Posted on 03/15/2006 8:30:26 AM PST by beaversmom
We didn't need another report to tell us that there was negligence and mismanagement in the federal government's handling of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, but we got it anyway.
We didn't need a video showing us that the Federal Emergency Management Agency and President Bush had been briefed ahead of time about the eminent threat Katrina posed to New Orleans - it was obvious from the start.
What we had not seen until now is to what extent Latinos were unfairly treated before and after the devastating hurricane hit the Gulf Coast.
It took an organization like the National Council of La Raza to get a clear picture of how the Latino community suffered more than was originally reported. Representatives from FEMA and the Red Cross said over and over again that all hurricane victims would receive emergency assistance, regardless of their immigration status.
What NCLR found in its recent study was quite a different story.
“The disaster response - both public and private - was a disaster for Latinos and other communities of color,” said Janet Murguia, NCLR president and CEO. She went on to say that the response of the two entities most responsible for disaster relief - the federal government and the American Red Cross - was “a failure on every level for Latinos.”
The number of Latinos in the affected area was more than double the amount originally thought. Some 230,000 Hispanics lived in the Gulf states when Katrina hit. Yet, no warnings to evacuate were given in any language other than English. As a consequence, several non-English-speaking casino workers in Mississippi lost their lives.
When it came time to provide shelter and housing, many Latino legal residents reported that they were turned away under the assumption that they were undocumented immigrants, while those who actually were undocumented were started on deportation proceedings.
In its report “In the Eye of the Storm: How the Government and Private Response to Hurricane Katrina Failed Latinos,” NCLR criticizes the Department of Homeland Security for not suspending immigration-enforcement laws to allow disaster victims to receive basic emergency aid like food and water.
It also blasts the Department of Labor for not enforcing labor laws, thus contributing to the exploitation of workers.
Hundreds of workers hired for the cleanup of the affected areas complained that they had not been paid what was promised to them - some weren't paid at all. For at least 106 of those workers, justice came at the end of February when a subcontractor working for KBR - a subsidiary of Halliburton - was forced to pay the workers a total of $141,887 in back wages.
Individually, they didn't get that much. The compensation checks ranged from $400 to $2,800. But it was a symbolic victory for them. The workers had been promised $13 an hour, plus food and housing. Instead they got $7 an hour, inadequate housing and very little food.
When they complained to the contractor, the owner threatened to report them to immigration officials.
NCLR's report also condemns the American Red Cross for failing to serve the Latino community, citing bureaucratic barriers that led to delays in assisting Latino victims. The Red Cross, asserts the report, did not work with Latino organizations in the disaster area that offered to help serve the community in need.
Both the federal government and the disaster-relief agency were criticized for the lack of diversity in their staffs. The Red Cross has only a 2 percent Hispanic makeup in its board of governors.
“The Red Cross should look more like America,” NCLR's Murguia said.
The head of NCLR stopped short of calling for a boycott of the disaster-relief agency.
“I can't in good conscience ask people to support the Red Cross at this point, after what we've seen and what we've learned. And I would want to see some very concrete steps, plans of how the Red Cross will respond to the Hispanic community in the future, before I would encourage anyone to donate to the Red Cross again,” she said at a press conference in Washington.
The conclusion of the report is a well-known fact: Three months before the start of hurricane season, the federal government and the American Red Cross are unprepared to address the needs of Latinos - or any other community, for that matter.
Maria Elena Salinas is anchor of “Noticiero Univision.” Visit her Web site at www.mariaesalinas.com to send comments.
I find it difficult to believe that
ANY LEGAL immigrant has lived alongside
born or naturalized American citizens
for any length of time and has NOT picked
up the lingo. It would seem more likely
the illegal immigrant is the one hiding
out in the community, avoiding any situation
that requires him to speak or answer questions.
You can always tell the illegals by the way
they drive...verrrry slowly and always on the
right hand side of the road. They'll go a
block past their turning point to avoid
going into that left hand lane. Safer to go
a block past and make three right hand turns!
And I'm serious.
Whites males just get to pay for it all. Doesn't matter if THEY were hit too.
The USA better start importing WHITES. There aren't enough left to be blamed and forced to pay for everything.
Sounds good, but how many were actually shipped home? How many were back across the next week with at least 14 of their cousins?
I make less.
Yes....it's sick...and getting sicker.
Welcome to America. The melting pot of the world. NOW MELT!
Hmmmm.
Do Latinas have short memories, or this one just "special".
Guess she'll be riding the short bus home.
"We didn't need a video showing us that the Federal Emergency Management Agency and President Bush had been briefed ahead of time about the eminent threat Katrina posed to New Orleans - it was obvious from the start."
AND DAMN BUSH FOR NOT GOING OUT INTO THE GULF AND WAVING HIS WAND TO STOP THE STORM!!! Of course then Democrats would have attacked Bush saying "He could have put someone's eye out with that thing."
Forgetting for a moment that La Raza is an enemy organization operating on US soil that needs to be shut down, I love the idiotic statement above that's made to sound so insidious as if ANYONE was denying at the time that this was going to be a big storm. This shows the left is still going to use these videos that were discreditted in terms of showing the president was warned of levee breaches to still somehow support their never ending spin that somehow the president failed in his response to Katrina. The dishonesty never stops with these creeps.
Actually, now that you mention it, I heard a brief snip about that on a talk show.
Sorry but I call bullshit. It is a shame that people lost their lives, but I do not see how the government is entirely to blame because non-English speaking folks can't comprehend that the sights and sounds of other people getting the hell out of dodge is a good enough reason to get up and go yourself- or at the very least, ask someone that you know what he hell is going on.
Hubby worked as a firefighter in an illegal immigrant town here in Calif. They would pull up on a call and the whole family would start jibbering in Spanish. He and his 2 guys would just stand there and look at them, eventually the Mexicans would start speaking English when they realized that noone was going to speak Spanish for them.
Hubby speaks fluent Spanish. He refused to accommodate them and said that most of the time he heard them all trying to get their story straight before they came forward in English.
Lots of these calls were abuse, stabbings, etc.
Were the warnings issued in "Ebonics"
Also - Work Legally or Get Screwed.
The workers had been promised $13 an hour, plus food and housing. Instead they got $7 an hour, inadequate housing and very little food.
When the going gets tough a lot of English gets spoken.
Apparently the typical white male is far more buoyant and storm proof than others of the species.
Ask me how very much I don't care.
Hey, Manuel, why are all the crazy gringos leaving town?
If I were vacationing in Mexico and every Mexican fled, while every channel on TV showed a big hurricane in the Gulf with the weather chica drawing a line from where the hurricane was to where I was, I could figure out to head inland even though I don't know Spanish.
Maybe those were the Mexicans which a Georgia sweet potato farmer had complained about running off right before the harvest. The poor farmer had to hire Americans to dig his crop.
Wonder who posted this keyword: "LATINOSHITHARDEST"?
For a moment I thought someone got food-poisoned.
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