Posted on 09/03/2005 6:23:05 AM PDT by Virginia Ridgerunner
Kanye West's Torrent of Criticism, Live on NBC
NBC's levee broke and Kanye West flooded through with a tear about the federal response in New Orleans during the network's live concert fundraiser for victims of Hurricane Katrina last night....
West: I hate the way they portray us in the media. You see a black family, it says, "They're looting." You see a white family, it says, "They're looking for food." And, you know, it's been five days [waiting for federal help] because most of the people are black. And even for me to complain about it, I would be a hypocrite because I've tried to turn away from the TV because it's too hard to watch. I've even been shopping before even giving a donation, so now I'm calling my business manager right now to see what is the biggest amount I can give, and just to imagine if I was down there, and those are my people down there. So anybody out there that wants to do anything that we can help -- with the way America is set up to help the poor, the black people, the less well-off, as slow as possible. I mean, the Red Cross is doing everything they can. We already realize a lot of people that could help are at war right now, fighting another way -- and they've given them permission to go down and shoot us!
(snip)
West: George Bush doesn't care about black people!
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
dittos!
Pures horeshit. It wouldn't matter where this incident happened. The locals authorities were unprepared, and now people like you want to blame the president.
"...don't keep your eyes closed forever..."
Suggest you practice what you preach. Move forward with the rest of us.
(thanks TJ for posting this eloquent response and it bears repeating!)
45 Years on the Federal Plantation - the Long Term Effects of Direct Deposit
As I watched the remorseful scenes unfold in and around the Super Dome, my mind wandered to the civilian victims of WWII. Countless millions were displaced by the horrors of colliding armies.
Probably because I was born shortly after WWII started, I've always had a keen interest in the war from an historical aspect. I've watched quite a number of videos and movies concerning almost every major campaign.
Invariably, the film maker includes scenes of displaced civilians and the suffering they endured. One favorite scene included in probably half of the movies I've seen, shows a long line of civilians trudging single file down a narrow road in the country. Up above, Nazi pilots see them and swoop down to strafe the fleeing civilians, spraying the column with machine gun bullets.
Once the attackers have satisfied their thirst for blood, the civilians climb out of the protective ditches on either side of the road. They brush themselves off, collect their meager belongings, and once again begin their march to safety, which brings me to my point.
Do the people at the Super Dome lack the basic instincts for survival?
Most say they have lost everything. What is preventing them from picking up their lawn chairs and walking out of New Orleans?
Surely, there is a way out. Otherwise, how did the myriad of reporters get there with all of the heavy equipment required to beam the tragic scenes to us?
Why not use highway 610 and walk right out of New Orleans?
From numerous personal visits, I know that it's not a great distance to Kenner. My maps indicate it's somewhere around 10 miles.
What's at Kenner? Well for one thing, the New Orleans airport is at Kenner. Certainly the local airport has to be the logical place to go when you're in need of emergency supplies.
Why are these people stuck at the Super Dome?
I repeat, do they lack the ability to react to their basic survival instincts?
My conclusion is that they do. They have lost the ability to think for themselves and respond to their basic instincts.
Instead, they remain in an untenable situation and make desperate pleas to television audiences throughout the world.
How could this be?
Here's what I think. These people have been on the "Federal Plantation" for generations. They subsist on their monthly "gubment check." They are the product of 40 plus years of depending upon the government for their very existence. So, when they are put in situation where the government can't tell them what to do, they are lost. Worse than that, they have lost the ability to think for themselves. They have lost the ability to react to their basic survival instincts. They cannot get out of the ditch and continue their march to safety after Katrina has strafed them.
Furthermore, they are not a community. They are a mass of anonymous humans each fighting for a chance to suckle at the government breasts. How else can you explain six murders and 12 rapes in the Super Dome while Katrina was roaring? The perpetrators had to view their victims as strangers, members of another tribe, to justify their assaults.
A really horrifying thought is that this lack of initiative, the inability to think and take action, permeates the political infrastructure of Louisiana. I cannot think of a more inept pair of "leaders" than New Orleans Mayor Nagin and Louisiana Governor Blanco.
Mayor Nagin in a public display of incompetence, admitted on CNN cameras that he "doesn't know whose problem this is" when questioned about disaster relief response. I can tell you Mayor Nagin, it's your problem. However, your many years of taking orders from the political machinery that runs the State of Louisiana has left you without the ability to think for yourself and make the necessary preparations for eventual disasters.
Mayor Nagin you were warned repeatedly that there was a 20 foot tidal surge on the way. You knew that the levies most likely would not hold up against the surge. What plans did you make to protect your constituents in the event flooding took place? Apparently, you had none.
And Governor Blanco, you are in control of the National Guard. Contrary to the main stream media's insinuations that President Bush should have called up the National Guard, you are the one who could have staged Louisiana Guard units in Baton Rouge, or Alexandria, prior to the storm. You are the Commander in Chief of the Louisiana National Guard. You are the one responsible for the proper use of the National Guard during times of disaster.
Having spent six years in the Texas Army National Guard, I'm surprised that any Guard units are in New Orleans. It generally takes at least 48 hours just to mobilize a unit; that is get everyone to show up at the Armory. It takes another 48 hours to load the trucks with equipment and various gear. Then you have the march, the actual movement of the unit to the theatre of operations.
Meanwhile, refugees are filling up sports arenas, the convention center, etc throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. The constant barrage of new reports leads us to believe that these people will be productive members of our community. They just need a little help getting started again, after their misfortune.
Of course, this is a lie. By and large, these people will simply move into one of the government projects when they are forced to leave their temporary arrangements. They won't add to the economy, because they don't work. They will simply make the crowded projects even more crowded and increase the crime rate.
After all, you don't even have to go to the mail box to get your "gubment check." They can direct deposit it right into your account.
Yeah, it would have been handled different, NOT because of the color of anyone's skin but because of the LEADERSHIP down there!!
Sorry to bust your rant but many of the "poor me" scenerios you describe above don't even happen in this day and age to blacks.
So get off your high racist horse and realize most of us here care for all people regardless of their race. Right is right and wrong is wrong and we CAN differentiate the two!!
I have NEVER seen such hateful crap spewing from the likes of people today and you add to the problem. It makes me so damn sick!!
Bullshit - of course you are. You people (the Left, before you go off and call me a racist) are saying that George Bush said "F*** 'em, let 'em die, they're nothing but a bunch of n*****s who voted for Kerry." You're even trying to convince people that Bush was actually obstructing the flow of aid, in order to maximize the death count. At the same time, you're turning a completely blind eye to the total incompetence of New Orleans and Lousiana officials, and calling anyone who dares to criticize then "racists"!
If I hear any more how President Bush is responsible for all of this than it is time to appoint him King and send the Congress, Senate, Governors, Mayors, State Representatives etc, all packing.
Up until I saw the hollywierdo call Pres. Bush racist I was going to donate to the relief fund. Now I will never do so.
To prevent duplication, please do not alter the heading. Thanks.
Why dont you look around the world these people survived, They have not been in Auschwitz prisoner of war camp remember those scenes, Also these people there own as you would say showed no respect for there dead they didn't even cover there bodies, they sat on the kerb screaming at the media and the world. /p>
I think you miss the point.
He did not make the rant. He is a tool of the Black political structure trying to make hay from a flood. Rather than read the NBC teleprompter, the man delivered a memorized script prepared by his Black political mentors.
They got to him early and made him their accomplice.
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