Katrina isn't over - Blind racism is deep.

Certainly, this chart and the accompanying article, tell me that higher lung cancer rates among blacks is due to genetics or their "habits."

It couldn't possibly have anything to do with this. "An Associated Press analysis of that data shows with black Americans ... are 79 percent more likely than whites to live in neighborhoods where industrial pollution is suspected of posing the greatest health danger." (MSNBC)

Maybe, I'm just a little oversensitive to this living down here in the petrochem heartland, but right next to some of the highest repeat offenders on emissions standards all over this area, Houston, Beaumont, Pasadena, Texas City, Freeport, are large black neighborhoods. Right up next to the fence.

(And don't even bother me with the, "they moved there" argument. Local politics here is littered with parallel examples of white communities and black communities receiving different treatment regarding their polluting corporate neighbors.)

This kind of blind spot racism just makes me crazy. It affixes the blame solely on the "habits" or genetic "make up" of Blacks in America. You see, it's their fault. If only they were more like Whites, then they wouldn't have all their problems. What really gets me is that this sort of storyline passes completely unchallenged in our newly aware, post-Katrina America.

(Also take note of the corporate media's blind spot on pollution as a whole. There is a big debate we should be having as to what is the "acceptable" level of pollution in which we want to live and raise our kids. Certainly in our modern societies we can't realistically expect zero pollution, but by what mechanism have we collectively decided that the current level is acceptable. Have you ever seen a significant debate in the major media? As example, this article didn't even mention the possibility of differing exposure to pollution as a contributory factor in cases of LUNG CANCER.)