Many responses of ‘officials’ in the US to the impacts of Hurricane Katrina for me do little but perpetuate common perceptions of American‚Äôs as little more than self‐obsessed, arrogant, ignorant people who consider themselves as above all others in the world.

Over the past days I have heard commentators, politicians and others refer to the devastation caused in ways that smack of this arrogance, illustrates the self‐created and perpetuated ignorance of US culture (yes I am making a sweeping generalisation here), and stinks of racism. Two comments stand out and really offend me beyond anything I could have thought possible in the wake of such a natural event.

The Mayor of Biloxi A. J. Holloway’s comment outraged me beyond anything I can remember. How did he describe the aftermath???

This is our tsunami

Yes this natural event has led to large loss of life but to equate to the scale of the Southeast Asian tsunami! The first thing this clearly highlights is that American’s place more value on white lives as opposed to Asean lives…