heroic acts are sometimes being reported too .. most people would know anyway, that disasters also bring out the best in humans. Here, there was Cyclone Tracy in 1975, and also various bushfires, some pretty scary. The point there is that one hand, bushfires here are almost always started by ratbag arsonists .. one can lose faith .. but OTOH the altruism and unselfish courage shown by volunteer firefighters (people out of the ranks of society) more than balance the scales

As for the rest of your post, you can argue that racism is not involved, since the poor are largely minorities (in NO anyway), and the minorities are largely poor. So you're saying it's a poverty thing, which is what I've been saying myself. However you're obviously also showing the institutionalization of race and poverty - which is also what I said. So you're not saying much new here ..

I too support a culture of independence and family values .. by and large I'm pretty conservative culturally and socially. Where I leave you, is that I know this is not enough for everyone and every case, since poverty and racism are built into social systems - especially the super-individualist US culture ("hey, loser! Stop the blaming, it's all your own fault") - taking responsibility for your life and your family does NOT mean denying the oppressive and exploitative forces which DO exist, and which are institutionalized, in society. To expect everyone to be able to escape these forces, is clearly putting ideology in front of reality, and blocking the view
- simple as that.