Many poor blacks don't believe they are wanted back in N.O.

WWLTV ^ | 10/23/2005 | Erin McClam / Associated Press

[LA Woman3]

Darryl Delatte, 57 years old and 22 months shy of retiring as a mechanic, was rescued from his flooded New Orleans home after Hurricane Katrina and dropped on an interstate. There, he watched people die -- and wondered why no help came.

"Everybody kept passing you by," he says.

Now, at a cavernous disaster relief center in Houston, he ponders the promises made by government officials -- of land and jobs for evacuees back home, of a rebirth of the city's essential, vibrant black community.

[Brilliant]

I don't know, but I'm guessing they are right.... Not that they are wanted anywhere else, though.

[realpatriot]

From the article, " It is not difficult to find other black New Orleanians who share those doubts -- forged in an era of slavery, cemented by floods and hurricanes past and decades of political and social disappointment. And those doubts have profound implications for the very much uncertain prospect of rebuilding New Orleans."

They are stuck in the past and deserving the government they elect.

[rockrr]

Sorry Darryl.

Witness the abysmal failure of "progressive" liberalism.

From what I remember of NO, I suspect that, even in his shaky circumstances now, he is in a better place than where he came from (or would go back to).

[SteveMcKing]

"Darryl Delatte, 57 years old and 22 months shy of retiring as a mechanic,"

That's a man.

Only to a liberal should he be called "poor and black" instead of by his name or full personhood.

[Ludicrous]

A mechanic who didn't have a car to drive outta town??

[jonascord]

Let's see: they looted everything that wasn't nailed down, trashed everywhere they were evacuated to, spent all the money they were given for clothes on lap dances and booze, and whined about how Whitey blew up the levees...

Gee, I sure want them in my town...

[ncountylee]

Even today, Davis says, poorer New Orleans blacks hold deep resentment for Mayor Ray Nagin, himself an African-American, seen by many as favoring elite business owners --and as likely to favor them again in the rebuilding.

Nagin goes where the money (graft) is best.

[CindyDawg]

Many are finding they are valued and being welcomed. Good mechanics are hard to find. Why would he want to go back to being kept down?

[GregoTX]

"They've gotten no services ever since. Part of that is because they're poor and black. Nobody cared."

Blah blah blah blah ...Im black therefore Im a victim. Everyone is out to get us because we are black, and they keep us poor. Blah blah blah.

Welome to Houston you big dummy

[operation clinton cleanup]

Looks like the rising tide of ignorance is threatening the levee of common sense!

[Majic]

The Race Is On

Now, at a cavernous disaster relief center in Houston, he ponders the promises made by government officials -- of land and jobs for evacuees back home, of a rebirth of the city's essential, vibrant white community.

Substitution mine. Consider, if you will, what the discussion would be like if we substituted the word "white" for "black", "European-American" for "African-American", and so forth in articles like these.

This is how I check for racial bias in a story. Lo and behold, there it is.

Gross racism in its lowest form infects virtually every aspect of the Katrina "controversy", and the source of that racism are the bigots who promote it in government, the press and society.

It's easy enough to spot. Just swap one racist term for another and see how it reads.

The bigotry then becomes as obvious as the difference between black and white.

[worst-case scenario]

Any statistics on how many are the working poor? Has that been covered at all?

[EGPWS]

There, he watched people die -- and wondered why no help came.

He appears to have the same vision as the local government in NO.

He sees all but that bull in front of him just aching for someone to grasp his horns.

[Bon mots]

Nobody wants poor people of any color.

[John Jorsett]

If they didn't care enough about you to send a bus to evacuate you, then, yeah, it's safe to assume they probably don't care enough to want you back.

[mtbopfuyn]

Boo freakin' hoo! He had two feet to walk himself off the highway instead of sitting on his butt watching vehicles pass by. Could he have bothered sticking out his thumb or if things were that bad he could have organized all those other poor decendants of slaves to form a line across the street blocking traffic until they got a lift. But, noooo. That would be too much effort so he sat on his butt waiting for da man to help him.

What, no blame to that other decendent of poor black slaves, Mayor Nagin? You know, that guy who didn't bother stocking the Dome or bothering to get any buses off the parking lot.

Ya know, there's plenty of construction jobs in NO. Funny, I don't see any of the Ninth Ward residents filling out application forms. But then why should they when they've already filled out welfare applications in every other state and are settle in for the duration.

[ravinson]

"Darryl Delatte, 57 years old and 22 months shy of retiring as a mechanic,"

You're right. How can he be poor when is able to retire at 59?

[Lancey Howard]

LOL

[EGPWS]

If they didn't care enough about you to send a bus to evacuate you, then, yeah, it's safe to assume they probably don't care enough to want you back.

This would be #1 on the common sense statement of the week board if there were to be one.

Well said JJ!