To The Today Show
Dear Today Show Staff,
I wanted to express my disappointment in the story you all had on this morning about the family who was moving their son into his dorm at Tulane University in New Orleans and escaped Hurricane Katrina by hiring a limo/taxi to drive them back to Chicago, at a cost of $3700. Although I'm sure that you all meant well and meant for that story to be some sort of beacon of hope in the face of such tragedy, your on-air kudos to folks for having the disposable income available to escape Katrina in such a fashion only heightened the obvious: New Orleans is a very poor, primarily African-American city with a great many people who, despite evacuation orders, may not have had a car to jump into, let alone the money to hire a limo or taxi to drive them to Chicago.
How nice that the family you highlighted was wealthy enough to have the choices that money provides. Good for them that they aren't now huddled in the Superdome, having to rub shoulders with low-income people who didn't have those same options. Today show, please step up to the plate and show us the real stories of what is going on in New Orleans. Show us a story about what exactly is going on inside the Superdome with those nearly 10,000 people, many of them from the surrounding African-American neighborhoods. Please do not cover this story the same way cases of missing people are covered in this country. Do not only focus on the white people impacted by this tragedy because although they are affected, they are not the majority. Give this story the coverage that a city that is 62% black deserves.
Sincerely,
Liz Dwyer
I wanted to express my disappointment in the story you all had on this morning about the family who was moving their son into his dorm at Tulane University in New Orleans and escaped Hurricane Katrina by hiring a limo/taxi to drive them back to Chicago, at a cost of $3700. Although I'm sure that you all meant well and meant for that story to be some sort of beacon of hope in the face of such tragedy, your on-air kudos to folks for having the disposable income available to escape Katrina in such a fashion only heightened the obvious: New Orleans is a very poor, primarily African-American city with a great many people who, despite evacuation orders, may not have had a car to jump into, let alone the money to hire a limo or taxi to drive them to Chicago.
How nice that the family you highlighted was wealthy enough to have the choices that money provides. Good for them that they aren't now huddled in the Superdome, having to rub shoulders with low-income people who didn't have those same options. Today show, please step up to the plate and show us the real stories of what is going on in New Orleans. Show us a story about what exactly is going on inside the Superdome with those nearly 10,000 people, many of them from the surrounding African-American neighborhoods. Please do not cover this story the same way cases of missing people are covered in this country. Do not only focus on the white people impacted by this tragedy because although they are affected, they are not the majority. Give this story the coverage that a city that is 62% black deserves.
Sincerely,
Liz Dwyer
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