‘Disasters are not unpredictable attacks or acts of God that arrive without precedent’
A University of Connecticut history professor recently gave a lecture at Colgate in which he claimed there is “no such thing as a natural disaster” — they’re actually “deeply tied to race, class and state policy.”
According to The Colgate-Maroon News, Andy Horowitz told the audience “[d]isasters are not unpredictable attacks or acts of God that arrive without precedent […] their causes and consequences reach across much longer periods of time and space than we commonly imagined.”
The Connecticut State Historian and author of “Katrina: A History, 1915-2015” said “state policies and environmental changes” were responsible for the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina in August of 2005.
Horowitz (pictured) said beginning in 1915 federal housing policies “pushed many African Americans into low-lying, flood-prone areas.” That demographic also suffered “disproportionately” after the storm had passed.
“Racism played a defining role in determining who could return afterward,” Horowitz said. Shootings of unarmed black residents by police, FEMA “distributing trailers laced with formaldehyde,” the “demolition of public housing,” and turning the public school system into “a network of charter schools” all, as one student in attendance put it, “ended up reinforcing inequality.”
MORE: College removes Katrina memorial to film Hollywood movie
Senior Zack Brown also spoke about his experience at the talk.
“I thought that the talk was very informative and a reminder that government failure can exacerbate the negative consequences of disasters,” Brown said.
Senior Grace LaBruno was interested in how Horowitz’s research interacts with other aspects of history as a discipline.
“A major ethical dilemma Horowitz presents is how to engage with history when those impacted by an event are still alive or whose family members are,” LaBruno said. “Horowitz emphasized that a good historian leads with empathy, and I will definitely keep that in mind while working on my thesis.”
Horowitz concluded the lecture by sharing how, despite her resilience, [a black resident]’s story ended in heartbreak. As she worked to rebuild her life, her home was bulldozed due to what the city called a “clerical error.”
Horowitz noted what we call a “climate crisis” is actually a crisis of democracy.
Since 1915, seventeen of the 22 Louisiana governors represented the Democratic Party, while only three were Republican (three and a half if you count Buddy Roemer‘s party change during his 1988-1992 term).
During a 2005 fundraiser for Katrina relief, music star Kanye West (in)famously told the televised audience that then-President George W. Bush “doesn’t care about black people” based on his alleged indifference to the disaster.
According to his faculty page, Horowitz’s research deals with “disasters and the questions they give rise to about race, class, community, trauma, inequality, the welfare state, extractive industry, metropolitan development, and environmental change.” He also co-edited the book “Critical Disaster Studies.”
MORE: Emory U. professor claims recent hurricanes are ‘man-made’
IMAGE: U. Connecticut
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