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A12 WORLD NEWS
Tuesday 12 sepTember 2017

Hurricane Irma exposes racial tensions on smashed St. Martin

By THOMAS ADAMSON Tin said, “there were no
DANICA M. COTO reparations for the slaves,
Associated Press only for the slave owners,”
MARIGOT, St. Martin (AP) so the former slaves won
— In the chaotic days after freedom but remained
Hurricane Irma smashed St. destitute. “The economy is
Martin, the storm also ex- now based on tourism but
posed simmering racial ten- it is still poor. The wages are
sions on the island’s French significantly lower than the
territory, with some black mainland France.”
and mixed-race residents The government is not the
complaining that white only one being accused
tourists were given priority of racial bias in the wake
during the evacuation. of the storm. Giraud said
It was the type of anger that French television reports on
has long plagued France’s the devastation focused
far-flung former colonies disproportionately on white
— especially its Caribbean people.
territories, where most of “When I saw the pictures, I
the population identifies as was shocked,” Giraud said.
black and is poorer than “In the coverage I saw, the
the white minority. victims were mostly white
Johana Soudiagom was tourists, or white French
disturbed to find herself This photo provided by the Dutch Defense Ministry on Sunday, Sept. 10, 2017 shows people mainlanders. But the poor-
among a tiny handful of walking into a military plane on St. Maarten, after the passage of Hurricane Irma. Irma cut a path est are always the first vic-
non-whites evacuated by of devastation across the northern Caribbean, including this island that is split between French tims.”
and Dutch control.
boat to nearby Guade- (Gerben Van Es/Dutch Defense Ministry via AP) Irma hit St. Martin on
loupe after Irma devastat- ment response but blamed poser of racial and social into the French territory of Wednesday, killing at least
ed the island. part of the controversy on inequalities,” the group’s Saint-Martin and the Dutch nine people on the French
“It’s selective. Excuse me, their “emotional shock, an spokesman, Louis-Georges territory of Sint Maarten — part of the island and dam-
but we saw only mainland- impact that’s extremely Tin, told The Associated measures just 87 square ki- aging a majority of its build-
ers,” she told Guadeloupe hard psychologically.” Press. lometers (34 square miles). ings. The following day,
1ere television, visibly shak- Soudiagom and other wit- The terror of facing down a Its 80,000 residents are looters were seen hauling
en. “That’s a way of say- nesses told Guadeloupe Category 5 hurricane has a vibrant ethnic mix de- food, water and televisions
ing, ‘I’m sorry, only whites. 1ere that the boat they combined with a long-held scended mainly from Af- from shops, and videos fea-
There are only whites on took Friday carried tour- sense of isolation among rica, Europe and Asia. The turing predominantly black
the boat.’” ists, including Americans, local residents of St. Mar- two sides of the island share people raiding shops circu-
It’s common practice for to safety but left many St. tin, some 6,700 kilome- a creole language that lated online. Some took to
tourists to be evacuated Martin residents behind, ters (4,200 miles) from the draws heavily on English social media to blame the
first from disaster zones for including needy mothers French mainland and pop- vocabulary. thieving on non-whites and
practical reasons, as they and children. ular with European tourists. The French part of St. Mar- characterized the white
are staying in hotels and On Monday, France’s “The natural catastrophe tin is similar to other French evacuees as innocents es-
not in their homes and tend Representative Council of occurred in a place that’s holdings in the Caribbean caping the chaos.
to have fewer resources Black Associations asked very vulnerable socially, in that its white minority is Tin said the island’s poorer
such as food and vehicles. the government for a par- where there is a popula- generally wealthier than residents were doing what
The French prime minister liamentary inquiry, citing tion of many different skin its black majority. Because they had to after an inef-
insisted Monday that the concerns that those who colors and a history of slav- France bans the collection fective government re-
only people being priori- were evacuated were not ery,” said Michel Giraud, of data on race, there are sponse.
tized were the most vulner- “necessarily the most in dis- a French researcher who no statistics to show how “What some call theft, oth-
able. tress.” writes on race. “Of course much wealthier. ers call survival,” he said.
Government spokesman “In my eyes, Irma is for the there will be a perception It began as a colony whose “When the state doesn’t
Christophe Castaner said French Antilles what Hurri- of racism.” economy was fueled by Af- do its job, it’s normal that
he understood islanders’ cane Katrina was for Loui- The island of St. Martin — rican slaves. But after slav- the poorest do what’s nec-
frustration with the govern- siana in the U.S. — an ex- divided in the 17th century ery was abolished in 1848, essary to survive.”q