President Bush at least acknowledged the race issue directly Monday as he toured New Orleans, saying “the storm didn’t discriminate and neither will the recovery effort. The rescue efforts were comprehensive. The recovery will be comprehensive.” But saying as much won’t be enough to make everybody believe it, which is why the nation needs to delve deeper into this divide.
After I took issue with Kanye West’s race-based criticism of the president on this blog, I heard from people suggesting West was only saying aloud what many African-Americans believe about the president generally and the reasons behind the pathetic federal response to Katrina specifically. As one reader said: “The truth was told. White people don’t want to hear the truth. Now you and the world can see it with your own eyes. What a shame.”
I still think the common denominator among those left waiting for help was not color but poverty; I cannot accept that in 2005, somebody in authority in Washington, D.C., would be slow to help those who are suffering because they are black. Then again, look at Darfur.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
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66 Comments
Well said, Rhonda. Your best blog ever.
Rhonda..A story that leads me to believe that race was not an issue, at least not in the mind of the President:
Angel Tree, our Prison Fellowship program for prisoners’ children, is one of the great unheralded volunteer outreaches in America. Over the Christmas holidays these past few weeks, approximately 100,000 volunteers delivered Angel Tree gifts to more than 525,000 children of inmates.You didn’t read about this in the newspapers, nor would I expect that you should. It’s not really that newsworthy that Christians help people in need. But there are two of our volunteers, who delivered forty presents, that I think you should have read about but didn’t. For reasons best known to themselves, the media ignored the fact that two of the volunteers were President and Mrs. George W. Bush. And they delivered gifts to forty inner-city kids in a church basement three days before Christmas.President and Mrs. Bush arrived at three-o’clock, Monday, December 22, at the Shiloh Baptist Church in Alexandria, Virginia. Now, presidents don’t move anywhere without a great deal of fuss. The police were out, the roads blocked, and Secret Service were roaming around the church. And when the president arrived, he was accompanied not only by his own team, but also by a pool of reporters, forty or so members of the press. For ten minutes they popped their flashbulbs, scribbled their notes, and then were ushered out.I remember from my days with President Nixon what photo opportunities are: Get the picture and leave. So I thought the Bushes would shortly depart, but they didn’t. They stayed long after the cameras were gone to greet every child, to have their picture taken with them, their mothers, and their grandmothers, to talk with them, and to ask questions. Though the press didn’t report it, I noticed that both the president and Mrs. Bush talked to the Hispanic children in Spanish.
Just before the president left, I introduced him to Al Lawrence, a member of our staff. I told the president that I had met Al more than twenty years ago in a prison. Jesus had got hold of Al’s life, and he’s been working for us ever since. Then I told the president that Al’s son was now a freshman at Yale. At that point the president stopped, exclaimed, “We’re both Yale parents,” and threw his arms around Al Lawrence ? An African-American ex-offender being embraced by the President of the United States in a church basement. The ground is indeed level at the foot of the cross.I tell you this story because it’s a wonderful Christmas story, and you probably haven’t heard it. With all those reporters who crowded into that basement, the visit resulted in almost universal media silence.I suppose there are many explanations for this, but I’ll offer mine. The president is a Christian who really cares for “the least of these,” who does this not for photo ops, but because he’s genuine. That is something that his detractors in the media simply can’t handle. Conservatives caring for the poor?Never. It dashes the stereotypes.But surely Christians ought to be rejoicing that the most powerful man in the world and his wife, a couple of days before Christmas, had a wonderful visit with the most powerless people in our society. After all, that echoes the Christmas message, doesn’t it? The most powerful came to be with the least powerful to give us hope.Copyright (c) 2003 Prison Fellowship
Rhonda, it’s OK, you can just say what you’re really thinking… “Damn, looks like Bush is gonna get this thing cleaned up down South, after all. Better fan the race-baiting embers….they’re burning out!”
Jimmy,That was trite nonsense, uncalled for and shows your intelligence lies directly south of your belt line.
I guess the NAACP want the families who have had family memebers that died from this hurricane to be paid as those of the 9/11 victims.
Rhonda and all you other race baiters:
What EVIDENCE do you have to support that because they were black the people recieved no help?
It is poverty, not color that was a factor here, and that had nothing to do with any lack of federal response.
DADBLAST IT. Whoever is posting under my name, dude, you’re an ass forever.
That’s not playing fair.
Hey, Nathan, are you still in the Marine Corps?
Semper Fi.
But wait if you’re really Hank then you couldn’t really be in the . . .
Hmmm. Looks like we got a Christian who forgot about the “thou shalt not lie” part of the ten commandments.
Don’t let that stop you from trying to nail them to the door of every public school or anything.
kansasam, thanks for posting that story. Angel Tree sounds like a great program.
nathan! Poll on CCN says that 76% of black people in the US, say that race was a factor is slow rescue of people.
I’ve got a feeling that if the response was slow and the majority of the people were white, race would have never been brought up.I think that the black population is way too eager to blame everything bad that happens to them on racist whities.
Is this reverse discrimination?
The uneducated victim class has obviously been to the same universities as the overeducated idiots in the fever swamp.
TRACY..Although I believe this was more of a problem with poor and helpless people rather than race, I can understand why black people feel the way they do. A majority of their problems over history have been because of discrimination. And yes, even today, there are those in authority who will pick and choose who they help. I am pretty sure if it were Doctors and Lawyers that were caught in the storm, the response would have been much different, but who cares about poor, indigent people? The people on the street right here in Wichita are not treated properly or equally. It will take a lot of love and caring to change an attitude that is generations deep.
So can we have an annual celebration of our white heritage?
Gaza evacuees get on average $500,000 but NOLA evacuees get $2000. discrimination or fingers in the pie?…. All US taxpayer money….Go figure.
As long as you invite everyone!
Puny (Fred),
Good to hear from you. I thought we ran you off.
I want people to be able to judge in the marketplace of ideas between you and us.
And stop posting using my name.
Nathan–
If you don’t respond to the fact that you also seem to be Hank, why should we believe ANYTHING you post?
Thousands of people repeating something does not make it true. Disaster response takes time, regardless of type of disaster, location or RACE of victims. When I lived in Los Angeles for 20 years, we were continually told that it takes a minimum of 3 to 5 days for the first rescue efforts after a major earthquake. That is about the time frame in New Orleans–has NOTHING to do with race, income, or anything like that. The people claiming it does are uneduated racists.
Sorry for the typo, next to last word, “uneducated”.
Bush acknowledged that he is responsible for the lack of acceptable response to the disaster in NO. Kind of makes one wonder about the people who blog here saying no Republican would ever accept responsibility for any wrong doing.I remember certain Democrats who obsfucated the facts a bit themselves. Hmmmm…crow anybody?
Galahad,I think we’ve probably seen the last of “Hank” and “Nathan,” but I’m sure he/she/it has gone off to be born again, and will show up in a new incarnation soon.
To whoever’s the webmaster here; we need a better way to register to post on your site, so we don’t get posters like “Hank,etc.” trying to bootstrap their own support through multple personality disorder! How ’bout it? You other posters seem about as pissed too!
Everyone should use their own name and fade the heat. I do.
76% of black americans believe that race was a factor.I’m not suprised. Not a horrible poll.
Anyone know the percentage of the black vote that went to Bush in 2004?
Jed,I don’t think that the blog will be changed. There is a difference between open blogs and message boards that require registrations. Even if registration is required, administrators and moderators would be needed to run the board. The Eagle may also point out that there already is a message board where people need to register in order to post. Either way, people can change their names and even post using different computers.
Racism has been, and still is, a factor, if not THE factor, in so much of our nation’s history, that I think the “76% of black americans” can be forgiven for assuming this is too. Of course race played some part in it; it plays some part in most everything. The question should be how much, how decisive it was, and how to continue to eliminate it.
NoJo,You’re probably right, help won’t come from above, so I guess the only answer is constant vigilance. Those posters usually end up making mistakes, although one as blatant as “Hank,etc.” is from providence, and will be fairly rare. CONSTANT VIGILANCE! OK?
Jed–I agree. We should have to register. The Eagle would be able to keep track of name / e-mail / ISP combinations.
That way at least it would stop people from posting under other users’ names.
It probably wouldn’t stop multiple id’s unless the Eagle could use cookies to control it, but I don’t know enough about internet hardware to say.
Has anyone noticed that pointy’s style is oddly reminiscent of hank-of-the-multitudes?
How do you prepare for the WORST? Did anyone have a grip on how bad this disaster would be? If the federal, state, and local govt would have known how bad it would get, don’t you think help would have come sooner? If the residents of NOLA would have realized how bad it would get, don’t you think they would have evacuated the city regardless of race, income, social status, etc. if able? I believe human arrogance can be blamed for most of our problems, not just this disaster. We forget that the man upstairs is in charge and how powerful he is and how fragile we are. We build a city below sea level and try to hold back the water with thin little walls…. what were we thinking?
The information on how bad it could be has been out there for a long time. Various studies of New Orleans have predicted what common sense made obvious- that only one of the many systems in place for keeping the city dry would have to fail to bring down the rest. The main reason given for not fixing the problem was money. It would cost too much to implement a Netherlands type flood control.So, how much is the clean-up and rebuilding going to cost? How much money did letting all those people drown save us? Something about an ounce of prevention?
It says something — I don’t know exactly what, though — about the war on poverty when, after 40 years, people couldn’t raise even a few hundred dollars to leave New Orleans and possibly save their lives.
who is hank and the multitudes?b/c I am new I seem to be this hank guy?not true.just new.sorry jed.
Pointy,Hank’s dead and you’re new. Reincarnation, or do you all just think alike? A case could be made for that, too! Whatever, you’re still the same old Hank.
come and listen to a story bout a man named Jed, poor mountaineer barley kept his family fed, then one day he was bloggin’ on this site, he came upon a person who fight.
I look forward to frustrating you Jed.
This will be fun. I think I’ll stay.You can call me pointy or hank or whatever you like.reincarnation would be cool
NEW ORLEANS—Throughout the Gulf Coast, Caucasian suburbanites attempting to gather food and drink in the shattered wreckage of shopping districts have reported seeing AfricanAmericans “looting snacks and beer from damaged businesses.” “I was in the abandoned Wal-Mart gathering an air mattress so I could float out the potato chips, beef jerky, and Budweiser I’d managed to find,” said white survivor Lars Wrightson, who had carefully selected foodstuffs whose salt and alcohol content provide protection against contamination. “Then I look up, and I see a whole family of [African-Americans] going straight for the booze. Hell, you could see they had already looted a fortune in diapers.” Radio stations still in operation are advising store owners and white people in the affected areas to locate firearms in sporting-goods stores in order to protect themselves against marauding blacks looting gun shops.
from http://www.theonion.com
saw that Galahad, hilarious.
the Onion is great
Pointy,Oh come on! I’ve been hearing those little parodies for decades. At least try to be original.As far as frustrating me, I handled you when you were Hank, Nathan, Gail, et al. What makes you think it’ll be different this time? The only reason I answered you at all in those other incarnations was that you made a perfect straight-man! Welcome back!
Jed is a meth user and has burnt out trucks and cars in his front yard.
along with a lot of empty drano containers.
how ’bout Joe Dirt?
Got that wrong- it’s mentholatum, and the truck runs just fine- in fact I’m driving it up to KC soon! Got to hear my favorite blues singer!
It looks like Wichita was lucky to not get any hurricane evacuees. Maybe Gail was right.
http://www.khou.com/news/local/crime/stories/khou050913_mh_jonesfight.5342d5ac.html
Galahad,
What does it matter what I say?
None of you liberals believe it anyhow.
Instead of trying to attack the person, why dont you actually try to debate the issue for a change…
Well, Nathan/Hank,
We were willing to LISTEN to you.
But if you’re just going to make up facts about your personal life, well then hell, I’m a war hero who won the Medal of Honor, I’m a five-star general and member of the Supreme Court and a Nobel Prize winner for astrophysics. My former wife is Catherine Zeta-Jones and my current wife is Shakira. I once lived with three Victoria’s Secret models at the same time.
I taught Jimi Hendrix how to play the guitar, I wrote a dozen bestselling novels, and I hosted Saturday Night Live five times. I made my first million when I was eleven.
You believe me now, don’t you?
Wow Galahad now I know how it feels to be you! A few posts above this one someone using my name posts that “maybe it’s a good thing no evacuess came to Wichita afterall!”
Not the first time my name has been used by someone other than me. Dif here is this imposter posted a link!
I’ve never posted links. Not once. Anyone who has read me knows this. I am on webtv and I don’t know if I even can post links, nor do I know how!
The continued hanknathanpoint…….and possibly Gail and other identities of some sad person with more tech savvy than courage or ideals continues to enlighten me and I hope everyone else. Notice no one on the left is doig this.
Hey JR,It’s not his fault he’s got multiple personality disorder. It’s just a shame they still sell him (or at least one of him) guns. He keeps shooting his alter-egos in the foot. Nathan, you need to aim higher!
Hey all,Hank has now confessed on another thread (after getting caught signing a post with one name, while signed in on the other) that he’s actually Nathan’s father! Too bad we don’t have Anthony Perkins to play both roles in the inevitable horror flick, with Nathan hearing whispered instructions on what to post from the corpse in the rocker.
Jed you’re a liar and a lowass.
Liar
I did NOT post that, Jed.
Damn troll . . .
BTW, I just realized. If Nathan is Hank’s son and they are using the same computer, does that mean that our big, tough Marine lives at home with mommy and daddy.
Maybe we should just call him “Cliff Claven” from “Cheers.”
Actually, I don’t have a problem with kids that live at home. But it doesn’t quite match Nathan’s “rugged individualism” tough talk, does it . . .
Galahad,Don’t worry, I (as well as half the country) could spot our little troll a mile off! He’s brought intelligent discourse to the level of preschool humor (oh, the 4-year-olds are gonna sue me for libel!!).Actually, Nathan’s living at home does explain all the tough talk. It’s called “compensation.”
Ah, my pathetic liberal bigots. I use to think you merely acted stupid as to make what ever bigoted point you were currently fixated on without actually having to come up with an original idea.
Now I know you really are stupid, it’s not an act!
In early July, anyone paying attention would probably figure out that Nathan and I were related. Now, In September you all act like you’ve discovered the Holy Grail.
Why don’t one of you anoymous chicken shits take me and my boy up on our invitation for lunch? There is actually two of us, Captain Poindexter would make three.
It would be very interesting. JR of course would have to schedule it around his TV programs like he does his BLOGing. Sir Galahad with his God-like ability to look into a man’s heart and his uncanny way of reading minds would not even need an invitation, with his omniscient powers he would be able to just show up ant the proper place and time.
Jed would have to get a ride with someone, maybe CF would stop by and pick up his little desciple.
How about next Thursday, Sept. 22? 12 noon at a resturant of your choice? My email address is still live, I’m waiting for your RSVP! I’m leaving again for the week-end today, I’ll make arrangements next Monday.
Love ya guys,
Hank
What makes you think we want to meet you, Hank?
Nothing I’ve said should have given you that impression.
Dearest Galahad,
I try very hard not to say anything on this BLOG that I wouldn’t say to someones face. In fact, if I ever write something that anyone would like for me to repeat face-to-face I will arrange to meet them.
I extend the invitation for lunch merely to point out what a chicken-shit your really are. You and some of the other liberal turds on these BLOGs should be fortunate enough to have a boy as fine as mine.
I look forward to meeting any of you that dare to back up your words on this BLOG in person.
Sincerely
Hank
Oh my word, Hank. That sounds like a threat! Say something to your face you don’t like…..and then what?
So tell us, O illustrious one, what relation is captian poindexter to you?
I’m with Galahad….I see nothing that would make me want to meet you. You and your misbegotten progeny give me the creeps.
Don’t worry about offending me in person, Vlad, I bet you are just as big a chickenshit as poor old Sir Galahad.
Hank
Okay, Hank, I’ll meet you for lunch this Saturday at The Coliseum Steak House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Beer and sizzling steaks are on me.
12 p.m. local time. If you get on a jet tonight, you can just make it.
Be there or be square.
Selamat Datung, my friend.
Hank, are you buying?
All this talk about food is making me hungry. Hank, is your kind offer open to anybody? I’m always good for lunch! When and where?
Second verse, same as the first, Rhonda;
Third verse-Big corporate polluters pay no taxes and treat employees so bad that they don’t have enough self-esteem to leave for another job.
Forth verse-Rich Republicans pay no taxes and are getting richer by the second.
Fifth verse-Undocumented workers blah blah blah
Sixth verse-Homeless blah blah blah
Seventh verseBlah blah blah blah
Now repeat until you start believing.
ID, I don’t get it.
Especially the blah blah part.
Hank–
You confuse disinterest with cowardice.
I’m not afraid to meet you. I just have no motivation to want to meet you.
If you prefer the fantasy that you’re so tough that I’m scared of you, well, go right ahead and believe that.
It doesn’t cost anything, after all . . .
Hank,
Meet you? Shit yeah!
Time and place?
Uh oh, an angry liberal calling yer bluff, Hank.
Hank?
Hank? (echo, echo, echo . . .)
Hank,whatever,What do you need us for? There’s enough of you to fill the banquet table at Moody’s Skidrow Beanery!
I thought there was a lunch offer here. Where’s the beef? (and mashed potato and gravy)