Posted on 09/02/2005 11:31:24 AM PDT by radar101
Black members of Congress expressed anger Friday at what they said was a slow federal response to Hurricane Katrina.
"It looks dysfunctional to me right now," said Rep. Diane Watson.
She and other members of the Congressional Black Caucus, along with members of the Black Leadership Forum, National Conference of State Legislators, National Urban League and the NAACP, held a news conference and charged that the response was slow because those most affected are poor.
Many also are black, but the lawmakers held off on charging racism.
"The issue is not about race right now," said Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones. "There will be another time to have issues about color."
President George W. Bush, who visited storm-damaged areas Friday, acknowledged that the initial federal response was unacceptable and pledged to do more.
Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., son of civil rights activist the Rev. Jesse Jackson, said too much focus has been placed on the looting, taking away from what should be the priority: getting food, water and stability to the tens of thousands of displaced victims.
Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick noted that the city of Detroit has offered housing, food and clothing for 500 families displaced by Katrina. She urged other cities to do the same.
Watson and others also took issue with the word "refugee" being used to describe hurricane victims.
"'Refugee' calls up to mind people that come from different lands and have to be taken care of. These are American citizens," Watson said.
(Excerpt) Read more at freenewmexican.com ...
Except for the racist Black Caucus, it never was about race.
Those people at that press conference did not talk like Americans. They are in their own world. The two hookers standing behind Cummings had looks on their mugs that reminded me of Calypso Louie's "nation of islam" thugs. That was some of the most disgusting stuff I've ever seen.
Tag line alert!
OOOOhhhh ppppuuuhhhhllleeessseeee!!!! This charge is ridiculous. Can't BLACK lawmakers see beyond their own skin color?
Please don't insult retards by comparing them to Mayor Gumbo.
Thanks. Sometimes the CBC can be very entertaining with their hyperbole and stupidity. At times I feel I have to watch the whole thing just to know what the enemy is up to. Farrahkan is another whack job I can't take my eyes off of.
Now, put Clinton or Schumer or any number of other lefties in front of a microphone and I just have to turn it off.
Three middle age women complain they have no shoes. The reason they are shoeless is that they threw away their old shoes when they became wet.
Young father hears that the water is going to flood his neighborhood. Six hours later he decided it's time for his wife and three kids to wait on the roof. He and his wife pack nothing for the rooftop wait. The children are shoeless, the four month baby has no diapers, only a bottle of Gatorade.
Young father admits it was a mistake not to evacute with with wife and kids before the hurricane. When his neighborhood begins to flood, he loads a backpack with important papers, a knife, a flashlight some water and granola bars and walks out of the city. He thought his buddy crazy to head downtown. He said - That would be crazy, like swimming to the middle of the pool when you are drowning.
People in the Superdome defecating and urinating right next to where they were sitting and sleeping. Garbage and poopy diapers dropped any and everywhere.
Some communities are more civilized than others. It does not have to do with the color of a person's skin, it has to do with the values or lack of values of held by different societies. If the Great Salt Lake flooded Salt Lake City and the surrounding communities, I don't think the outcome would be the same.
Not all groups of people fall into lawlessness and decay. Think of the women and children imprisoned by the Japanese during WWII. And consider those imprisoned in the Hanoi Hilton. And what about the survivors of the Great San FRancisco earthquake. That earthquake destroyed half the city, and the fires and flood almost the rest of it. Most of the survivors had to escape the city on foot. Why are certain people better able to handle difficult situations?
Jesse is a disgrace as a reverend and a human being. I don't know why he continues to get air time.
With 3 days notice why was Jesse Jackson in Venezuela with Chavez instead of in NOLA making sure people were evacuated from the city on buses?
The screw ups were at the local, state level. Federal is always last to mobilize.
If Pres Bush had not pushed the evacuation the Mayor of NOLA would still be consulting the city attorneys.
I remember back to 1972 when the Susquehanna River flooded our town. I was only 9 at the time; the area was under martial law, and they were canvassing door to door for volunteers and bags to place sand it to hold back the river. Needless to say, it was a pretty scary time (although nothing in comparison to NOLA/Katrina). When my dad heard on the news that the river would flood, he filled the bathtub and every available container with water, and packed the car up in case we had to "head for the mountains". Our survival plan was based on OUR actions, not of the government's. Fortunately, the flooding stopped 2 blocks from our house, and we didn't need to implement our OWN evac plan, although the water sure came in handy.
Excellent post; you hit the nail on the head.
Ping
I'm listening to the Leader of the Congressional Black Caucus ranting on CNN about not calling the "victims" "refugees."
That is pathetic. Reminds me of all the name changes Negroes, Blacks, African Americans have gone through. Is that the most important thing he has to say in the wake of this devastation? Is that how he believes he will help his community?
Pathetic leadership.
Agreed. While the media are getting whipped into a blame Bush frenzy, EVERYONE I have talked to about this only comments about the lawlessness of the NOLA thugs. The pictures don't lie.
I'm with you on this!!!
AND I add................................. I have never considered myself racist. 911 has made me reconsider some of my feelings in this regard............... and now this crap from these ignorant so called Black leaders! Enough is enough.
Frankly, I wont give a single dime to help those who wont or haven't helped themselves, black, white, pink or brown.
If it were up to me, I would give those in New Orleans a 24 hour notice to leave. Walk, run, crawl or be carried, but after 24 hours, I would burn and bulldoze the entire place. Oh and if you want it rebuilt, then pay for it with your own lib State taxes, grab a hammer, get off your collective a$$es and get to work.
For me its simple, "the stronger survive", those who fight to live are the ones that deserve to live....... the rest can simply jump into a hole.
Unbelievable.
Who does that help?
To top things off, he told the crowd that the racist government was not going to help them, so he would personally bring in 9 buses to evacuate them. The reporter said Jackson then left and the buses never came.
Isn't it a little unrealistic and ignorant, to truly believe that there were any racial factors in determining when help should arrive to these people? Fact is, nobody, not Nagin, not Bush, not any of the people responsible for planning and executing this relief effort, were sitting in they're offices and saying, "oh, to heck with those poor people down there dying by the thousands, they're black and poor so who cares." That's completely ignorant thinking. Things may not have went as smoothly or quickly as we would have liked to see, but that's easy for anyone to say from they're couch in front of the TV. Fact is, this was probably the most devastating disaster ever to occur in our country. Although everyone seems to have forgotten already, after 9-11 things were not "all better" one week after the event. Plenty we're still dying, a majority of them white. And there you still had functional airports, telephones, electricity, roads, trains, subways, grocery stores, massage parlors, etc. What do you expect of our government? You're talking about hundreds of square miles of devastation, black AND white communities destroyed by this storm, total black outs, flooding, fires, apocolyptic conditions as far as the eye can reach, and no good way to QUICKLY get supplies or help to these poor people. Not to mention those among the refugees who slowed or stopped some relief efforts by taking pot shots at the very people trying to help them. Hindsight is always 20/20, you can point the finger all you want but in the end, do you REALLY believe that race had anything to do with response time? Come on now, lets give it a break. If anyone had some miracle solution to this problem, they should have came out with it when it would have done some good. Our country is at it's knees already, lets not kick our leaders for trying to do they're job, and lets CUT THE RACE CARD CRAP, because it's tired and irrelevant and has absolutely no bearing on this situation.
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