The Racial Perceptions Divide

Elisabeth Bumiller's article in the Times today effectively conveys the White House's fears that the bungled federal response to the Hurricane Katrina catatrophe in New Orleans will affect the Republican party's standing among African Americans. Bumiller cites the unsurprising but nevertheless telling statistic that two-thirds of blacks polled viewed the race of the victims as an important factor in the lethargic federal response to the disaster, while 77% of whites felt otherwise. The very fact of these nearly reversed ratios—whatever the reality that lies behind them—suggests the extent to which the "color-line" of which Du Bois wrote continues to divide, or at least fracture, the nation.