2 Years Post Hurricanes Katrina/Rita: Call to Action

[AKA2D '91]

Originally posted by TonyB06
This is about to get real ugly. According to this Wash. Post story, the Bush administration asked Louisiana's Gov. Blanco to allow for the federalization of the evacuation process the Friday before Katrina hit (Monday).
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I don't think that is true, Tony!

[AKA2D '91]

Originally posted by CountryGurl
I know for a fact that former Louisiana Gov. Mike Foster asked the Bush administration for assistance ($$$) in building a bigger and better levee for N.O. But was told that it wasn't a major concern. Clearly the administration doesn't value history or N.O. The same thing happened in 1927. It is not our fault that Bienville and Iberville built the city the way it is. How can you say a city that brings in billons of $$$ or is rich in history/culture is not important enough to build a bigger levee. We can spend a S---- load of money to help other countries out but when it comes to the improvement of my home state its not a major concern? As far as the Gov. of LA not doing her part oh trust me she did. What the White House doesn't catch CNN so he couldn't see what was going on...oh wait I forgot he was in Waco raising money for Iraq (it was all over the news here in Houston). Let me shut up before I catch a treason charge.

Yeah. (I hope I don't have to quote everyone as I review the thread LOL) AND, the budget was cut!!!

Senator Mary Landrieu had to remind a CNN correspondent early last week that if it wasn't for Louisiana, we would not have the country we do today. Louisiana/LP was the port responsible for getting goods and services to the rest of the country.

Its amazing (as I watch) C-SPAN that I see a picture of Louisiana and our eroding coastline. I guess something good has to come out of this.

The Congressional Hearings are going to be a mess. Mike Brown is shakes in his boots everytime a reporter asks him about his fate with FEMA and who is responsible for this fiasco.

[AKA2D '91]

I'm glad that RD and her family members were reunited! I know that experience has traumatized many. Some of the interviews and reports of what happened in the dome, near the Convention Center and during rescue attempts are unbelievable!

It's a shame!

[Lady of Pearl]

Glad to know that those affected by the hurricane on GC are ok. I received information via email about what we as African Americans can do to assist those devastated by the storm:

make donations to: www.naacp.org/disater/contribute.php
I just saw the National director on Tavis Smiley and he stated that he will hold those officails accountable for what has happened in New Orleans!

www.teamrescueone.com Set up by New Orleans rapper Master P and his wife Sonya Miller

BlackAmericaWeb.com Relief Fund set up by Tom Joyner
www.blackamericaweb.com/relief

Benefit for New Orleans hosted by Kevin Powell in New york City on Thursday September 8, 2005 at Canal Room 285 West Broadway at Canal Street, downtown Manhattan in New York City 7pm-11pm 21 and over with id - RSVP to cher-harrison@yahoo.com Admission is Free but you must bring items for the victims of the Hurricane items will be loaded onto a big truck in front of Canal Room and driven directly to Claiborne County Health Center in Port Gibson Ms. run by Dr. Demitri Marshall. Please make sure clothing and shoes and sneakers are new or clean and in good condition they need Clothing, Adult Shoes and sneaker Socks etc.


Alternative media where you can get a more accurate and balance view of the New Orleans catastrophe

www.diversityinc.com
www.blackelectorate.com
www.allhiphop.com
www.democracynow.org Also Jewel Diamond Taylor has a community board set up for those trying to locate relatives www.donotgiveup.net

[lostnfound117]

http://tinyurl.com/83p7f

[lostnfound117]

Originally posted by Tickled Pink 2
OMG - Oprah just went in the dome! At first they weren't going to let her in. She wouldn't back down, and finally, she had to wear a mask. She said the floor was full of urine. And ya'll, the place was pitch DARK!

Anyone that survived that is truly strong!

ETA: "going to". Also - I cried like a baby when that man grabbed that guys neck when he said he would take the dog and give it safe refuge.

Me too....I've not cried this hard since 9/11. This show really impacted me I just don't understand the raping aspect, I really don't!!

[lostnfound117]

[kiml122]

I heard snippets from Oprah's show on the radio yesterday from Tuesday, and I saw part 2 yesterday myself, and all I can say is...I have nothing to say. I can't even start to put into words how this had made me feel, and to see how people are being treated is just......not right...it's not right y'all....it just ain't right.

Our first group of evacuees arrived here in Philly yestereday afternnon. Yes I have made a sizable donation to the Red Cross, and yes all greek orgs in the city will be coming together chapter by chapter to take donations down to the school that will be the home of the evacuees for how ever long they will be here. I'm glad that we have some people that are here, because giving money just isn't enough for me, I want to give of my time and energy even if it's just to give someone a hug.....

[DELTABRAT]

Posted elsewhere...sorry

[lostnfound117]

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To Obama, tragedy more about class than race

September 5, 2005

BY LYNN SWEET SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST




Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) is scheduled to be in Houston today, meeting with victims of Hurricane Katrina, joining former Presidents George Bush and Bill Clinton, who are heading an emergency fund-raising drive.



Obama is not going there specifically because the hurricane has exposed a raw truth about race, but his travel to Texas will underscore that it was poor blacks who were left behind in New Orleans. Obama is the only African American in the Senate, and race relations are now a factor in dealing with the emergency.

We talked on Sunday, a few hours before his flight for the day trip to Houston. He is offering nuanced, but tough, criticism of the federal response, but is not taking direct aim at President Bush.

Obama sees the deplorable situation of the impoverished marooned in the flooded city more in terms of class rather than race. The federal, state and local response did not fail because New Orleans is "disproportionally black," Obama said.

"I think there were a set of assumptions made by federal officials that people would hop in their SUVs, and top off with a $100 tank of gas and [get some] Poland Spring water," and flee the storm, Obama said.

The tragedy, said Obama, revealed "how little inner-city African Americans have to fall back on. But that has been true for decades."

What I've learned about covering Obama, a freshman senator, is that he is very measured.

On Friday night, rapper Kanye West, during a hurricane relief concert, said, "George Bush doesn't care about black people."

I asked Obama if he agreed.

"What I think is that we as a society and this administration in particular have not been willing to make sacrifices or shape an agenda to help low-income people," he said.

Obama also rejected the suggestion that local and state officials were to blame for the horrific response in Louisiana.

The breakdown occurred at all levels, but "I hold the federal government primarily responsible," he said.

Obama was heading to Houston on Sunday night as a result of an invitation from Clinton.

President Bush asked his father and Clinton to reprise the roles they took on to help tsunami victims, and they agreed to lead a Hurricane Katrina fund-raising drive aimed at the private sector.

Obama, who had been phoning some Illinois-based CEOs to solicit aid, called Clinton and the invitation came in the course of their conversation. Clinton, I am guessing, immediately understood that it would be valuable to include Obama in the Houston day trip. Former President Bush's office also had to approve adding Obama, and it's easy to see why they would agree. The Bush administration is being blistered as racially insensitive.

The hurricane may well prompt, as Obama said, "a more serious conversation about the plight of people in the inner city."

He warned against using a "false dichotomy" to analyze the situation -- an incorrect assumption that there are only two answers to a question -- whereby the answer to what went on in New Orleans gets boiled down to either a failure of personal responsibility or of mutual, or societal, responsibility.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other Cabinet secretaries were dispatched to the gulf region Sunday. The president and first lady make a return visit today, stopping in Mississippi.

Said Obama, "Clearly there is some damage control going on."




Lynn Sweet is the Washington bureau chief for the Chicago Sun-Times.

[Steeltrap]

^^
Good read, and not surprising that Sen. Obama would do this. If the man has any higher office ambitions, he needs to maintain a moderate image and not come off like Al Sharpton Jr.

[kiml122]

Originally posted by Steeltrap
^^
Good read, and not surprising that Sen. Obama would do this. If the man has any higher office ambitions, he needs to maintain a moderate image and not come off like Al Sharpton Jr.

True Dat

[TonyB06]

Originally posted by Steeltrap
^^
Good read, and not surprising that Sen. Obama would do this. If the man has any higher office ambitions, he needs to maintain a moderate image and not come off like Al Sharpton Jr.

this is reminiscent of Colin Powell's presidential political dance a few years back. Famous figures start out beloved by most, but as soon you stake policy positions--which you must eventually-- you lose a percentage of your previous support.

...yes, it will be interesting to watch Sen Obama do his dance.

[#1 Leading Lady]

Playwright and actor Tyler Perry had planned to start work this week on a new house for his parents in New Orleans. But that was before Hurricane Katrina hit.

The "Diary of a Mad Black Woman" star grew up in New Orleans, where his parents have a home in the Garden District. Their home was undamaged, and his family was safe at their second house in Greensburg, La., when the hurricane hit.

Though his mother had to wait 12 hours at a local hospital for dialysis, they were among the lucky ones, says Perry. "My mother has a lot of friends she hasn't been able to reach."


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Perry booked 40 rooms for 10 days in a Comfort Inn in Atlanta, where he lives, for people who have been displaced.

"I only did what I could do," he says. "I'm only mentioning it publicly because if one man can do that, then maybe the corporations can step up and help out."

[Steeltrap]

Originally posted by TonyB06
this is reminiscent of Colin Powell's presidential political dance a few years back. Famous figures start out beloved by most, but as soon you stake policy positions--which you must eventually-- you lose a percentage of your previous support.

...yes, it will be interesting to watch Sen Obama do his dance.

Exactly. Because HRC can be HRC, but Sen. Obama will have to do a delicate balancing act re: civil rights if he does want to be a VP or (dare I think it?) a presidential candidate. As I've said for many years, compassion fatigue has become a permanent part of the wider national society, which (IMO) believes that the rise of feel-good, crossover folks like Michael Jordan, Shaq , Gen. Powell, Oprah and Eldrick Woods has blunted the need for civil rights activism.