Posted on 09/04/2005 4:09:24 AM PDT by Crackingham
Civil rights leaders, church officials and rap stars have united in ferocious criticism of President George Bush's attitude towards the tens of thousands of black people still trying to escape the hell of New Orleans. An overwhelming majority of the refugees are African-Americans, who make up 67 per cent of the city's half-million population, and some are questioning whether the government's response would have been quicker had the catastrophe struck a white community. The Reverend Calvin Butts, president of New York City's Council of Churches, writes in today's Observer: 'If this hurricane had struck a white middle-class neighbourhood in the north-east or the south-west, his response would have been a lot stronger.'
In an extraordinary outburst during a live television fundraising concert broadcast on America's NBC network, the rapper Kanye West said: 'Bush doesn't care about black people. It's been five days [waiting for help] because most of the people are black. America is set up to help the poor, the black people, the less well-off, as slow as possible. We already realised a lot of the people that could help are at war right now.'
The episode was further proof of growing anger within the black community and a belief that race was a factor in the days of delay before troops and emergency supplies began to arrive.
Jesse Jackson, the civil rights leader, said he saw 'a historical indifference to the pain of poor people and black people' in the US and said it was poignant that blacks were suffering in New Orleans, for many years the south's biggest slave-trade port.
'Today I saw 5,000 African-Americans on Highway 10, desperate, perishing, dehydrating, babies crying - it looked like the hold of a slave ship. It's so ugly and obvious. The issue of race as a factor will not go away.'
It was always likely that a controversy would emerge over the racial make-up of the survivors. Almost a third of blacks in New Orleans live below the poverty line and many simply did not have the means to heed mayor Ray Nagin's mandatory evacuation order before the storm hit, while most in the more affluent white community were able to escape.
Nagin, who is black, was criticised for not mobilising buses for those who lacked transport, but Jackson said the blame lay elsewhere. 'The mayor of New Orleans did not cut the budget on building a stronger levee to protect the city from a flood in the event of a storm,' he said.
Oh, boy, here we go. The race hustlers are beating the drums.
I think Pres. Bush definitly needs to be aware that he has once again been declared a racist by the Left, and he needs to appoint Justice Clarence Thomas as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court to make the black whiners feel better. You think that would make them happier? I just couldn't resist this golden opportunity, were I W, even though the Left would certainly KNOW then that Karl Rove caused the hurricane.
He's trying to blame that on the "budget" rather than the "design", but he'll get there eventually. In fact, he might even figure out there was a really big storm!
One damn line about Nagin's failures, which is dismissed out-of-hand with no reasoning whatsoever.
They wouldn't be happy if there wasn't something to bitch and whine about. All of this falls on one thing to me: Evacuate...Evacuate. Stay behind, suffer the consequences.
This is a lesson for all Americans: If your living on a tight budget, in these times you better set aside enough money to leave the city when ordered to do so in an emergency, period. I know I will.
Oh yeah, couldn't get made at the Black Mayor who let this all happen, have to get make at the PRESIDENT!
Oh yeah, couldn't get made at the Black Mayor who let this all happen, have to get make at the PRESIDENT!
If this had happened in a Northeast city, run and owned by the RATs,,,,they would have sat on their hands, playing for the negatives for Bush, JUST AS THEY DID IN N.O.!!!!!!! Bet on it!!!!
I agree that the best thing Bush could do for race relations in this country is appoint Justice Clarence Thomas as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
Hey Reverend Butts, try reading your Bible about false witness...
Perfect opportunity to "placate" them by nominating Clarence Thomas as Supreme Justice. ;^)
There is not a better qualified man for the job, right now Scalia is bright, but Justice thomas is a leader, and he IS on the CONSTITUTIONAL side completely.
Besides, the race relatins will suffer, because they all want him to keep affirmative action alive. It will go first! Then they will deal with the rest of the crap coming into their court! He gets to decide what comes forward...
Rather buy crack....or those spinning hub caps...
Uh, the Clinton admin. nixed the levee upgrade that would have protected the city against level 4 and 5 hurricanes.
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