Posted on 09/07/2005 9:40:12 AM PDT by Congressman Billybob
Normally, I don’t comment on the columns of Cynthia Tucker, Editorial Page Editor of the Atlanta Constitution. It isn’t worth it. But she has finally jumped the shark.
To prove that the “poor are on [their] own,” she cites this article:
“In fact, The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune used just those words to describe the hurricane evacuation plan authorities put in place for residents who didn't own cars. Reporter Bruce Nolan wrote in July, ‘City, state and federal authorities are preparing to give the poorest of New Orleans' poor a historically blunt message: In the event of a major hurricane, you're on your own. In scripted appearances being recorded now, officials such as Mayor Ray Nagin, local Red Cross Executive Director Kay Wilkins and City Council President Oliver Thomas drive home the word that the city does not have the resources to move out of harm's way an estimated 134,000 people without transportation.’ ”
“At least Nagin and his fellow city officials were trying to figure out how to get the poor out of town if disaster struck. Working with an anti-poverty agency and the Red Cross, they envisioned a private initiative, Operation Brother's Keeper, in which churches would enlist members with cars to offer rides to the have-nots.”
Source: http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/tucker/2005/090705.html
For starters, Tucker has violated the first rule of Journalism 101: get the facts right. There was a Louisiana Disaster Plan, prepared in 2000, that says in paragraph 5 on page 13 that public buses should be used to evacuate those who don’t have, or can’t afford, private transportation.
It was the duty of Mayor Nagin to get those buses rolling. He didn’t. More than enough buses to evacuate the remaining 100,00 people from New Orleans even AFTER Hurricane Katrina had passed the city and gone north, sat in their lots untouched until the break in the 17th Street Canal flooded the City, the buses, the homes, and killed upwards of 10,000 people.
The taped messages Ms. Tucker cites as evidence of the neglect of the poor, is instead evidence that the Mayor was grossly ignorant of the Plan to use the buses. The closest of the now-flooded bus parking lots, by the way, was a mere 1.2 miles from the Dome, according to aerial photographs. But who are you going to believe, Cynthia Tucker or your lying eyes?
Once upon a time, the Atlanta Constitution was a great newspaper. I had the privilege of meeting Ralph McGill, its late great Editor. In 1964, he told me and the other editors of the Yale Daily News, “I don’t write my newspaper for people who move their lips when they read.”
Now it is the opposite. Tucker’s editorial columns pile racial bigotry on a base of factual ignorance. She is counting on her readers to be too ignorant to catch her mistakes. The Constitution now is written “for people who move their lips when they read.”
John_Armor@aya.yale.edu
John / Billybob
I thought it was the Atlanta Urinal-Constipation.
Cancel ALL newspaper subscriptions. I did it years ago. I feel great.
I only buy one newspaper every six months--a Sunday paper.
My parakeet doesn't use very much per day, but it adds up after a while.
So I googled Operation Brother's Keeper and not a heck of a lot came up. But one interesting item with an interesting date came up.
http://wb38.trb.com/news/hurricane08222005,0,2554213.story?coll=wnol-home-1
Operation Brother's Keeper
Yunji de Nies
August 25, 2005, 9:36 PM CDT
As the pastor of First United Baptist Church, Reverend Marshall Truehill preaches the gospel. But for the last three years, Truehill has also been spreading another message.
"We're trying to say to people, you have to be responsible for yourself, your family and your neighbors." Truehill said.
Truehill is spearheading "Operation Brother's Keeper" with the help of the Red Cross, and city and state leaders. They've created a dvd encouraging New Orleanians to leave if hurricane heads this way.
"People will die in New Orleans from drowning or from disease or lack of food, whatever will come in the aftermath of having to be in a city where there are no resources, no accomodations for as long as 8-9 months," Truehill said.
Truehill is focusing on the estimated 145,000 people in the city who rely on public transportation, encouraging religious leaders to make sure everyone in their congregation has a ride out and a place to stay.
"The congregations are being asked to form partnerships with congregations outside of the risk area so that at least for a week or two we'll have somewhere to house people," Truehill said.
In September, 15,000 copies of the DVD will be available for churches, schools and libraries throughout the city. After that, the Department of Homeland Security is providing a grant for another 70,000 copies. Truehill hopes those will go to low income families.
"They can review it, they can look at it with their family members, congregations can show it to small and large groups at gatherings to help teach people and change that cultural mindset that we can stay in New Orleans and ride out storms," Truehill said.
Truehill says those who decide to stick it out despite the warnings, should know they could be jeapordizing other people's lives as well as their own.
"If you take the risk, realize that you're not only putting your own life in danger, but the lives of the people who need to stay behind to see after you," Truehill said.
The 30 minute DVD will also be shown on public television stations throughout September. Truehill says 900 congregations throghout the city, including Muslim and Jewish groups, are on board with the plan. To learn more about the plan, watch ABC 26 This Week on Sunday morning at 11:30.
Copyright © 2005, WGNO
Federal authorities??
City - definitely.
State - yes, primarily in a coordinating capacity.
Federal - I don't think so. We don't need (or want) the feds micro-managing every aspect of the entire country.
I'm feelin' kinda warm and fuzzy.
"At least Nagin and his fellow city officials were trying"
They were--and are--VERY trying.
Not only do I get free puppy paper, I get to tell them, twice a year, what a cr*ppy propaganda rag they publish.
Nam Vet
You can also shred it and add it to your compost pile.
Please send that to the AJC.
Please please please.
Self-awareness is not the long suit in those editorial offices.
John / Billybob
At the suggestion of writer Michelle Malkin last Friday, I have cobbled together a blogsite called Texas Clearinghouse for Katrina Aid to serve as a clearinghouse for refugee efforts in Texas.
Texas is getting more refugees than any other state -- that's fine, we'll take them all -- but we need help providing them with food, clothing, and shelter.
If you are a refugee, you can information that will help you find relief. If you want to donate or volunteer, you can find someone who needs you.
Right now the site mostly covers Houston and Dallas but I will add various churches, schools, and other charities in San Antonio and Ft. Worth tonight. My wife is down at Reunion Arena in Dallas as we speak handing out care packages and otherwise ministering to the refugees as a representative of her employer.
There are a lot of churches and other organizations in Texas that need help in dealing with the problem and I would be most appreciative if you would get the word out.
Many thanks,
Michael McCullough
Stingray blogsite
Since her last promotion, Tucker has tried to play more to the middle but it's a pretty thin veneer.
I have fond memories of the days when the Sunday paper was one of the things I treasured! I would sit with a cup of good coffee and read "Lil Abner", "Pogo" and "Snuffy Smith". The editorial page contained verbalizations of actual thought processes rather than merely documenting emotional turmoil. There was actual reporting of facts, in some cases, rather than sensationalized entertainment. Alas, those days are gone forever.
What a fraud.
Excellent essay, thanks for posting it.
I believe that the media must not be allowed to get away with what I consider to be malicious negligence which has and continues to cost lives.
I want them to pay for this.
If you or anyone else has ideas on how we can legally accomplish this, FReepmail me, I'd like to hear them.
Thanks.
My lovebird get the best birdcage lining outside of New York City.
It gets to cr@p on the Washington Post.
:-)
Tucker is an idiot. She never has any current information on any of the garbage she spouts. I would say that the citizens of Atlanta are casualties of affirmative action which she has been so fond of saying helped her into the position in which she sits today.
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