Posted on 09/18/2005 6:40:50 AM PDT by Embraer2004
The race men are at it again, turning the tragedy of New Orleans into a morality tale about racism in America. Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Rep. Maxine Waters (who qualifies, despite her gender), rapper Kanye West, and a host of lesser-known black leaders and spokesmen were quick to see racism in the agonizingly slow evacuation of New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina. Jackson compared the situation at the infamous Superdome to "the hull of a slave ship." West ranted that "George Bush doesn't care about black people." Even Sen. Barack Obama, who initially said that class was the biggest factor in why many New Orleans residents failed to make it out of the city before disaster struck, seemed to blame the president for racial insensitivity. "I mean, it's puzzling, given his immediate response during 9/11, that he did not feel a greater sense of empathy towards the folks that were experiencing this enormous disaster," Obama said on ABC's "This Week" on Sunday.
But if there was any real lesson about the effects of racism to be learned from this tragedy, it is that American generosity is colorblind. Americans of all colors have opened their hearts, their pocketbooks and their homes to those who have lost everything to nature's fury. To date, Americans have donated nearly $1 billion in private aid, and the federal government has committed an additional $60 billion to the victims, the most visible of whom were the mostly black residents stranded in New Orleans.
Even the pictures that emerged as victims were being rescued belied any hint of racism. Most of the National Guardsmen and other military personnel saving lives were white, while most of those being saved were black, not surprising given the demographics of the respective groups. Blacks made up 68 percent of New Orleans' population, but only about 20 percent of all military personnel and an even smaller proportion of National Guard troops.
But if white indifference doesn't explain why so many of those left stranded happened to be black and why it took so long to bring them to safety, what does? Government surely failed its most vulnerable citizens, but not because of race. A majority of New Orleans' black (as well as white and Latino) residents made it out of the city before the storm hit, despite the breakdown in government communication and assistance. They did so because they didn't depend on government in the first place. Those left behind were disproportionately dependent on government because of age, infirmity or poverty -- in many instances, all three factors played a role.
New Orleans has one of the highest poverty rates in the nation. Nearly one-third of its citizens live below the poverty line. But as Michael Tanner, director of health and welfare studies at the Cato Institute, points out, the federal government has given billions of dollars to New Orleans' poor since George W. Bush took office. Tanner estimates that the Bush administration has spent some $10 billion in welfare assistance in Louisiana, including $1.2 billion in cash assistance and $3 billion in food stamps, as well as public housing, Medicaid and more than 60 other federal anti-poverty programs. But all that money did not buy self-sufficiency, the commodity that largely differentiated those who escaped the deluge from those who got stuck at the Superdome and Convention Center.
So where was government when its wards most needed it? Local and state government were nowhere to be seen, and not because, as some now claim, state and local officials, too, were victims of Hurricane Katrina. Gov. Kathleen Blanco, safely in Baton Rouge during the storm, admitted in an interview with CNN that aired this past weekend that she waited until Aug. 31 -- two days after Katrina made landfall -- to ask for federal troops in New Orleans. When CNN anchor Miles O'Brien asked Blanco when exactly she made a specific appeal, Blanco said: "I'm lost. . . . I don't even know what today is," finally acknowledging, "I made that request perhaps Wednesday." But surely not even racial demagogues like Jackson would argue that Blanco -- who would not have been elected governor but for black voters -- delayed deploying troops at her disposal or asking for more federal troops because those trapped were black.
Blaming racism for the fate of New Orleans in the aftermath of a natural disaster and ignoring the heartfelt generosity and commitment of so many Americans of all races to help the victims rebuild have only compounded the tragedy.
And all the money, $200 BILLION taxpayers money, that will be poured at the problem will not buy SELF-SUFFICIENCY!
Ok, it was well known NO would have a distaster one day. Why weren't the racemen there seeing to it that their people were protected and shelters were stocked? Better yet, why didn't these "leaders" lead their people out of the ghettos decades ago?
As long as there is a dole, the poor will stay. That is true of any city.
If the Democrats were to help the downtrodden and hopeless succeed, then the ranks of the Republicans would grow. Therefore, the Democrats want very much for the downtrodden and hopeless to stay downtrodden and hopeless.
It's not rocket science.
Civil War anyone!
Repeating a large part of what has just been posted to add one content-free sentence is stupid.
More so when the reply is so empty.
Chavez's article is mainly a holier-than-thou preachy piece that coyly sings "Money can't buy Poverty"...all the more tiresome by being penned by a latino surnamed author.
Yes, and as long as there is a TV camera or reporter willing to listen there will be a black race pimp shooting off his mouth.
Your post was correct. Disregard rantings of the members of the left.
Thank you, will do.
All races have evolved to intellectual equality.....?
When whispers should be shouts
By Bethany L. Ruhe
Monday, September 12, 2005
With all of the media attention aimed at the lawlessness and looting in post-civilized New Orleans, one crime remained largely ignored: rape.
In the Superdome, according to a Reuters report, a 15-year-old girl was raped for four hours and her dead body left on a filthy bathroom floor.
An 8-year-old boy was raped and his dead body stuffed into a freezer.
A British student reports a man getting arrested for raping a 7-year-old girl in the bathroom.
Imagine what was going on in the streets.
Not only has there been a lack of coverage on these horrific crimes, there has been a lack of vocal response. Neither local nor federal government appears to have come forth to establish any type of crisis care for the women and children who have suffered. And if they have, it has gone ignored by the mainstream media.
This is a society that feverishly follows the story of pet and owner reunification but wants to hear nothing about the rape of its most vulnerable members at the nation's most vulnerable time. The correlation between lawlessness and rape is a strong one. The combination of a lack of relief, a shortage of help on the ground and the social condition of those left to fend for themselves created a cauldron of hate and violence that allowed the seams of civility to be ripped apart.
Governments pass the buck. The media gear up for the death count and attempt to discover the fate of Snowball. But what about these forgotten victims? There are people who lost all they had; not just material possessions, but innocence, dignity and the right to be treated like a human being.
Yes, the devastation is widespread. And yes, relief efforts failed at many fronts. But water can be pumped out. Houses can be rebuilt. More products can be produced. But you can never replace what those who have been raped have lost.
And not only to have lost, but also to be ignored, is the biggest failure of all.
Should read: "The race PIMPS are at it again"
The race men are at it again
Who cares what a bunch of ignorant racists say? Quit giving them media attention and they will go away.
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