IN RESPONSE TO: New Orleans ‘looters’ unfairly labeled
Posted Wednesday
As we try to recover and deal with this tragic loss of life and hope, how dare you play the race card? Not here, not now!
This is a time to be positive and do all we can to help those in need, not create more despair and controversy. ...
Answer me this: How do 30 pairs of jeans, Air Jordans and iPods aid in survival?
Rich
Student
Muncie
IN RESPONSE TO: New Orleans ‘looters’ unfairly labeled
Posted Wednesday
The chain of command [in New Orleans] called for the local government to act first. Now that a widespread probe into the breakdown of communication has begun, Mayor Nagin has suddenly went from publicly cursing to being quiet as a mouse.
Could this be because he failed to help get the poverty stricken out of New Orleans before Katrina hit?
Or maybe it’s because, while he was safely tucked away before the storm, all of New Orleans’ school buses were aligned neatly in a row in their parking spots rather than evacuating the residents.
I won’t even begin on Gov. Kathleen Blanco who ... waited more than 36 hours to ask the federal government for assistance — which is protocol in this instance.
The National Guard can’t be mobilized with the snap of a finger.
Landon
Architect
Indianapolis
IN RESPONSE TO: New Orleans ‘looters’ unfairly labeled
Posted Wednesday
It is simplistic to assume the American public is incapable of charity, concern and critical thought at the same time.
Of course race is at issue in this tragic situation!
CNN made that readily apparent when footage was transmitted the night everyone entered the Superdome.
The people left behind were overwhelmingly poor and black.
Are you folks blind? ...
When the water drains and the streets are clean, we, as an open society, MUST find time and courage to listen and speak about what happened.
Katrina did not create racism in America; it simply revealed what has been there all along.
And, yes, much of the behavior captured on news video could have been avoided had the federal government stepped in immediately, which was apparently possible for CNN, NBC, CBS and ABC and dozens of affiliates but not the National Guard? Please, does that REALLY make you feel better now?
Colleen
Assistant Professor
Muncie
IN RESPONSE TO: New Orleans ‘looters’ unfairly labeled
Posted Wednesday
The federal government and the National Guard would have broken the law to step in immediately. ... It is certainly the feel-good position to say “laws be d---ed in this situation,” but the reality is that isn’t an option. The federal government is NOT a first-responder in this situation. The local government — the first responders — maintained an evacuation plan that they DID NOT FOLLOW.
The state government has to grant the federal government written permission ... an action the governor did not do for several days.
And exactly how does the fact that the TV cameras show that the victims were overwhelmingly black indicate that this was a racist evacuation?
I would say that it merely indicates that the areas hit were tragically majority black areas, and/or the people without means to get out of town — aforementioned bus and rail evacuation in the New Orleans evacuation plan that was not followed — were predominately black, would it not?
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