People in Florida and other states in the U.S. experience hurricanes, and not everyone responds the same way.
Black people often react a lot different from other races when a hurricane warning is broadcast. Black people don’t take evacuation warnings as seriously as other races. You would think we would take a hurricane warning seriously, but we don’t compared to other races.
According to the article on www.vox.com, “Why some people never evacuate during a hurricane,” psychologist Brian Resnick. lists some good points but there’s one that relates to black people. “There could be cases of people who don’t hear the warning. But in an age when warnings can be blasted out via radio, TV, and smartphones and through old fashion door to door notifications, this is becoming less likely.”
This statement is true but blacks tend to ignore these statements and continue with their day.
Especially living in Florida. We have hurricane season which begins May 20 and ends Nov. 30. And everyone watches TV; even if you don’t watch the news, they’ll interrupt the channel to distribute the hurricane warning.
But black people don’t buy into that. We strongly believe it will be nothing but heavy rain and heavy winds.
People from other races will be prepared after hearing warnings, but black people don’t budge, or we just wait till the last minute and scamper.
Winston Blake, a FAMU student and resident of South Florida, said, “Our last serious hurricane was Wilma and I was in elementary school. Growing up and hearing about these hurricane warnings on the news doesn’t faze me.”
Hurricane Wilma hit Florida on Oct. 24, 2005, and left some damage which kept kids out of school for a while and grown-ups busy repairing. The last destructive hurricane before Wilma that hit Florida was Andrew on Aug. 24, 1992.
“I put gas in my car just in case I need to go somewhere but there’s no need to go crazy and wait in those lines just to waste money and the hurricane doesn’t come. Only good thing is I stacked up on snacks,” Blake said.
If there’s one thing blacks don’t love to do is spend for no reason. Buying water, food, snacks only to hear the hurricane is changing directions. Yes, it’s good to have the supplies but we don’t like standing in line and being crowded in the store.
Sandy Louissaint, a resident of South Florida, said: “They do a good job at scaring us and packing us in the grocery stores, packing up the stores and gas stations. Those employees go through a lot during that time. I feel bad for them, they don’t deserve all that pressure and people scampering in the store they can thank the news anchors for that.”
Black people love waiting until the last minute to do things or we tend to ignore the warnings and signs. Don’t get me wrong, there are some who prepare. But most black people don’t prepare because we believe it’s not going to hit our state.