Refugee Status Printed in the Eugene Weekly, and the Oregon Daily Emerald in September, 2005.       As the tragedy in New Orleans deepens, people are discussing the role of racism in the emergency's mismanagement. An example I keep hearing is that the term "refugee" demeans the displaced. In broad terms, they most certainly are seeking refuge, so what's the problem? Supposedly refugee implies a fleeing from one's country, associating them with foreigners, and exacerbating apathy and disconnection regarding their plight.       What should disturb us, is the racism toward actual refugees which makes this point valid! The association between foreign refugees and U.S. Blacks is only degrading when we leave unchallenged the less-human status of non-American refugees. Must we remind ourselves that they are citizens in order to feel an urgency about their well-being? Is their suffering dissimilar to that of refugees from the tsunami, or Rwandan genocide? For that matter, is the grief of a parent-less child dependent on whether she was orphaned by U.S. strikes against Iraqi insurgents or the subway bombings in London?       Reminders that the Black faces on TV belong to citizens make sense considering what the marginalized have known for centuries; "American" implicitly equates with white, monied, english-speaking, Christian, heterosexual, able-bodied, male patriots. If I was left in the the floods of Katrina pleading for help, I'm sure I'd emphasize any connection I had to "mainstream America." Let's not forget, however, that rallying support behind a red, white and blue banner, feeds xenophobia, blinding nationalism and global racism.