Document Type
Dissertation
Date of Award
12-2023
School/College
Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs (SOPA)
Degree Name
Ph.D. in Urban Planning and Environmental Policy
Committee Chairperson
Glenn S. Johnson
Committee Member 1
Robert Bullard
Committee Member 2
Antoinette Christophe
Committee Member 3
Lalita Sen
Keywords
Covid-19, Environmental Justice, Hurricane Harvey, Hurricane Katrina, Racial Inequity, Vulnerable communities
Abstract
African Americans have endured a disproportionately high amount of exposure to natural and man-made calamities. The racial inequities against African Americans following the hurricanes Katrina, Harvey, and the Coronavirus were examined in this study. Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Harvey took place in two different states, but the low-income vulnerable populations encountered the same outcome which manifested as deteriorating health, lack of rapid assistance from the government, and, the exacerbation of pre-existing conditions. Literature reviews have uncovered political apathy and systemic racism. These people have lost faith in the government as evidenced by Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Harvey, and COVID-19. The results were the same. The repetitious covert systemic racism acted upon historical communities. They feel violated over and over and do not anticipate any changes. The recovery responses of African Americans following Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Harvey, and Coronavirus disease, or COVID-19, were compared in this study. Similar to how black communities were disproportionately hit by Hurricanes Katrina and Harvey, the Coronavirus still causes harm to them. The researcher chose to conduct this study to examine the literature and conduct Oral Histories to explain the disparities associated with African Americans’ lived experiences with natural and unnatural disasters and provide policy recommendations to address the inequalities. The problem is that African Americans in vulnerable communities do not get financial assistance in these disastrous events, nor do they have equal access to resources. The similarities between the experiences of African Americans during three extreme events suggest policy mismanagement of a specific echelon of American society. The lack of federal, state, city, and local support for African Americans is a pattern that cannot be ignored. This study plans to examine the trifecta of successive disastrous events that continue to plague African-American communities to uncover if the similarities are social anomalies or planned policies that have a racial systemic effect on low-income African Americans. Key Words: Hurricane Harvey, Hurricane Katrina, Vulnerable communities, Covid-19, Racial Inequity, Environmental Justice
Copyright
Copyright © for this work is retained by the author. Any documents and information presented are protected by copyright under US Copyright laws and are the property of the author. All Rights Reserved. For permission to use this content please contact the author or the Graduate School at Texas Southern University (graduate.school@tsu.edu).
Recommended Citation
Plaza, Daniella, "Identifying The Disproportionate Impacts Of Hurricane Harvey, Hurricane Katrina, And Covid-19 On African Americans: A Pandemic Within A Pandemic" (2023). Dissertations (2016-Present). 88.
https://digitalscholarship.tsu.edu/dissertations/88