the op-ed was not very persuasive:
@StatehouseChick (https://twitter.com/StatehouseChick) As journalist/one of the primary citizens who overthrew corrupt government, no idea how offensive this piece is to us.
— Dambala (@DambalaAshe) August 13, 2015 (https://twitter.com/DambalaAshe/status/631963315548352512)
.@StatehouseChick (https://twitter.com/StatehouseChick) Healthy cities aren't borne of disaster. They're erected with intention. Wishing for storms is disingenuous and cruel.
— Jenn M. Jackson (@JennMJack) August 14, 2015 (https://twitter.com/JennMJack/status/631989331658416128)
@StatehouseChick (https://twitter.com/StatehouseChick) Would you have said, "what Chicago needs is a 9/11" or "it's own 1906 San Francisco earthquake?"
— Matt Baldwin (@thisbrokenwheel) August 13, 2015 (https://twitter.com/thisbrokenwheel/status/631954789635461120)
McQueary did not immediately respond to The Huffington Post's request for comment. She did, however, defend her column after the backlash began, tweeting:
If you read the piece, it's about finances and government. I would never diminish the tragedy of thousands of lives lost.
— Kristen McQueary (@StatehouseChick) August 13, 2015 (https://twitter.com/StatehouseChick/status/631947498358112256)
The most objectionable passage -- which was later changed on the sly -- was especially out-of-touch with the real-life human toll of Katrina (which hit poor black residents the hardest). (http://cretscmhd.psych.ucla.edu/nola/volunteer/EmpiricalStudies/Survival%20and%20death%20in%20new%20orleans%20-%20an%20empirical%20look%20at%20the%20human%20impa ct%20of%20katrina.pdf) Per the op-ed:
That's why I find myself praying for a real storm. It's why I can relate, metaphorically, to the residents of New Orleans climbing onto their rooftops and begging for help and waving their arms and lurching toward rescue helicopters.
As a reminder, here are some images of what actual residents of New Orleans experienced during Katrina:
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. (http://start.westnet.ca/newstempch.php?article=terms.html/) It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
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More... (http://feeds.huffingtonpost.com/c/35496/f/677045/s/48f8ed67/sc/24/l/0L0Shuffingtonpost0N0C20A150C0A80C130Cchicago0Etri bune0Ekatrina0In0I79859620Bhtml/story01.htm)