BBC: Katrina Shows U.S. Still Has Too Many Blacks 'At The Bottom Of The Pile'

It seems everyone's going to be getting in on the Katrina-exposed-racism extravaganza this week. Looking through Thursday night's BBC World rebroadcast that's shown locally here on PBS station WETA, MRC's Michelle Humphrey found something weird. As reporter Jim Fish narrated a story on racial cohesion in Britain and France, he then took a jolting turn to a one-sentence condemnation of America:

"And in the most renowned melting pot society of all, the United States, Hurricane Katrina exposed the grim reality that far too many black people remain at the bottom of the pile, too often ignored and cut off from the American Dream."

From the desperate-looking scenes of limping and napping black Americans, Fish shifted back to jaunty, colorful video of kids jumping on a "moon bounce" in Britain, saying by contrast, "Societies like Britain are not facing disintegration, but Britain's experience is a warning that differences of religion, color, or class are not to be glossed over or ignored, but need careful and sustained attention."

The lecturing seems more annoying when hurricane is pronounced "hurri-cun."