Posted on 09/04/2005 6:25:47 PM PDT by CreviceTool
What If They Were White?
NEW YORK, Sept. 4, 2005
(CBS) The fact that many of those suffering most in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina are poor, and black, has outraged a lot of people. Justifiably so, in the opinion of CBS News Sunday Morning Contributor Nancy Giles. Here is her commentary from Sept. 4, 2005:
After meeting with Louisiana officials last week, Rev. Jesse Jackson said: "Many black people feel that their race, their property conditions and their voting patterns have been a factor in the response." He continued: "I'm not saying that myself."
Then I'll say it.
If the majority of the hardest hit victims of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans were white people, they would not have gone for days without food and water, forcing many to steal for mere survival.
Their bodies would not have been left to float in putrid water.
They would have been rescued and relocated a hell of a lot faster than this. Period.
I mean, reporters and crews are getting to stranded people, and government and military agencies can't? Why doesn't CNN run FEMA?
When I saw pictures of black people taking things from stores, my first thought was: "How are those Air Jordans necessary for your survival?"
Then it hit me: People needed shoes and clothing. Some escaped the floods with just the clothing on their backs
We have American citizens, not "refugees" from an underdeveloped country, still waiting for shelter.
Waiting.
Waiting.
You leave children, pregnant women, the elderly, even the able-bodied, in a city destroyed with no help, no food, no water, no electricity for three, four, five days? What would you do if your family was starving, and you saw people dying in the street?
And why didn't the stores in the disaster areas simply make their goods available to these desperate folks? Surely, they've got insurance.
Love thy neighbor. Didn't I read that somewhere?
The real war is not in Iraq, but right here in America. It's the War on Poverty, and it's a war that's been ignored and lost. An estimated 37 million Americans are living in poverty. New Orleans is one of the poorest cities in the country, with 40 percent of its children living in poverty. Mississippi has the highest poverty rate of any state. We've repeatedly given tax cuts to the wealthiest, and left our most vulnerable American citizens to basically fend for themselves.
The whole world is watching. And once again, a day late and a dollar short, words of wisdom from our president: "This is a huge task that we're dealing with." "These are tough times." "Give cash."
Once again, he finds the photo op: Some black folks to hug, some white men in Mississippi to bond with. He flies over the messy parts of New Orleans, waves and leaves.
The president has put himself at risk by visiting the troops in Iraq, but didn't venture anywhere near the Superdome or the Convention Center, where thousands of victims, mostly black and poor, needed to see that he gave a damn.
©MMV, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Um . . .isn't this the same CBS who broadcast the fake Guard memos? Isn't this the broadcasting company that took a helluva beating over Rathergate? (Thanks Freep!!)
My question is this: Why would anyone trust what this broadcasting company says?
You can say black. I have never used A-A and never will because there are NO indigenous people to this continent. they were all bussed in across the Bering Strait!!
That's why some were stealing microwaves and big screen TV's.
That’s great!
What pictures! Great job.
Here's a strange twist. Why has the media gone silent on the issue after these busses were discovered? Why does our media not ask the mayor of New Orleans about those busses? They wouldn’t stop reporting on it as long as it was “Bush’s fault.”
Red6
Some folks are blaming the flooding in New Orleans on, of all people, President Bush. In the view of a Kuwaiti government official, the "wondrous storm" was a divine payback for America's intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan. To self-styled environmentalist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the hurricane happened in part because Bush opposed the Kyoto Protocol and other efforts to fight global warming. Some Democrats blame the president for cutting federal spending on the levee system that is supposed to protect New Orleans.
It's time for a reality check.
If any entity "sent" Katrina to New Orleans, it was not God. A just and loving creator does not kill hundreds of innocents just to smite a few villains. And if God was responsible, He sure took His time. New Orleans has been sandwiched between Lake Ponchartrain to the north and the Gulf of Mexico to the south since 1715 -- below sea level, no less. The miracle is that it kept dodging the bullet from hurricanes and Mississippi River floods, not that it got hit once.
The global warming angle is just as foolish. Hurricanes have been churning into the Gulf Coast before human beings released a cubic foot of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Before last year's surge in hurricanes, America hadn't suffered severe damage from a tropical storm since Hurricane Andrew struck Miami in 1992. The worst storms struck from the 1930s through the 1950s, when Category 3, 4 or 5 hurricanes averaged nine per decade. In the 1960s there were six, in the 1970s four, in the 1980s and 1990s five each and since 2001 there have been three.
Global warming might eventually affect things like hurricanes, but there's a big difference between long-term climate change and short-term weather.
The complaint about federal funding also needs context.
President Bush -- like his Democratic predecessor -- proposed cutbacks in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' budget for flood programs. So last year Congress spent "only" $42.2 million in this effort instead of the $105 million that was requested.
No president or Congress can OK every budget proposal that comes across the transom. Most are high-balled with the expectation that they will be cut. Forty-two million dollars is hardly peanuts, and that doesn't include the hundreds of millions that have been spent in previous decades.
Only in America can some people overlook the Democratic mayor of New Orleans (Ray Nagin), a Democratic U.S. representative from New Orleans (William Jefferson), the Democratic governor of Louisiana (Kathleen Blanco) and one Democratic U.S. senator (Mary Landrieu) to blame a Republican president 1,500 miles away for something that probably would have happened eventually anyway.
To end this blame game once and for all, states should establish priorities for federal aid. They know their local conditions and threats better than any bureaucrat in the Beltway, and they should focus on the most pressing needs. If they don't get enough from the feds, they should devote state or local tax dollars to the issue.
And when tragedies happen, let's not waste time pointing fingers at each other about who should have done what months or years ago. Let's realize that we are going to be nailed every now and then by floods and fires or tornadoes and tropical storms, and let's help the people who are hurting.
Thomas Taschinger --Beaumont Exterprise
Media bias, pure and simple. It doesn't fit their bash Bush template. Mayor Navin is the victim, not the culprit, it has been so ordained.
instead of a war on poverty maybe we need a "war on laziness". Heres a thought, why don't we ENCOURAGE personal responsibility?
Here is a question I have also, why is Bush responsible for the levee's breaking? what did NO do with all the proceeds made from Madi gras, conventions, tourist, etc...? is it such a stretch to imagine that new orleans should have been responsible for reinforcing their own levees?
Who's got the pic of the STFU man?
Thank you. It is truly disgusting that the commie media is so intent on toppling Republicans and conservatives that they will do ANYthing to achieve their goal, even if it includes destroying our country, our unity and lives.
This racist B.S. is beyond words. More putrid than the New Orleans water.
I even heard one of the commie networks saying that the term "refugee" is being used only because most of the displaced are Black.
Funny, I saw a WHITE woman on Fox who described HERSELF as a refugee.
These enemy media people are despicable.
Booosh hates black people.
Humm.. guess that explains the looting before the storm even hit...
I don't put Geraldo in the same class. He's a tool, but I think he really believes everything he's saying. I don't know... must be because there's too many... "you took hers, take mine too... mine too... mine too... why not... you bastard..."
When I think of the racism charges, it makes me wonder. That the population of NO was predominantly black is not a question, it's a fact (60 or 70%). So one would thus assume that all things being equal, those left behind would also be predominantly black. The bigger question is (and ignoring for the moment the issue of inadequate response by the mayor and the governor), what is the detailed make-up of the people that were left behind? It's definitely way to simplistic to simply call them poor and black. Forget colour for the moment, I would like to see a breakdown on other demographics: 1. How many of these were drug-dealers, gang members, prostitutes, street thugs of one sort or another (my guess is that based on the profile of the people that were at the dome, a very high percentage) and how many of these 'street people' never got the word to get out (let alone being about the hardest group to organize, round-up and evacuate), 2. How many of the thugs planned to stay there simply to loot the place because no one would be around to stop them, 3. How many of those left were ones generally classified as homeless and never got the word to get out (simply because they are street people and thus important information bypasses them), 4. How many that remained had the chance to get out and never took it, 5. How many of these have had the chance to get out SINCE the hurricane and didn't voluntarily take it. 5. And so on and so on. No doubt there were also a lot of decent folks left that never had a hope but these may have well been in the minority. My guess is that even with the ineptness by the city and the state, a huge percentage of the ones that were left were destined to stay there because either they were determined to ride it out, never got the word or were so 'busy' doing what street people do that they wouldn't have left under any circumstances. Frankly, colour had nothing to do with anything.
Therin lies the rub. The white community would have probably pitched in together, gotten organized, stayed calm and orderly, and yes, gotten out a hell of a lot faster than the unruly mob of blacks. Thus "proving" this witches accusation.
My experiences as a hotel guest in New Orleans mirrored yours. One clear memory: On my way to an early dinner in the French Quarter, I encountered a very drunk man in a wheelchair. When I returned to my hotel, I again encountered the same man in the wheelchair, but his face was covered with blood and he was drinking directly from a liquor bottle, but still very much out and about for the evening. My impression of French Quarter denizens was that they had all the money they needed as long as they died by 4:00am.
Funny, I saw a WHITE woman on Fox who described HERSELF as a refugee.
These enemy media people are despicable.
They really are despicable. They make me sick. I have never watched CNN, and the only reason I was on CNN is because Fox News had Bill O'Reilly coming on and I didn't want to see Geraldo crying again. LOL I was surfing, and landed on CNN. That will be the first and last time I ever do that again.
NANCY GILES was born and raised in Queens, New York, and is a proud product of the New York City public school system. She is a graduate of Oberlin College and started her professional acting career as a singing bag of garbage with the Paper Bag Players, followed by a short (no pun intended) stint as a Santa elf at Macy's on 34th Street in the heart of Manhattan.
snip
On television, Nancy is thrilled to be a writer and contributor to the Emmy award-winning "CBS News Sunday Morning." She was the announcer and co-host of the alternative morning show "Fox After Breakfast;"
snip
Nancy wrote and performed the solo pieces "Black Comedy--The Wacky Side of Racism" and "Notes of a Negro Neurotic," which were both developed with and directed by Ellie Covan at Dixon Place in New York City.
Email: nancy@nancygiles.com
http://tinyurl.com/cmd65
Dear IDIOT,
Most of them were there BEFORE the Hurricane!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.