I wrote yesterday about some of my random musings about the chaos in New Orleans. One of my points was that this shows how the media might be treating African-American (I am from South Africa, where “black” is an acceptable term) victims of the hurricane. Well, if you need proof that this is happening, and the blatant and inherent racism of the media, check out the photographs and the captions provided:
No wonder black people the world over shout about racism. Rightly so!!
Is it cos I’s black?
Though the media probably won’t come out with it all the way, speculations are already running around on some of the more liberal news channels which states that there might be a reason for the slow response in help from the government and other parts of the country. Such a pity that things like this should happen in one of the flagship countries of the “western world”. A bit hypocritical if you ask me. Makes me proud to be a South African.
Thought the tmtd readers might enjoy this:
An open letter from Michael Moore to George W.
Dear Mr. Bush:
Any idea where all our helicopters are? It’s Day 5 of Hurricane Katrina and thousands remain stranded in New Orleans and need to be airlifted.
Where on earth could you have misplaced all our military choppers? Do you need help finding them? I once lost my car in a Sears parking lot.Man, was that a drag.
Also, any idea where all our national guard soldiers are? We could really use them right now for the type of thing they signed up to do like helping with national disasters. How come they weren’t there to begin with?
Last Thursday I was in south Florida and sat outside while the eye of Hurricane Katrina passed over my head. It was only a Category 1 then but it was pretty nasty. Eleven people died and, as of today, there were still homes without power. That night the weatherman said this storm was on its way to New Orleans. That was Thursday! Did anybody tell you? I know you didn’t want to interrupt your vacation and I know how you don’t like to get bad news. Plus, you had fundraisers to go to and mothers of dead soldiers to ignore and smear. You sure showed her!
I especially like how, the day after the hurricane, instead of flying to Louisiana, you flew to San Diego to party with your business peeps. Don’t let people criticize you for this — after all, the hurricane was over and what the heck could you do, put your finger in the dike?
And don’t listen to those who, in the coming days, will reveal how you specifically reduced the Army Corps of Engineers’ budget for New Orleans this summer for the third year in a row. You just tell them that even if you hadn’t cut the money to fix those levees, there weren’t going to be any Army engineers to fix them anyway because you had a much more important construction job for them — BUILDING DEMOCRACY IN IRAQ!
On Day 3, when you finally left your vacation home, I have to say I was moved by how you had your Air Force One pilot descend from the clouds as you flew over New Orleans so you could catch a quick look of the disaster. Hey, I know you couldn’t stop and grab a bullhorn and stand on some rubble and act like a commander in chief. Been there done that.
There will be those who will try to politicize this tragedy and try to use it against you. Just have your people keep pointing that out. Respond to nothing. Even those pesky scientists who predicted this would happen because the water in the Gulf of Mexico is getting hotter and hotter making a storm like this inevitable. Ignore them and all their global warming Chicken Littles. There is nothing unusual about a hurricane that was so wide it would be like having one F-4 tornado that stretched from New York to Cleveland.
No, Mr. Bush, you just stay the course. It’s not your fault that 30 percent of New Orleans lives in poverty or that tens of thousands had no transportation to get out of town. C’mon, they’re black! I mean, it’s not like this happened to Kennebunkport. Can you imagine leaving white people on their roofs for five days? Don’t make me laugh! Race has nothing — NOTHING — to do with this!
You hang in there, Mr. Bush. Just try to find a few of our Army helicopters and send them there. Pretend the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast are near Tikrit.
Yours,
Michael Moore
http://www.MichaelMoore.com
P.S. That annoying mother, Cindy Sheehan, is no longer at your ranch. She and dozens of other relatives of the Iraqi War dead are now driving across the country, stopping in many cities along the way. Maybe you can catch up with them before they get to DC on September 21st.
First of all, Michael Moore is an independent, left-wing propagandist who hates the President, and likes to make a lot of noise, signifying nothing. Also, if you take a look at the wikipedia article [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Katrina#Race_and_class_issues ] under “Doubt Cast on Conventional Wisdom”, you will see it is not a matter of race, nor were more blacks affected than whites. No one, that I can determine, is at fault. Bush was certainly not ‘asleep at the wheel’; he declared state of emergency two days before landfall, but he could not act until local authorities declared an emergency. FEMA, the organization responsible for relief efforts, were reportedly overwhelmed by the problem. Under pressure, the head of FEMA resigned. That office is now vacant, in case anyone here would like to apply. 🙂 The city of New Orleans was certainly unprepared for any kind of hurricane. I remember seeing pictures taken from the air of hundreds of school busses that could have been utilized for evacuation of people, but instead were left idle. Ironically, local leaders were clamouring for federal help in moving people out. I, for one, am very glad to live in the USA. But I am smart enough to avoid hurricanes, as others should be.