The predominating media sentiment according to Ransby was that of 'blaming the victim,' or blaming the impoverished residents for being insufficiently prepared for the disaster. Ransby suggests that the fortitude shown by residents, even in the absence of aid, was often considerable, considering their meager resources. Residents were blamed for their poverty, rather than sympathized with. Ransby's essay made me think critically about the coverage of the event I witnessed:

The different "isms" such as sexism, heterosexism, and racism are creating very real schisms -- in our minds, and between people. The chasms of communication that are created by hatred and misunderstanding are socially constructed. They can be socially deconstructed too. Such rifts occur between groups of people and between whole cultures. In some pockets of the United States, social conservatism threatens to erase the social progress made since the

An increased rate of incarceration is considered one of the key factors behind this drop, although a number of notable criminologists disagree. Incarceration is one of the major consequences for youth and young adults arrested for committing violent crimes such as murder, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault.(Delgado, 2001, p. 3) This decrease however has not appeased society nor has it abated one's fears of crime and its circumstances. Researchers

bias based on gender, race, or ethnicity considered unacceptable, in some instances, like employment or pay status, it can be illegal. Our nation does not condone discrimination on factors like these, and for many years we have, as a whole, enforced laws and policies that make racist or biased behavior difficult to institute. This attention to equality, however, does not mean that racism, gender bias, or other biases do

S. Supreme Court decisions on the issue, such as its judgment upon the University of Michigan's undergraduate admissions policy. Even stereotypes such as the idea that "Blacks are strongly associated with criminality," still have a pervasive hold as was denoted in one recent study where "when exposed to crime-relevant objects," perceivers visually attended more "to Black faces more so than White faces. Alternatively, the mere presence of a Black face

Gordimer and Walker Race and gender have been shown to be major social issues throughout the world as demonstrated through short stories written by Nadine Gordimer, who writes from a South African perspective, and Alice Walker, who writes from an American perspective. Gordimer's "Country Lovers" (1975), takes a look at South African apartheid and allows the reader insight into the discrimination that was prevalent in society. Likewise, Walker's "The Welcome Table"