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."
Ain't my claim...I'm just pointing out that posters to this thread are ignoring the fact that Rush made the same point as Jesse.
Allow me to translate the Rev. Jackson's meaning: "I'm afraid that if the blacks see that the whites really don't hate them and are bending over backwards to help, that the blacks might no longer buy into my BS".
I don't suppose it ever occurred to this self-agrandizing idiot that these people are free agents and ultimately will determine their OWN destiny...and destination.
yes jesse people do really care about the citizens and that is why they are loving Texas because I have heard them say wonderful things about Texas a state that these people dont believe to hum isn't Texas where Bush is from. oops we better not interview these people now more
Jesse Jackson and Ms Lee THE STATE OF LA FAILED IT'S PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!WHAT PART OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND, THE MAYOR FAILED HIS PEOPLE SO PLEASE JUST GO AWAY I guess he realizes kissing up to Cindy in Crawford wasn't news worthy anymore or the President of Venezula he had to now get his ugly mug in LA. Jesse isn't it racist to not let your people make more of there lives and be somebody
The whole of the DNC just "gasped" in unison with your statement.
I guess spaceships dropped off the folks who live in Chinatown and Little Italy.
Lord knows it couldn't possibly be political problems around the globe./
Oh, was THAT what that sucking sound was?
There are always buses to take them to the polls. Just no buses to get 30 miles out of the city!
I haven't read any other comments, but I figure where they were "acculturated" is a big part of the problem.
LOL!
LOL!!! You start talkin' spaceships, you start talkin' Farrakhan...
...and don't even mention the number 19....
Okay, I amend my statement for crying out loud.
Add stateside to it! ; )
that is not true
this catastrophe and displacement is not mild compared to historical ones during wartime or it's aftermath
refugee lines...er evacuees are not being strafed for starters
Maybe you should check the dictionary first Jesse.
I see him more as a parasite than anything else.
Yes.
He needs a big crowd to preach to. Spread them around where they are well taken care for and you don't need Jesse no mo!
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