Posted on 07/20/2007 1:30:47 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
It's been two years since Hurricane Katrina and Rita ripped through the belly of the South, and survivors, along with various scholars and activists, are seeking to hold the US government responsible in a tribunal court hearing scheduled for this August.
On Tuesday (July 17), New York City Councilman Charles Barron and former Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney met at Manhattan's Center for Constitutional Rights for a press conference to discuss the upcoming trial. The tribunal will target President Bush, the US government, State of Louisiana, State of Mississippi, and various other agencies who were involved in the Katrina and Rita relief efforts.
The Tribunal will include a team of human and civil rights prosecutors, including Joan Gibbs from the Center of Law & Social Justice and Kali Akuno, from the Peoples Hurricane Relief Fund.
Overall, the Tribunal's main goal is holding the US government accountable for their reaction to the 2005 storms.
"Some people are being held accountable," said Former Congresswoman McKinney. "But what about [US Secretary of Homeland Security] Michael Chertoff? I'm wondering why he still has a job!"
Councilman Barron believes potential Democratic leaders have not raised the issue enough. "We can't let Barack Obama and Hillary, and all these so-called Democrats, whisper about what happened with Katrina," he said. "America needs a revolution."
"I'm a survivor," said Viola Washington, in a thick New Orleans drawl. "I was there. We had racism, and a whole lot of -isms before the storm, but it don't excuse what happened during the storm. We had helicopters flying over the city and nobody came to help us. We were begging for help."
Like Washington, other survivors will give their testimonies during the hearing, detailing abusive and humiliating treatment during delayed relief efforts.
"They put me in a wilderness, in a place I never heard of in my life," another, graying survivor added.
When Katrina hit, that woman was raising her three grandchildren, after her daughter was murdered. "They [National Guard] were putting guns on you just to ask a question. This is America! It took us from Tuesday to Friday to get out of there," she said.
At the time, the woman owned her home. Her biggest concerned after the storm was returning to it. "But FEMA told me I was supposed to get back to my home or I'll lose my assistance," she said. "What am I supposed to do with three children?"
In addition to survivor testimonies, foreign nations have lent their support to the International Tribunal effort, including Cuba, Mexico, France, and Brazil.
The Mexican government released the following statement: "The Katrina disaster was a disaster organized by a political and economic system rooted in racism, exploitation and oppression. The massive deaths and human suffering could have been avoided were it not for the racism of the U.S. government at all levels."
The hearing will be held August 29 in New Orleans, marking the two-year anniversary of the hurricane tragedy.
2nd division vet, in my previous post, I should have used “their “career”. I was in no way, implying “your”. You, as stated, work for a living.
There is a permanent underclass in this country now, with poverty pimps like Jesse Jackson, John Edwards, Barack Hussein Obama, Bill & Hillary Clinton, Al Sharpton, and thousands more using them for their own gain. This underclass has been trained not to be self-sufficient, told to breed as many offspring as possible, shown that working is stupid and that Uncle Sugar owes them a living. We knew that Hurricane was coming many days in advance. If the people of New Orleans that were without transportation had started walking on the day the were first warned, they’d have made it to Arkansas before Katrina hit! Most of the NOLA Katrina “victims” are still on Federal assistance TWO YEARS LATER!! Can anyone show me a similar situation in American history?
“Other hurricane places they tell you if you choose not to leave...you are on your own and no one else is responsible”
Yes, they do....they told us that everytime a storm approaches. We have evacuated three times because we live on the water, (though some of our neighbors have not.)
The order comes from the County Emergency Management team. I guess they don’t have that in Louisana.
There’s so much questionable about this article and topic that I am bookmarking this to come back later and try...try to understand what the “H” this really is about.
They had job fairs for the "evacuees" at the Astrodome where over 50,000 evacuees were housed. The sign up list gathered about 300 names. Now many of those "evacuees" are in temporary Section 8 housing and two of those Section 8s are right down the road from me. They just got a FEMA extenstion all the way to March 2009. Not 2008, but 2009! Most of the "evacuees" have new cars and life is good once again. The Liberal Plantation is in full swing: raping, robbing, and murdering has jumped in my area.
Unemployment in Houston is 3.8% yet these "evacuees" remain unemployed. It's frikin' disgusting!
Wasn't MICHAEL BROWN, director of FEMA during Hurricane Katrina? I know this woman is an absolute idiot but she just continues to prove time and time again.
That comment in the article leapt out as something no sovereign gov't would say about its neighbor...
“When I went to FEMA, both in Biloxi and here, they subtly but plainly let me know that white people cant be Katrina victims so I was on my own.”
I call BS. My family from Louisiana knows plenty of whites from the NOLA area who got FEMA assistance. My uncle is one of them.
“Note to graying survivor: Well, that’s what happens when the only life you know is a welfare-addled, ghetto existence. Nobody prevented you or your fellow welfare queens from leaving that dump of 9th ward and making a life for yourself elsewhere in the state or the country.”
This story and the “tribunal” are complete hogwash, but you might note that the woman you’re accusing of being a welfare queen is raising the three children of her murdered daughter and she owned her on home. I doubt she bought that on welfare money. And did the stroy say she lived in the 9th Ward?
Is Biloxi in Louisiana? No, it’s not! I moved to Dallas/Fort Worth on my own dime and have worked on and off since I got here. No Section 8, no FEMA $$, no welfare, no food stamps, no handouts. The USDA did rent me an apartment when I first got here, but it wasn’t FREE!! I am a 40% service-connected disabled veteran, which is more than most “Katrina victims” can claim and I got JACK SQUAT!! Call BS all you want!
Well now that makes much more sense. FEMA was just denying aid to white people from Biloxi. Of course they were.
Welcome to FR
I actually have the hard copy print-out of the NWS forecast from the Sunday before Katrina made landfall. It described the destruction in detail and not once was the word "may" or "possible" used.
Houston is trying to get rid of the Katrina vic... er evacuees. The crime wave, burglaries, murders increased significantly since they arrived!
The city has had it! The ingrates!
Well thanks.
Thank you for the ping, texastoo. BTTT
I’m glad you know so much more about a situation that I lived through than I do. Are you a god, or do you just play one on TV?
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