David Cay Johnston: If You're White, Trump Has Plenty Of Hurricane Aid
September 15, 2018 5:12 am
After its disastrous response a year ago to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, the Trump administration is making sure everyone knows that this time emergency supplies are in place before Hurricane Florence washes into beach towns in the Carolinas starting this afternoon (Thursday, Sept. 13).
There is something significant going on here, though it is not the story Team Trump’s publicity machine is busily selling to journalists. It’s a story of racism, plain and simple, and new interactive maps establish the factual basis for that judgment.
Network television correspondents, especially, have been all over the story of the advance preparations with, obviously, full cooperation from the Trump administration. Video galore show rows of pre-positioned big rigs, their trailers filled with bottled water, diapers, food, emergency medical supplies and electric generators.
There are lots of images of military helicopters, too, being moved out of harm’s way at Fort Bragg, with officers in fatigues promising that the versatile aircraft will be back to help as soon as the storm winds abate, which may not be until the middle of next week.
Contrast this with Puerto Rico, where choppers were few, water scarce and the electric grid was not fully restored until Aug. 14 of this year. That’s 11 months after the storm swept the American island in the Caribbean. Can you imagine enduring 11 months without power?
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http://www.nationalmemo.com/if-youre-white-trump-has-plenty-of-hurricane-aid/