Ben DeSoto/Houston Chronicle Jesse Jackson, center, U.S. Rep. Al Green left, and U.S. Rep. Shelia Jackson Lee hold a press conference before touring the Astrodome.
Posted on 09/05/2005 2:04:37 PM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
Ben DeSoto/Houston Chronicle Jesse Jackson, center, U.S. Rep. Al Green left, and U.S. Rep. Shelia Jackson Lee hold a press conference before touring the Astrodome.
Joining two of Houston's most prominent black legislators in slamming the federal government's response to Hurricane Katrina, the Rev. Jesse Jackson said today that evacuees shouldn't be shipped to distant states and shouldn't be referred to as "refugees."
Jackson said he appreciated the willingness of states as far away as Utah and Minnesota to take in evacuees but suggested such plans take them too far from their families and the homes that must be rebuilt.
"It's a long ways from home," he said. "It's a long way from where they have lived, where they were acculturated."
If evacuees are living thousands of miles away, he said, they can't be in on the jobs and economic opportunities that will arise as their communities are rebuilt. He proposed using military bases in Louisiana, such as the mothballed England Air Force Base in Alexandria. Evacuees could live in dorms and tent cities.
Jackson said evacuees from the Gulf Coast are not refugees, a word he believes suggests subhumans or criminals.
"It is racist to call American citizens refugees,'' he said.
After touring the Reliant Astrodome today, Jackson blamed the federal government for many of the problems evacuees now face. The government should have assisted New Orleans with evacuation efforts before the storm struck and has been far to slow in its wake to rescue those left in the city and provide aid, he said.
"As the waters subside, the death toll could be astronomical, of frightening dimensions, because we've been so slow to act," Jackson said
U.S. Rep. Shelia Jackson Lee, D-Houston and U.S. Rep. Al Green, D-Houston, also said the Federal Emergency Management Agency left New Orleans unprotected.
"This was a test case, and we failed," Jackson Lee said.
Jackson also lambasted the Louisiana office of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, saying it should have let the Red Cross into New Orleans immediately after the hurricane passed one week ago.
Homeland security officials told the Red Cross not to enter the city because they were trying to get residents out, not encourage them to stay, because most of the city was still under water, and because armed gangs of looters were in the streets.
Marsha Evans, president of the American Red Cross, said today the agency was ready to go in. Its volunteers understood the danger and were willing to do their jobs, she said.
"The decision not to let them in was not sound," Jackson said. "The danger was exaggerated."
The federal government has been taking criticism from all quarters in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
The New Orleans Times-Picayune, in an open letter, called upon Bush to fire every official at FEMA.
"We're angry, Mr. President,'' the newspaper said in an open letter.
If criticism of the federal government has been sharp, Jackson and other political leaders were happy to praise the efforts of Houston and the state of Texas, where one quarter of a million of Louisiana's refugees have landed.
"I'm so proud of Houston," Jackson Lee said. "This city has done a wonderful job."
"Any human who doesn't see the transparency of JJ's agenda needs some serious special ed."
Ex Mayor Nagin will be driving those short buses for JJ.
This WHITE woman in Texas has been with 400 of the newest residents to our fine town the last 24 hours since they arrived in our city. Etc.
God love you, darling. From a white man in FL.
"I deny the allegations....and I deny the allegater" - J. Jackson"
I bet thre are a lot of those allegaters swimming around NOLA these days :)
Ya gotta' hand it to him, he doesn't spend much time contemplating "sh*tting or getting off the pot". ; )
We shall see what happens after the next election. The RATS lost a large chunk of their voting block. A lot of the people who lived in the projects will not be moving back anytime soon.
"I learned, several decades ago, to respond to the substance of criticism, rather than my perception of its tone. Some people never learn."
And I learned, several decades ago, that some people are going to be a-holes no matter what. Some people never learn tact or class. I suspect you are one of those people. The uni-bomber was smart too. It took him far, didn't it?
With leaders such as these and NO mayor, it is plain to see why civil order deteriorated in helpless chaos and despair. they were completely without a moral compass and rudderless in a welfare state sea of shti.
ROTFLMAO!!!
Is he qualified to lead a bus crew however?
Ya, and the Pubbies lost a chunk of theirs. That is my point.
Aren’t they seeking refuge?
Sarah Jessica Parker's family is on welfare.
She made a point of metioning it when welfare reform was being debated.
I bet Thanksgiving is fun at her house.
This is like David Duke complaining about Utahns being sent to Detroit. There's a concern there, but one suspects it has little to do with distance.
Is there a bigger racist in America than Jesse Jackson? I defy anyone to find one.
Oops, I misunderstood. FReegards...
---Jackson also lambasted the Louisiana office of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, saying it should have let the Red Cross into New Orleans immediately after the hurricane passed one week ago.
Homeland security officials told the Red Cross not to enter the city because they were trying to get residents out, not encourage them to stay, because most of the city was still under water, and because armed gangs of looters were in the streets.
Marsha Evans, president of the American Red Cross, said today the agency was ready to go in. Its volunteers understood the danger and were willing to do their jobs, she said.---
This is bogus. The Red Cross made the decision not to set up rescue centers within the city several years ago. The decided it was too dangerous. I's a matter of Red Cross policy.
Who lost more voters, the RATS or the GOP ?
Sadly enough they have convince many that "dead reckoning" is the navigational tool that is appropriate to take with an added bone thrown to achieve complacency.
I disagree.
They are fleeing the only state still under the Napoleonic code of law rather than the British Common law.
Let's face it - Louisiana is more foreign than Canada.
LOL no problem (o:
I think he meant "inculturated," but the thought was clear, in any case - don't let those Dem voters out of NO!!!
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