git-r-dun
September 6th, 2005, 01:49 PM
First of all, my prayers go out to all victims of Hurricane Katrina. We had advance warning that Katrina was coming. There was no need for so many people to be left behind, and so many deaths to occur. Our tax money goes to the government and the armed forces. They should have been there knocking on doors forcing people to grab a bag and go.
This however, would have been unprecedented hurricane warning behavior. They haven't done it for ANY hurricane (think of Andrew) so why would they for Katrina? Should New Orleans have received special treatment?
Sixty-seven percent of New Orleans' residents are black. Nearly 30 percent of people in New Orleans live below the poverty line, and only a handful of large American cities have lower household incomes. A spokesperson for the United Negro College Fund noted that the city's poor live in some of the most dilapidated housing in the nation. Some 134,000 people couldn’t leave because they couldn't afford transportation. And the majority of them are black.
This natural disaster illustrates what experts have known all along — disasters do not treat everyone alike. Surviving is easier for those who have than those who don’t. And when push comes to shove, it’s every man, woman and child for himself.
I am SHOCKED the slow response is chalked up racism. Black members of Congress expressed anger Friday at what they said was a slow federal response to Hurricane Katrina. Rep. Diane Watson, and other members of the Congressional Black Caucus, along with members of the Black Leadership Forum, National Conference of State Legislators, National Urban League and the NAACP, held a news conference and charged that the response was slow because those most affected are poor. Many also are black, but the lawmakers held off on charging racism. "The issue is not about race right now," said Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones.
If the Congressional Black Caucus, the Black Leadership Forum, National Conference of State Legislators, National Urban League and the NAACP are not calling this racism, why on earth does so much of the American public, like many on this board, insist on doing it????
It is very offensive to those of us who are trying like crazy to help.
Those flood waters didn’t care if who was black or white—they took everything no matter.
The problems we are seeing in New Orleans and the Gulf coast is regarding POVERTY. Why have not all Americans been concerned about the plight of the poor before now? New Orleans is not an aberration.
Nationally, according to Census figures, blacks remain at the bottom of the economic totem pole. They have the lowest median income of any group. Poverty numbers have steadily risen for all five years of the Bush administration. There has been no sign of a turnaround. For that to happen, Bush would have to reverse his tax-and-war spending policies, and commit massive funds to job, training and education programs and provide tax incentives for businesses to train and hire the poor. That would take an active national lobbying effort by Congressional Democrats, civil rights and anti-poverty groups.
Want to make a difference? The NAACP hammers Bush on the Iraq war and his domestic policies, but poverty has not been their top priority. The fight for affirmative action, economic parity, professional advancement and busing replaced battling poverty, reducing unemployment, securing quality education, promoting self-help and gaining greater political empowerment as the goals of all African-Americans. That effectively left out in the cold the one in four blacks who live below the official poverty level in all of America.
If we, as citizens, spend even half as much energy HELPING POVERTY as we do b*tching, this crisis would be a whole lot less of a crisis.
As it is, I will now get off of my political horse. We have to deal with what is at hand NOW.
People do not have two weeks, or even a few hours. They need help NOW. They need food, water, clothing and shelter NOW. So, let's focus on aid and rescue, we have months and years to blame others.
Now, instead of b*tching me out for the next hour or two about how I am a racist and I don’t understand the plight of the poor, why don’t you instead:
Make a financial donation to:
o http://www.redcross.org/
o http://www.salvationarmyusa.org/
o http://www.aspca.org/site/PageServer
o http://www.bushclintonkatrinafund.org/
o http://www.catholiccharitiesusa.org/news/katrina.cfm
Volunteer your time at:
o http://www.habitat.org/
Open up your home to the needy at
o http://www.hurricanehousing.org/
Or write your congressman, join a lobby group, volunteer at your food kitchen…..
This however, would have been unprecedented hurricane warning behavior. They haven't done it for ANY hurricane (think of Andrew) so why would they for Katrina? Should New Orleans have received special treatment?
Sixty-seven percent of New Orleans' residents are black. Nearly 30 percent of people in New Orleans live below the poverty line, and only a handful of large American cities have lower household incomes. A spokesperson for the United Negro College Fund noted that the city's poor live in some of the most dilapidated housing in the nation. Some 134,000 people couldn’t leave because they couldn't afford transportation. And the majority of them are black.
This natural disaster illustrates what experts have known all along — disasters do not treat everyone alike. Surviving is easier for those who have than those who don’t. And when push comes to shove, it’s every man, woman and child for himself.
I am SHOCKED the slow response is chalked up racism. Black members of Congress expressed anger Friday at what they said was a slow federal response to Hurricane Katrina. Rep. Diane Watson, and other members of the Congressional Black Caucus, along with members of the Black Leadership Forum, National Conference of State Legislators, National Urban League and the NAACP, held a news conference and charged that the response was slow because those most affected are poor. Many also are black, but the lawmakers held off on charging racism. "The issue is not about race right now," said Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones.
If the Congressional Black Caucus, the Black Leadership Forum, National Conference of State Legislators, National Urban League and the NAACP are not calling this racism, why on earth does so much of the American public, like many on this board, insist on doing it????
It is very offensive to those of us who are trying like crazy to help.
Those flood waters didn’t care if who was black or white—they took everything no matter.
The problems we are seeing in New Orleans and the Gulf coast is regarding POVERTY. Why have not all Americans been concerned about the plight of the poor before now? New Orleans is not an aberration.
Nationally, according to Census figures, blacks remain at the bottom of the economic totem pole. They have the lowest median income of any group. Poverty numbers have steadily risen for all five years of the Bush administration. There has been no sign of a turnaround. For that to happen, Bush would have to reverse his tax-and-war spending policies, and commit massive funds to job, training and education programs and provide tax incentives for businesses to train and hire the poor. That would take an active national lobbying effort by Congressional Democrats, civil rights and anti-poverty groups.
Want to make a difference? The NAACP hammers Bush on the Iraq war and his domestic policies, but poverty has not been their top priority. The fight for affirmative action, economic parity, professional advancement and busing replaced battling poverty, reducing unemployment, securing quality education, promoting self-help and gaining greater political empowerment as the goals of all African-Americans. That effectively left out in the cold the one in four blacks who live below the official poverty level in all of America.
If we, as citizens, spend even half as much energy HELPING POVERTY as we do b*tching, this crisis would be a whole lot less of a crisis.
As it is, I will now get off of my political horse. We have to deal with what is at hand NOW.
People do not have two weeks, or even a few hours. They need help NOW. They need food, water, clothing and shelter NOW. So, let's focus on aid and rescue, we have months and years to blame others.
Now, instead of b*tching me out for the next hour or two about how I am a racist and I don’t understand the plight of the poor, why don’t you instead:
Make a financial donation to:
o http://www.redcross.org/
o http://www.salvationarmyusa.org/
o http://www.aspca.org/site/PageServer
o http://www.bushclintonkatrinafund.org/
o http://www.catholiccharitiesusa.org/news/katrina.cfm
Volunteer your time at:
o http://www.habitat.org/
Open up your home to the needy at
o http://www.hurricanehousing.org/
Or write your congressman, join a lobby group, volunteer at your food kitchen…..