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."
Check it out: [It's a flashing neon sign explaining so much about what has now become the situation in New Orleans]
NEW ORLEANS, Sept. 4 - A day after two police suicides and the abrupt resignations or desertions of up to 200 police officers, defiant city officials on Sunday began offering five-day vacations - and even trips to Las Vegas - to the police, firefighters and city emergency workers and their families.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/05/national/nationalspecial/05vegas.html?ei=5090&en=cc54b8b6ae100f44&ex=1283572800&adxnnl=1&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=print&adxnnlx=1125990006-Hx/7fND23/QUIQQZOC0/Qg
Jesse Jackson had a significant opportunity here to stand up and be a man. And to encourage others to do so, too. And to thank those who are.
Instead, he's (again) failed miserably.
The thing about the 'refugees' really strikes at the heart of the United States, racially, ethically, economically, spiritually, politically.
I am completely disgusted by his condescending, snotty comments. Just snotty, that's the only thing I can call them, and him, just completely snotty.
P.S.: Jackson needs to learn basic civics...IF and WHEN a governor of a state refuses to relinquish control of the National Guard and to request federal assistance, the rest of the country (as the federal government) can't just barge (pun, well...) into that state and announce they're taking control or otherwise "there to offer aid."
The nuttiness of Jackson is beyond dementia. He's just a corrupt person.
This is the dumbest thing I've ever heard. If one seeks refuge, they are a refugee. It has nothing to do with race. Gah! These people are idiots... what are they trying to do?
Jackson's and some others' objection to the accurate use of the word, "refugees," just as Jackson has evidenced, indicates RACIST DENIGRATION of people who are displaced in the country, outside the country, wherever.
It's just a word to describe a plight. The only racist element in the word is Jackson and others insisting the word describes a lesser-than human...Jackson reveals his OWN racism by saying that the word describes a "bad" human being to any degree.
The word just means that people were/are forced from their homes by unexpected, objectionable events and in need of relocation to safe, secure housing and living situations. I'd say that describes everyone rescued out of Louisiana and other affected areas.
They're giving the msm headlines to attack the Right.
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.
Maybe that's the plan..
Yeah, right.
Shut up, Jesse, you race-pimp. When people flee a war zone they are called "refugees". The Democrat cesspool of NO quickly became a war zone, and the people had to flee for their lives. That's why they can properly be called "refugees". Maybe a goodly portion of them will see life in the USA in a totally different way after getting out of their malignant life of dependency in NO. We can only pray that this was God's way out for them.
LOL!!
Refugees or Evacuees?
Check Post #76.
The only thing Rev. Jackson is doing is saving his meal ticket.
"Before this whole thing I had a complex about white people; this thing changed me forever," said Brant, 36, a truck driver who, like many of the refugees receiving public assistance in Houston, Texas, is black. ….***
I don't know.
He may have made a contribution. He certainly needs to keep up appearances.
Excellent point. When the government owns you because it feeds, clothes, and medicates you, it can move you wherever it wishes you to go. That's the loss of freedom that goes with dependency. If only someone would answer Jesse, the race pimp, that way.
where is the new live thread ?
Right Jessee, put them in tents in Louisianna, keep them in large concentrations in misery where your sort can "lead" them. It worked to radicalize the Palestinis who left Israel why shouldn't it work for American Blacks.
Don't let them be spread to other parts of the country where they can be assimilated into functioning communities and escape the culture of entitlements, hate and hopelessness of New Orleans corruption.
Confirmed...She was lookin' fer the door after she met us...
Thank you so much for your unselfish committment to your fellow American. Are you working with a church group or local group that is taking donations? I'd like to know exactly where my money is spent before sending a dime.
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