PowerPoint presentation that shows my research on how the perception of racism factors into the evacuation decisions of African-Americans in New Orleans.

1. Is the Perception of Racism
a Barrier to Evacuation?
Zarian Phipps

2. Why is this topic important?
-Hurricane Katrina caused mass devastation across the Gulf Coast in 2005.
-According to CNN 80% of New Orleans was flooded due to “levee failures”.
Source: http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/23/us/hurricane-katrina-statistics-fast-facts/
-The intense media attention focused largely on African-Americans who did not evacuate.
-New Orleans still has one of the largest populations of African-Americans in the country.
Current estimates put the percentage at about 60% of the total population. Source: http://www.census.gov
-Recent high profile incidents have shown that the issue of racism is salient in the minds of many
people, particularly in regards to how it factors into interactions with public officials and public
institutions.
Is racism a barrier to evacuation for some in the black community in New Orleans?
Source: peacejournal.blogspot.com Source: salon.comSource: npr.org

3. Research Question
My goal is find out the perceptions of black community leaders
regarding the effects of race on evacuation.

4. Literature
There are a variety of reasons that people do not follow instructions
from the government in times of crisis.
-People would want to speak with experts about the emergencies and would not
necessarily trust what the government told them. Lasker
-“Risk means different things to different people”. Slovic
-Public interaction with street level bureaucrats can sometimes cause ill feelings to
develop towards the public policy and public institution. Lipskey
- “Credibility of a communication source is closely linked to the perceived past
performance record”. Renn and Levine

5. Literature
The general problem of distrust may be compounded where race is an
issue.
-Perceptions of racism are influenced by group membership. Carter and Murphy
- “Blacks are motivated to detect early warning signs that they or another in-group member
will become a target of racism”. Richeson and Shelton
-“An individual can sometimes opt out of being ethnically Irish or Italian, but that isn't the
case with black people”. Bolin
- Many blacks in Louisiana share a history that includes perceptions of racial discrimination
during the hurricane evacuation process. Cutter and Smith

6. Literature
NGOs can be important in helping to bridge the trust gap
between the public and government agencies. Bryce
-This may be the case even if building trust is not the primary intent of the organization.
- There are a lot of NGO’s and non-profits in the New Orleans area.

7. Methods
-I conducted telephone interviews with seven local leaders in the African-American community.
-The respondents were referred to me by snowball sampling.
-All of them have worked in some professional capacity for at least 15 years with the local
African-American community. Some of them have assisted in hurricane evacuation.
-The interviews consisted of both open and closed interview questions regarding the levels of
trust in their communities and perceptions about racism.
-The goal was to set up a relaxed environment so the respondents would feel as comfortable as
possible and answer my questions honestly.
My objective was to collect qualitative data that will help me
understand how some in the local African-American community
perceive the ability of the city to provide an equitable evacuation.

8. Results
-All of the respondents felt as if there are a lot of people in their community who will need to use
the City Assisted Evacuation Plan(CAEP).
-Five of the seven respondents did not believe that members of their community trust that
government will be fair with them in an evacuation because of racism.
-All seven of the respondents identified a lack of financial resources as a challenge that members
of their community would face during an evacuation. Four of the seven felt as if racism is the
reason that blacks lack the financial resources needed to evacuate.
-Only one respondent answered unequivocally that they felt that the city understood the needs of
their community. More respondents than not seemed to feel as if the city is not responsive to the
needs of the black community. Three of them expressed the sentiment that New Orleans is only
responsive to the needs of black communities that have been gentrified.

9. Conclusion
-The data that I collected shows that there are some in the local black community that have negative perceptions
about how race factors into the evacuation process. HOWEVER, those negative perceptions do not
seem likely to deter people away from utilizing the CAEP because of the large need for assistance that exists within
many of those communities.
-There seems to be some distrust of the intent behind some of the things that the city of New Orleans has done
in response to hurricanes in the past as well as to how the city is preparing for future disasters
-There is concern among the community leaders whom I interviewed that there are perceptions in the local
African American community that the city will use natural disasters to purposely displace poor
black citizens in favor of rebuilding a city that has a different demographic.
-Some of the people I interviewed feel as if the CAEP is not being advertised in their communities. They felt as if
many in the public do not even know what the statues that were put up to mark evacuation pick up spots are for.
-There was also the concern that the evacuation spots are placed in areas that many poor black people do not live in.

10. Because so many people are likely to need evacuation assistance
in New Orleans the program will probably be considered a
success no matter what the experiences of the evacuees are.