If Ryan Lochte freestyled through flooded Baton Rouge, would the media be more interested in the plight of the South? Thousands of Louisianans have been displaced by historic flooding last week. The magnitude of flooding is similar to hurricane Katrina. Louisianans have lost keepsakes, homes, and loved ones. And during this horror, CNN’s headlines were about Donald Trump and Ryan Lochte. Southerners have noted the silence of television news about Louisiana. The New York Times admitted they failed to properly cover the flooding. Why has the media chosen to neglect my home State for coverage of the election or the Olympics? Perhaps the South has become America’s basket case.
Media images often portray the entire continent of Africa as poor and lawless. Well-intentioned charities perpetuate the notion that millions of people of different cultures all live in need and famine. Similarly, America perceives the Southern U.S. as poor, racist, backwards and therefore hopeless. There is a little truth to this view; my fellow Southern Americans are more likely to be poor than other Americans. But they are not hopeless. The most brilliant man I ever met was from Texas. I know Louisianans who have competed at the Olympic trials. The Boy Scouts I know all along the Gulf Coast can survive in the wild with only the natural resources around them.
Perhaps the perception of hopelessness causes the media to ignore flood victims; Louisiana’s pain is lesser than the pain of Hurricane Sandy victims because America views the South as a basket case and the North as morally superior. Whatever thing Donald Trump says earns more attention than a historic disaster because the U.S. thinks the South is always suffering anyway.
Never mind the fact that the North has its fair share of racism and poverty. The South is not a monolith of hate and suffering, nor do racism and poverty justify ignoring the horror Southern Americans feel. They deserve respect because they are human beings like everyone else. Louisiana is home to civil rights leaders, neurosurgeons, fishermen, professors, actors, musicians, engineers and all around nice people. Louisiana is home to people who deserve the support of their media and their nation. Pay attention, America, because Louisiana is not a basket case.
