Desperate city

[Makalakumu]

There were errors made, they need to be addressed, but finger pointing and conspiracy theories play no part in helping the future.

Errors is an understatement. This disaster was probably one of the most anticipated disasters in American history. Hell, I predicted the outcome in another thread as soon as I heard where the hurricane was heading and I'm just some hack from Wisconsin.

The bottom line really is that we had a failure of government on every single level. The "real blame game" is a game of shifting the blame to everyone else. New Orleans mayor blames Fema. The governer blames Fema. The Bush Administration blames local officials...but they all share part of it.

The real problem is systemic. Any time you have a failure that stretches from the top down, this is the case. The problem is that a government that cuts taxes and shrinks itself during times when there is no need is unable to respond during times when the need is great. This is the ultimate failure of conservative policies and it is the reason why they are working so hard to hide it.

C'mon, are you being serious? I don't even understand your point here. I didn't say anyone was making something up (although I do not see how that shows racism in and of itself as you stated) but just because someone cries wolf doesn't mean there's really a wild animal coming towards you.

The sources I posted are more then enough to see that Katrina exposed some raw racial issues. You actually have to read them and maybe even listen to the NPR segment.

We dont want to get into the race game and talk about ancestors and who had it the worst and such, I'm native american.

Hmmm, so am I...partly. Enough to spend part of my life on a reservation.

Lets look at today, not yesterday and be real, show me one serious, fact that shows a connection to anyone trying to drown african americans in floods in the deep south.

This is asanine. Do you really expect me to find an office memo stating, "Attention - don't build that levee higher, the negroes ain't worth it..." If that is your bar, I don't think you'll find much racism in this country...except in Texas where Tom Delay's henchmen were recorded as they referred to native americans as stupid trogdolytes.

Part of the NPR segment is an essay written by a person my age. It was about town in Mississippi...the one where parts of Forest Gump was filmed. This town was regularly flooded by the river, so local and state officials built a levee through the middle of the town. Baptist Bottom, as the neighborhood was called, was the lowest, poorest, and blackest area of town and it was built outside of the levee.

When the floods came, their houses were continually destroyed. People died. And whole families were displaced. Eventually, the poor and black, having no where else to go, rebuilt, only to suffer the same fate. Then the Federal Government bought out Baptist Bottom. They wanted to rebuild the old levee and didn't want to spend more money on helping people whose homes were destroyed.

The bottom line is that this action forced the town to integrate. This action forced blacks and whites to live together and think about the deep racial issues that literally divided their community. The auther left off by saying that New Orleans could learn from this lesson.

Your claim is humerous at best.

I don't find anything funny about the above story. I'm a bit shocked that you do.

For every voice that says an opinion in one way I can give you 5 that say the other.

Go for it.

I'm talking about hard evidence with facts that show your theory.

Look at the people. Look at who is poor. Look at who was left behind. Look at who got out.

Your links spoke about a storm that hit african americans harder than whites....so that is racism? Katrina is racist? The hurrican went after black americans rather than white americans? Why is it not just that katrina hurt americans? Its just naive to say race had a factor in who was hurt by the storm.

This is so absurd I don't even know where to begin. A storm being racist...can anyone say strawman?

 

[Tgace]

The problem is that a government that cuts taxes and shrinks itself during times when there is no need is unable to respond during times when the need is great. This is the ultimate failure of conservative policies and it is the reason why they are working so hard to hide it.

High taxes and big government..always the answer.

 

[michaeledward]

Hell, I predicted the outcome in another thread as soon as I heard where the hurricane was heading and I'm just some hack from Wisconsin.

And I have wanted to applaud your foresight for two weeks now. And yet, it somehow seems in appropriate to say.

So, with regret, thank you for your insight.

 

[Tgace]

Hell...what was that last big hurricane that was bearing down on New Orleans but veered off at the last minute? Shouldnt that have been a wake up call?

 

[Sapper6]

Look at the people. Look at who is poor. Look at who was left behind. Look at who got out.

this is not being debated, we know this. they HAD NO way out, except unless, the city steps up and follows the protocol THEY wrote. the freely stated it was THEIR OWN RESPONSIBILITY to evac persons that could not on their own with school and city transit buses. this was written in black and white.

i certainly don't dispute people are at fault here, i just disagree when it comes to who is being blamed. i don't give a **** who the hell the president is, even if it were the most leftist bastard on the planet, it was not his fault.

 

[Sapper6]

And I have wanted to applaud your foresight for two weeks now. And yet, it somehow seems in appropriate to say.

So, with regret, thank you for your insight.

get a room. :inlove:

 

[KenpoEMT]

There is no way that this is an issue of racism. If anything, it is an issue of class. How many wealthy families were decimated?

If the poor areas of New Orleans were populated soley by poverty stricken white people, no one would have been in any greater hurry to rescue them, and there would not have been such a hooplah over it in the media.

IMO, the actions of our leaders demonstrate the following perspective: the wealthy upper class is supreme; the middle class has it's uses; the lower class is a useless drain of society's resources. Isn't that the mind-set of our elected kings/queens? The lower class is useful only during elections.

 

[7starmantis]

Errors is an understatement. This disaster was probably one of the most anticipated disasters in American history. Hell, I predicted the outcome in another thread as soon as I heard where the hurricane was heading and I'm just some hack from Wisconsin.

Making big claims does not a point make. I dont argue that anyone could see the inherent disaster, anyone who knows what the words "sea level" mean should be able to see that disaster. But your placing blame on race because of who was affected. You said, "look who got out". What does that have to do with race? Where there border guards at N.O. letting through anyone not of the african american race? Your making a point about social status and "look who's poor" which has absolutely nothing to do with this disaster or this discussion. Its statements like that which help further the blind headstrong beliefs of incoherant theories like, there is racism, I just can't prove it. Its proven by statements like, "Not every african american who has had to deal with racism could be making it up". Its faulty logic on its simplest level.

The bottom line really is that we had a failure of government on every single level. The "real blame game" is a game of shifting the blame to everyone else. New Orleans mayor blames Fema. The governer blames Fema. The Bush Administration blames local officials...but they all share part of it.

Could you outline exactly the points of failure on every level of the government for me? You keep sayin blame, what is the blame for? For not evacuating? For not lettin the black people out if they wanted out? What? I would be really interested to see your layout of every level of government and their blame or fault for this natural disaster.

The real problem is systemic. Any time you have a failure that stretches from the top down, this is the case. The problem is that a government that cuts taxes and shrinks itself during times when there is no need is unable to respond during times when the need is great. This is the ultimate failure of conservative policies and it is the reason why they are working so hard to hide it.

So this is really about conservative politics and the need for big government and not about racism or natural disasters?

The sources I posted are more then enough to see that Katrina exposed some raw racial issues. You actually have to read them and maybe even listen to the NPR segment.

Your ***umptions are astounding. I read your links and listened to them and found no true facts only opinions and thin claims. Would you mind also listing out the raw racial issues Katrina exposed?

Hmmm, so am I...partly. Enough to spend part of my life on a reservation.

Congradulations, what reservation? I'm half comanche and grew up as a member of the comanche nation on a couple of reservations. My uncle is the liason between the US Government and the indian nations, I've visited every reservation in america in my life, be interesting to know which one you spent time at.

This is asanine. Do you really expect me to find an office memo stating, "Attention - don't build that levee higher, the negroes ain't worth it..." If that is your bar, I don't think you'll find much racism in this country...except in Texas where Tom Delay's henchmen were recorded as they referred to native americans as stupid trogdolytes.

What should be the bar then? If enough people say it, it must be true? Thats simply not enough for me, sorry. So not building the levee "higher" is one of the racial issues Katrina exposed? You should do some research on the core of engineers, their cash flow, their priorities, their orders and who they cam from and all their racial backgrounds. It seems to me that racism is important to you, you keep trying to prove it exists, that is the largest benefactor of racism in america today in my opinion. Your putting so much emphasis on race, why? Those who cry faul the loudest in racial issues tend to be the least colorblind.

Part of the NPR segment is an essay written by a person my age. It was about town in Mississippi...the one where parts of Forest Gump was filmed. This town was regularly flooded by the river, so local and state officials built a levee through the middle of the town. Baptist Bottom, as the neighborhood was called, was the lowest, poorest, and blackest area of town and it was built outside of the levee.

When the floods came, their houses were continually destroyed. People died. And whole families were displaced. Eventually, the poor and black, having no where else to go, rebuilt, only to suffer the same fate. Then the Federal Government bought out Baptist Bottom. They wanted to rebuild the old levee and didn't want to spend more money on helping people whose homes were destroyed.

The bottom line is that this action forced the town to integrate. This action forced blacks and whites to live together and think about the deep racial issues that literally divided their community. The auther left off by saying that New Orleans could learn from this lesson.

So because the author states New Orleans could learn from it, he must be proving that this disaster is racialy motivated. His opinion means little to me. See, the levees of N.O. protected black and white alike. There were no people exiled outside the levees. The levees failed white, black, hispanic, native american, and probably every ethnic group you could imagine. I can take a sensus at The Marble Slab and find a large percentage of people who like ice cream, but that wouldn't really tell me anything about the population as a whole now would it? Because the poor in that area happen to be black, that has to mean something, some conspiracy to keep the black people poor and wet?

I don't find anything funny about the above story. I'm a bit shocked that you do.

Actually, you shouldn't try to twist my words around. I said I found your claim was humorous. Hmm, maybe you should listen to people before making up your mind about them. Seems you aren't too great at keepi your facts straight even with me.

Look at the people. Look at who is poor. Look at who was left behind. Look at who got out.

wow....what does that mean? So because a majority of black people are stranded in a mostly black area, this proves with hard facts that this was racially motivated? You can't be serious?

This is so absurd I don't even know where to begin. A storm being racist...can anyone say strawman?

Hey man, your the one saying "look who was affected". There is no outside force on the hurrican that tells it where to go. N.O. actually got the least of the storm itself, check out mississippi.

7sm

 

[Makalakumu]

Making big claims does not a point make. I dont argue that anyone could see the inherent disaster, anyone who knows what the words "sea level" mean should be able to see that disaster. But your placing blame on race because of who was affected.

You refuse to look at historical examples and you refuse to connect the present to those examples. This effort at denial is impressive, but futile.

You said, "look who got out". What does that have to do with race?

Absolutely everything. People who had the means to get out, got out. People who didn't, didn't. New Orleans is 60% african american, but that is not what you see of the people left over. I'm hard pressed to find a white person who isn't a cop, a guardsmen, sick, or elderly. Look at the pictures in the superdome and you'll see the only all black crowd that building ever had.

Where there border guards at N.O. letting through anyone not of the african american race?

Save the histrionics, you're starting to sound like a liberal...

Your making a point about social status and "look who's poor" which has absolutely nothing to do with this disaster or this discussion.

Why not? Who are the people who are suffering? They are poor and black. This thread is about the desperate state of New Orleans and I'm making the point about who is actually suffering this tragedy.

Its statements like that which help further the blind headstrong beliefs of incoherant theories like, there is racism, I just can't prove it. Its proven by statements like, "Not every african american who has had to deal with racism could be making it up". Its faulty logic on its simplest level.

Yeah, incoherant like this paragraph...

Are you trying to say that people who claim racism exists are just making it up again? You could try some education, you know. Race Matters by Cornell West is a good book. This is the second time in this thread that I've referred to it.

Could you outline exactly the points of failure on every level of the government for me?

Read the newspaper. Surf the internet.

You keep sayin blame, what is the blame for?

After you surf the internet and read the newspaper you should have plenty of reason to say WTF.

For not evacuating?

Blame the victim.

For not lettin the black people out if they wanted out? What?

More absurdity.

I would be really interested to see your layout of every level of government and their blame or fault for this natural disaster.

I've posted it earlier.

So this is really about conservative politics and the need for big government and not about racism or natural disasters?

Racism is an issue, but the bigger fault, IMHO lies in the failure of conservatism to actually make government work in hard times.

Your ***umptions are astounding. I read your links and listened to them and found no true facts only opinions and thin claims.

People interviewed and gave you their direct experiences. I provided you with historical context. All I can say is...

you are so unable to have any logical or meaningful conversation. Glad I'm not so hamstrung by ideology

And

I agree with the persons post

Would you mind also listing out the raw racial issues Katrina exposed

Poverty and race. Who the government really cares about.

Congradulations, what reservation? I'm half comanche and grew up as a member of the comanche nation on a couple of reservations. My uncle is the liason between the US Government and the indian nations, I've visited every reservation in america in my life, be interesting to know which one you spent time at.

Pine Ridge in South Dakota. My father lived there.

What should be the bar then? If enough people say it, it must be true? Thats simply not enough for me, sorry.

Historical context and evidence of continuation.

So not building the levee "higher" is one of the racial issues Katrina exposed? You should do some research on the core of engineers, their cash flow, their priorities, their orders and who they cam from and all their racial backgrounds.

Okay. I've done a little reading in the past. Here is what I've discovered. The people who decide the corps funding are predominantly white. The people who suffer when the corps can't build adequate levees are predominately black. Communities that have lots of resources (white ones) tend to have their interests catered too with large barrels of pork, communities that have no political power end up under water (black ones). Maybe you need to do a bit of research...

It seems to me that racism is important to you, you keep trying to prove it exists, that is the largest benefactor of racism in america today in my opinion.

I'm not sure what you are saying. Your use of the word benefactor has me perplexed. Perhaps you mean propagator...which would imply that people who imply racism are just making it up.

Your putting so much emphasis on race, why?

I just call it like I see it. I'm white enough to know it doesn't look good, but I just don't care. I know what is right.

So because the author states New Orleans could learn from it, he must be proving that this disaster is racialy motivated. His opinion means little to me.

The story provides regional context. It shows that floods, racism and class are intimately tied throughout the deep south.

See, the levees of N.O. protected black and white alike. There were no people exiled outside the levees. The levees failed white, black, hispanic, native american, and probably every ethnic group you could imagine.

Yet, who was left behind? All you need to do is look at the pictures...

I can take a sensus at The Marble Slab and find a large percentage of people who like ice cream, but that wouldn't really tell me anything about the population as a whole now would it? Because the poor in that area happen to be black, that has to mean something, some conspiracy to keep the black people poor and wet?

Its not a conspiracy to keep black people poor and wet, its about who is worth protecting. Its about who is worth helping. Its about who is really suffering.

Actually, you shouldn't try to twist my words around. I said I found your claim was humorous. Hmm, maybe you should listen to people before making up your mind about them. Seems you aren't too great at keepi your facts straight even with me.

My claim included the story above as historical context. You stated that you found this (my claim) humorous. I don't see anything humorous about the story above or my claim. If you want to laugh off the fact that this flood, like every other flood in that area, affects predominately poor black people go ahead.

wow....what does that mean? So because a majority of black people are stranded in a mostly black area, this proves with hard facts that this was racially motivated? You can't be serious?

New Orleans is 60% black. Where is the other 40%? Look at the historical context. Take a look at the regional context. There is a pattern.

 

[Tgace]

Didnt look like 60% of the city was left to sit through the storm. So even out of that 60% it looks like many were able to care for themselves and get out.....

 

[Makalakumu]

Didnt look like 60% of the city was left to sit through the storm. So even out of that 60% it look like many were able to care for themselves and get out.....

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4829446

 

[Sapper6]

Ocala homeowners association says evacuees are not welcome

While communities throughout the Sunshine State and elsewhere are welcoming Hurricane Katrina's storm-weary survivors, Coggins and others in the 500-home southwest Ocala subdivision were told by their homeowners association that their deed restrictions prohibited them from doing the same.

real American of them... :jedi1:

 

[arnisador]

The story of the 6 year old leading younger kids to safety is simultaneously uplifting and disheartening. It's great he did it...it's sad it came to that. I had very conflicted emotions when I first saw that story.

 

[modarnis]

>>>Quote:
Your making a point about social status and "look who's poor" which has absolutely nothing to do with this disaster or this discussion.

Why not? Who are the people who are suffering? They are poor and black. This thread is about the desperate state of New Orleans and I'm making the point about who is actually suffering this tragedy.>>>


Just when I think I can't get more disgusted, a statement like this proves me wrong. In your peculiar world, poor black people are the only ones worthy of suffering? Here's a reality check, of the dozen or so people I keep in touch with since I left New Orleans ( white, black, asian, and even gay) 10 of them have lost everything houses, businesses, everything they worked for, their American Dream. I wouldn't want to be in their shoes, regardless of their race. One friend calls me crying routinely, just to vent because she can't easily explain to her 2 year old why they can't go home.

Bottom line, its a human tragedy, its widespread, and injecting racial politics in the midst of the crisis does nothing to help anyone, period. Mr. UpNorth, you are a google master and find lots of articles and spend a load of time clicking your keys. Why don't you step up, put some waders on, head down to N.O. and be part of the solution rather than a messenger of problems with the system that fails everyone. I'll be heading down in a few weeks with boots, shovels and supplies to help my friends, and any of their neighbors in the racially mixed neighborhood dig out the mud. Action speaks louder than rhetoric

 

[7starmantis]

You refuse to look at historical examples and you refuse to connect the present to those examples. This effort at denial is impressive, but futile.

Absolutely everything. People who had the means to get out, got out. People who didn't, didn't. New Orleans is 60% african american, but that is not what you see of the people left over. I'm hard pressed to find a white person who isn't a cop, a guardsmen, sick, or elderly. Look at the pictures in the superdome and you'll see the only all black crowd that building ever had.

Your bcoming a master of the obvious. Make a connection. Your stating obvious facts but not connecting it to racism. Everyone can see that the people left are predominatly black, ok, so connect that somehow to racism. Here is something interseting, check out this photo journal of a guy in N.O. during the storm (he's white in color if thats ok with you, but he's really not white). its interesting to see National Guardsmen in the area helping before the flooding even occurs. Link
In this series of pictures you see many white, black, and all races. Your missing a huge link from an obvious connection to racism. Because the poor people left are black shows racism? Thats politics not connected with this disaster. Your saying "look at who was left". No one was "left" people who evacuated did so on their own terms with their own money and their own cars (mostly). I have a freind who left his brand new Jag parked in front of his house so they could take his wife's SUV and carry more people out. His jag is now a wind chime hanging from his front porch. I've been down there twice allready and I can tell you the rescue opporation is uniracial.

Why not? Who are the people who are suffering? They are poor and black. This thread is about the desperate state of New Orleans and I'm making the point about who is actually suffering this tragedy.[/QUOT}E]
So poor blacks have the market on suffering in this tragedy? Thats a pretty racist statement if you ask me, your ignoring the suffering of others to say its only poor blacks who are suffering. Thats the kind of statements I would consider racist.

Are you trying to say that people who claim racism exists are just making it up again? You could try some education, you know. Race Matters by Cornell West is a good book. This is the second time in this thread that I've referred to it.

Um..no this is the second time I've actually physically written that I'm not saying that. Be careful about suggesting education to people before knowing their background. I'm saying that your "proof" of racism is the statement, "Not everyone could be making it up". Thats no proof. What I'm syaing is people are falible, what experiences shape one person to see racism, may shape another to see an opportunity to help.

Read the newspaper. Surf the internet.

lol, so your not going to try and back up your statements with some facts? I asked you to outline exactly the points of failure on every level of our government like you claimed and your response is "surf the internet"? Thats what I'm saying is humerous.

Racism is an issue, but the bigger fault, IMHO lies in the failure of conservatism to actually make government work in hard times.

So now your agenda becomes clear. Lets forget conservative or liberal politics and look at this bypartisanly or anti-partisanly. I dont consider myself conservative or liberal, republican or democrat, I'll vote either way. I'm not really into the labeling and placing in boxes of people or ideas.

Poverty and race. Who the government really cares about.

This is your list of the raw racial issues Katrina exposed? Poverty and race? I've seen poverty and race way before katrina, what has the storm done to "expose" that? Also, what do you mean by race? Race is not bad, race is not wrong, race is simply a word that means: " A group of people united or classified together on the basis of common history, nationality, or geographic distribution". Katrina did not expose race. Thats absurd. Who the government cares about? What does the government have to do with who evacuated and who didnt? So your saying its the governments responsibility to force people out of their homes and make them move thousands of miles away when they (the government) think they should? Is that what your saying?

Yet, who was left behind? All you need to do is look at the pictures...

Again your use of the phrase "left behind". Who left them behind? Your saying the government didn't respond fast enough but yet your also saying the government left people behind. In order to leave something you must first be there. A good issue would be why if people felt the government wasn't responding fast enough did they (the people feeling this way, including you) get off their *** and head down there themselves? I headed down there and I dont think the government really did that bad of a job.

Its not a conspiracy to keep black people poor and wet, its about who is worth protecting. Its about who is worth helping. Its about who is really suffering.

Ok, so protecting. Where the white citizens of N.O. more protected than the black ones? Can you show some facts for that assumption? Worth helping? Who is the major race or group being rescued by your own addmition? Who is really suffering? Again its nice of you to ignore the suffering of anyone but poor black people still in N.O. after the flood.

New Orleans is 60% black. Where is the other 40%? Look at the historical context. Take a look at the regional context. There is a pattern.

A pattern of people with money being able to do things people without money can't do? I agree with that, but nothing further than that is shown in a historical context.

7sm

 

[michaeledward]

Saw this today ...

"... I went to Florida a few days after President Bush did to observe the damage from Hurricane Andrew. I had dealt with a lot of natural disasters as governor, including floods, droughts, and tornadoes, but I had never seen anything like this. I was surprised to hear complaints from both local officials and residents about how the Federal Emergency Management Agency was handling the aftermath of the hurricane. Traditionally, the job of FEMA director was given to a political supporter of the President who wanted some plum position but who had no experience with emergencies. I made a mental note to avoid that mistake if I won. Voters don't chose a President based on how he'll handle disasters, but if they're faced with one themselves, it quickly becomes the most important issue in their lives."

-Bill Clinton, My Life (p. 428)

 

[shesulsa]

The story of the 6 year old leading younger kids to safety is simultaneously uplifting and disheartening. It's great he did it...it's sad it came to that. I had very conflicted emotions when I first saw that story.

A friend of mine who worked with Doctors Without Borders for a handful of years told me once that you can measure two important things by observing the impact on the young: the magnitude of the disaster and effectiveness of the government.

When even political supporters of the current regime complain that this was unacceptable and express concern for our preparedness for any kind of tragedy, you know the status quo is an abomination.

And Technopunk started an excellent thread essentially saying, 'so what are we going to DO about it?'

We can keep throwing aid towards victims - which we absolutely should! But we have a much bigger problem, people. Our government.

 

[michaeledward]

The story of the 6 year old leading younger kids to safety is simultaneously uplifting and disheartening. It's great he did it...it's sad it came to that. I had very conflicted emotions when I first saw that story.

Submitted for your consideration

http://www.nola.com/newsflash/national/index.ssf?/base/national-51/112631754297522.xml&storylist=national

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Al Gore helped airlift some 270 Katrina evacuees on two private charters from New Orleans, acting at the urging of a doctor who saved the life of the former vice president's son.

...
However, Dr. Anderson Spickard, who is Gore's personal physician and accompanied him on the flights, said: "Gore told me he wanted to do this because like all of us he wanted to seize the opportunity to do what one guy can do, given the assets that he has."

...
On Sept. 1, three days after Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast, Simon learned that Dr. David Kline, a neurosurgeon who operated on Gore's son, Albert, after a life-threatening auto accident in 1989, was trying to get in touch with Gore. Kline was stranded with patients at Charity Hospital in New Orleans.

"The situation was dire and becoming worse by the minute — food and water running out, no power, 4 feet of water surrounding the hospital and ... corpses outside," Simon wrote.

Gore responded immediately, telephoning Kline and agreeing to underwrite the $50,000 each for the two flights, although Larry Flax, founder of California Pizza Kitchens, later pledged to pay for one of them.

"None of the airlines involved required a contract or any written guarantee of payment before sending their planes and volunteer crews," Simon wrote of the American Airlines flights. "One official said if Gore promised to pay, that was good enough for them."

He also recruited two doctors, Spickard and Gore's cousin, retired Col. Dar LaFon, an emergency physician who once ran the military hospital at Tallil Air Base in Iraq.

Most critically, Gore worked to cut through government red tape, personally calling Gov. Phil Bredesen to get Tennessee's support and U.S. Transportation Secretary Norm Mineta to secure landing rights in New Orleans.

About 140 people, many of them sick, landed in Knoxville on Saturday. The second flight, with 130 evacuees, landed the next day in Chattanooga.

 

[Makalakumu]

A pattern of people with money being able to do things people without money can't do? I agree with that, but nothing further than that is shown in a historical context.

Then you haven't looked or even payed attention. The pattern is that over and over again, the people who lose the most, including their lives, are poor and black.

Look at the historical context. Look at what happened. Think about how we can not let it happen again.

I'll repost this link, the professor is much more eloquent and educated about these issues then I am...

http://www.npr.org/templates/rundowns/rundown.php?prgId=3

Morning Edition, September 2, 2005 · Craig E. Colten, professor of geography and anthropology at Louisiana State University, says race played a role in the New Orleans' level of preparedness for Hurricane Katrina.

http://www.npr.org/templates/rundowns/rundown.php?prgId=3

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4829446

Please listen to this and think about it...

 

[Makalakumu]

Just when I think I can't get more disgusted, a statement like this proves me wrong. In your peculiar world, poor black people are the only ones worthy of suffering?

That's not true at all. You can save your indignation. If you take the time to read what I'm writing, I'm talking about the people who are left in the city. I'm referring to those who could not get out...who, in my opinion, are in much worse shape then those who did. People seem to get really upset when someone mentions race in this country...

Here's a reality check, of the dozen or so people I keep in touch with since I left New Orleans ( white, black, asian, and even gay) 10 of them have lost everything houses, businesses, everything they worked for, their American Dream. I wouldn't want to be in their shoes, regardless of their race. One friend calls me crying routinely, just to vent because she can't easily explain to her 2 year old why they can't go home.

You make a good point here, however, I still the think the people who got out are in much better shape then the people who couldn't get out.

Bottom line, its a human tragedy, its widespread, and injecting racial politics in the midst of the crisis does nothing to help anyone, period.

I did not "inject" anything. I only uncovered what was, and has always been, there. Part of any solution, IMO, means dealing with some of these issues. You can't plan an evacuation and expect to leave all of the poor and sick behind. You can't build levees that will fail and hope that only the lowest, poorest and blackest neighborhoods are flooded. We have to stop spending huge amounts of money to protect those with the most influence and spend that money to protect everyone.

Mr. UpNorth, you are a google master and find lots of articles and spend a load of time clicking your keys. Why don't you step up, put some waders on, head down to N.O. and be part of the solution rather than a messenger of problems with the system that fails everyone. I'll be heading down in a few weeks with boots, shovels and supplies to help my friends, and any of their neighbors in the racially mixed neighborhood dig out the mud. Action speaks louder than rhetoric.

People can be part of a solution in many ways. Some can run down and lend a hand directly. Some can write some checks and coordinate from far away. And some can discuss how to prevent the tragedy in the future. All of this is worthwhile...and dealing with the race issue is part of the solution.