I’m on the Medill School of Journalism (Northwestern University) alumni listserve. There, hundreds if not thousands of NU alumni usually discuss job opportunities, tenets of journalism, journalism best practices and the top news of the day. The past week the listserve has been inundated with news of Haiti. Some people are all for donating and helping, but a disturbing number of vocal listserve members are “tired” of giving help to Haiti.
I like listserves because under the cloak of psuedo-anonymity, people say what’s really on their minds. It’s good to be reminded that there are still racist, self-serving, anti-Black/African, so-called intellectuals out there. There are members of the ’serve who truly believe that it makes no sense to help anyone else other than Americans who are homeless and dying of hunger.
Here’s a sampling. All names have been withheld to protect the innocent.
“K, people. I’m sorry to be inflammatory (well, not really — I’m sorry if I offend anyone, though), but this is a journalism listserv.
Furthermore, and much more importantly, I would like to remind everyone that there are thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of destitute people right here in the United States. Yes, the earthquake in Haiti was a tragedy, just as the tsunami was several years ago, but we still have people here at home who are recovering from Katrina. We have Vietnam veterans who are homeless. We have vets from Iraq and Afghanistan who are psychologically scarred, physically impaired and unable to work. We have thousands of homeless living in the freakin’ tunnels of the New York subway system. We have children who grow up in the virtual war zones of the ghettos in our own cities. What about them?
Why is it that the United States is always expected to give the most aid to disaster-afflicted countries, and yet we get no thanks for it? Why do we spend so many of our tax dollars on countries like Haiti and Iraq when so many of our own live in such squalid conditions? So no, I won’t fast for Haiti. But I would fast so that some AMERICAN without food, shelter, water or medical care could have it.
Again, I’m sorry if I offend anyone, but I think we come off as jackasses by helping everyone but ourselves.”
It seems that the above comment is a popular sentiment. At this in this person’s case, they didn’t insert some of the racist vitriol I’ve seen in other listserves.
Here’s another comment, a response to the above post.
“have you ever been to Haiti? Just wondering. Your comments lead me to believe that you probably have not.
I was there in 2008 following the slew of hurricanes that devastated some of the rural communities. The majority of people in the country live on less than $1 per day. At night it would take forever to get from the embassy to where we were staying since the roads through town are mostly unpaved. If it it was raining, the roads would wash out. After sunset, Port au Prince was almost completely dark as there is so little electricity. The poverty and lack of infrastructure in that country were overwhelming. And keep in mind, that this was pre-earthquake.
I am not denying there are issues in the U.S., but our infrastructure and social services are vastly superior to those in Haiti. There are no homeless shelters or department of veterans affairs as there are here.
I have friends working over there right now. The city is flattened. There is no functioning government. The hospitals are gone. I am looking at pictures and I do not recognize Port au Prince. To state “yes, the earthquake in Haiti was a tragedy,” comes off as a bit flippant, to be honest. The poverty and issues in the States are nowhere near the poverty and issues in Haiti.”
The folks on the listserve have been arguing about this for the last week or so. It started with someone criticizing CNN’s Sanjay Gupta’s role as a doctor-journalist. And then, someone else asked Medill grads to donate the cost of one meal out on the town to a Haiti organization. That stirred quite a few people up.
Here’s what I posted:
All right yall..
How many of you are using Martin Luther King day as a national day of service? How many of YOU are out, right now at DuSable Museum or at the so-called “dreaded” (and Black!) Altgeld Gardens right now passing out food or gym shoes or offering tutoring? Hmm. Not many. How many of you are fighting to make sure your employer gives you MLK day off so that you can go volunteer somewhere for the greater good? How many of you tithe and donate to the poor regularly? How many of you give one day a month to helping kids who don’t look like you or who don’t worship like you? What are you personally doing to end America’s homelessness? Are you out there, under Wacker Drive, feeding people or giving them blankets on 30 degree days? Do you stop and donate money to every homeless person who begs from you as you pump gas on 12th and Wabash?
Did you do anything to help Katrina victims? Did you lobby your politicians and complain about the racist practices that led to the devastation of Katrina? Did you cover Katrina in a way that brought light to the situation? Are you STILL covering it in that way?
The problems in our nation go unattended because we, the people, are not attending to them. Let’s not get that twisted. If everyone in this nation really wanted little black and brown children to be well-educated, they would be. If everyone in this nation really wanted healthcare for everyone, we would have it. And if everyone in this nation really wanted zero homelessness, everyone would be housed and fed – not in ghettos, but in nice places with trees, grass and access to stores that sell healthy food.
Freedom of speech is paramount. Say what you want. But, I certainly hope that all the folks complaining about US citizens helping Haitians are not throwing stones from their own glass houses… “
Thoughts?
- Adrienne
Whoa. I clicked on your link in the listserv email you recently sent and–whoa. Just because someone has a different opinion than you do doesn’t make her a “racist, self-serving, anti-Black/African, so-called intellectual.” (And for the record, I’m a black woman who didn’t agree with the writer’s first post.) Writers are supposed to be discerning with their words. They’re supposed to understand detail and nuance–not paint with a broad brush and dismiss what is a valid argument: How do we help homeless in America, and why isn’t there as much urgency to help our neighbors as there is to help other nations? She never said she was “tired” of helping Haiti, and I didn’t read a “disturbing number” of responses that agreed with her comments.
I’m an editor at a magazine, and if a writer submitted a piece that demonstrated this kind of inattention to detail and sloppy analysis, I’d kill it. Immediately.
And I agree with you that if we want change, we have to change. It’s not the government’s job to fix our problems, and I believe that a good portion of our problem comes from the fact that we’ve been dupped by politicians eager to get elected who say they’ll fix X or Y or Z problem. So instead of thinking of ourselves as problem-solvers and change-makers, we’ve made ourselves into dependent people who turn a blind eye because someone else is going to help our neighbors.
You seem really eager to throw your fellow alumni under the bus for the sake of a sensationalized post. That’s too bad–and kind of sad.
And by the way, it’s “tenets,” not “tenants.”
An addendum…You are exactly right that people have the right to disagree with my thoughts. And since you are an editor, as my colleague in the profession you ought to know that it’s a writer’s job to bring such disagreements to bear in words. It’s called intellectual or literary discourse, which any editor worth salt would understand. Whether or not you would spike my piece is of no consequence here since I wasn’t pitching or writing for you or your audience. I was entering my own opinion into the space as is my right. Clearly you disagree, which is your right, and that makes neither of us right or wrong.
Oh, and by the way, it’s “duped” not “dupped”.