"George Bush doesn't care about black people"

[Lights]

For those who haven't seen it. http://www.wimp.com/racism/


Let me say this first; I do not entirely agree with Kanye West, I do not believe that George Bush is a racist. Further, I realize that everything in the media cannot be placed at his feet. Everything in the government cannot be placed at his feet. He is only the figureheard.

Still, does it seem odd. Why were the troops sent in so late? Take a minute to read this article. Why was there a delay? Could it be possible that those in power didn't worry enough due to who was living there? I am not one jump and shout, "RACIST!" But had this storm hit in a rich, white community, would things have been different?

How could this have happened? In America itself, why are hundreds of thousands of its people allowed to be living in complete chaos, when it might have been avoided? I know full and well nature cannot be controlled, but surely this could have been lessened. Homeless refugees were forced to live in huge, unsecure facilities that were running rampant with murder and rape. Only now, days after the fact, are busses coming in and people being relocated. Why?

I am still trying to figure everything out, and so I am sure I will have more to say soon. This whole thing is just mindblowing.

Please, share your thoughts.

 

[l33t 0n3]

The late responce wasn't Bush's fault, and I wish people would understand the issue before jumping to conclusions and talking out of there ass. The National Guard and FEMA told the president that they could send aid, and then they backed out saying that they couldn't. Bush did the best job possible in his position to get the National Guard to do something about this. People don't realize that the president doesn't have almighty power over everything; he's not a ****ing dictator. Anyways, that person in that video is an idiot. There are no specific instructions to fire on only black people, and besides there are black people SHOOTING AT AND KILLING RESCUERS AND SOLDIERS. I'm not racist, but I can't stand people who believe that if you target any statement at black people, you are racist, even if you are correct 100%. Show me a white guy shoot a rescuer and maybe I'll consider agreeing with him.

The media sucks. Especially NBC. They get everything wrong.

 

[Lights]

(Excuse any errors or contradictions that I make. It's late, and I am typing and thinking at the same time. My ideas are still in development)


It's amazing. I admit I have been living under a rock the past couple weeks, and me just randomly stumbling on that video has made me look deeper into what is going on. Still, let's move past the racism part, though that may merit discussion, and on to the fact of how this actually happened.

It's funny. I have never been a huge supporter of the War on Terror. I've always kinda felt like well-since-we-started-it-we-should-finish-it. But it is amazing. We have spent upwards around $200 BILLION on the war and rebuilding of Iraq/Afghanistan. $200-****ing-billion. I can't even fathom it. What good has it done, honestly? Who'se lives are better? I suppose the people who were living under Saddam are doing better, but I can't honestly say that.

What was the War on Terror for originally? Wasn't it for Homeland Security? And where has the money for it come from, but by cutting back funds for the security of our homeland? **** me, but that's odd. We could have had the money to strengthen the levees, but instead it went to Iraq and Tax Cuts for the upperclass. They said that this storm was a "breathtakign surprise" and that it "could never have been suspected," but that is just a boldfaced lie. Experts and computer models have been saying for years that this could happen, that the levees wouldn't be able to hold it back. But nothing was done. So was the few billion "saved" (read: spent on Iraq) worth the $100 billion lost and thousands of American lives?

This shit is deep. What will happen next that could have been avoided?



*Update*


I've spent the last 4 hours reading about this whole thing, because frankly it disturbed me greatly. How could a city as big, valuable, and popular as New Orleans be so unprepared? Well, I've found quite a few problems, all disturbing, and not all because of Bush or racism!

1. Why didn't NO have a plan for a catastrophe as this? I read in one article (I've read hundreds tonight), that a member who was on the planning council, said when the issue of a plan for the "low-mobile" (read: poor, black) came up at the meetings.. it was met with silence. Good job.

2. The Governer was quick to get angry at the feds for being so slow, but what about him? Yes, he issued an evacuation earlier in the week, but he KNEW that 100,000+ of his population would be unable to leave without assistance. He ****ing knew. There were HUNDREDS of school buses that could have been used to transport, but instead they sat there until they were flooded and unusable. Good job.

3. The slow reaction to send in the National Guard and other help. It took 4-5 days before help started to come in. Other states were ready on Tuesday to send in help, but Washington delayed for days before giving permission. Why? Why were the people not evacuated until Saturday? How could journalists get there in 1-2 days, but it took the almighty government 5?


It makes me sick the general feel of the people. All the talk I hear around where I live, is negative. Everyone seems to think that everyone who was left in NO were street thugs and those who were too stubborn to leave. While there are both, so many of the poor didn't have a chance. There were hundreds of patients who were in the hospital when the storm struck, and they were stuck there with no power. People had to pump air into their lungs by hand, just to keep them alive.

All these problems, all this chaos, and the funding and planning that could have been used to prevent it. It's like this in NO, but how is it in YOUR city? What vital projects have been cancelled or postponed due to funding cuts or just lack of interest? It's a little frightening.

And then we have something that makes me even more sick. I go to read some more articles and I come across that is just about how this will affect Bushes agenda and how it will affect his influence in Congress! Americans are ****ign dying, and all people care about is if it affects their reputation. **** POLITICS

 

[Ashigaru]

It's funny how the cut away after he says bush hates black people.

Frankly it pisses me off that the president is the first to be blamed. I would blame the governor for not having a plan, they knew it was comming and that is was big, yet he did nothing for the most part.

 

[l33t 0n3]

And then we have something that makes me even more sick. I go to read some more articles and I come across that is just about how this will affect Bushes agenda and how it will affect his influence in Congress! Americans are ****ign dying, and all people care about is if it affects their reputation. **** POLITICS

Brilliant.

It's funny how the cut away after he says bush hates black people.

Frankly it pisses me off that the president is the first to be blamed. I would blame the governor for not having a plan, they knew it was comming and that is was big, yet he did nothing for the most part.

Well, this happens because the media constantly tries to push their agenda on their viewers. I really doubt the guy in that video actually did any research to come to the conclusion that "Bush hates black people". I mean, this would normally be the governor's responsibility, but she did a real shit job of preparing.

 

[N[U]TS]

What was the War on Terror for originally? Wasn't it for Homeland Security? And where has the money for it come from, but by cutting back funds for the security of our homeland? **** me, but that's odd. We could have had the money to strengthen the levees, but instead it went to Iraq and Tax Cuts for the upperclass. They said that this storm was a "breathtakign surprise" and that it "could never have been suspected," but that is just a boldfaced lie. Experts and computer models have been saying for years that this could happen, that the levees wouldn't be able to hold it back. But nothing was done. So was the few billion "saved" (read: spent on Iraq) worth the $100 billion lost and thousands of American lives?

Plz dont tie this into the war... They knew what would happen if a storm of this magnitude hit New Orleans. For christ sake they are 12Ft below sea lvl and have a lake plus the gulf surrounding them. They say the levees could withstand a cat 3...why didnt the engineers who designed the levees take this into consideration that there will always be a bigger storm....

as for the matter of helping the victims of katrina... i believe we are doing a damn good job providing food water and shelter. Texas is allowing victims enroll in school across texas plus A&M is allowing those who have already paid tuition in LA enroll and take classes there.

Im sure there could be improvement on the rescuing part but these things just take time.

 

[Lizardbreath]

It's an almost entire republican cabinet that was supposed to deal with it. It doesn't take more than 10 seconds to realize that the storm was going to be a huge catastrophe and to get the national guard/police ready to deal with it. I blame the administration whole heartingly.

 

[Biske]

Yeah, it's not that Bush didn't care or what not, it's that his administration didn't care. Republicans = Enemy for the Poor.

 

[N[U]TS]

well maybe the mayor of new orleans should have taken further action and evacuated those who could not afford to on charter buses. I dunno if they were already doing it or not... but i did see quite a few people saying on the news "if we survied hurricane bettsy we can survie anything" if anything is to be blamed... its ingnorance :corn

 

[Snagg]

America's doing a darn good job right now trying to fix the situation. But they did a down right embaressingly horrible job on preparing for it. Everyone knew it was just a matter of time before New Orleans sinks by a big hurricane. There was an article last year talking about it. The top 3 biggest threats to America were a huge Earthquake in California, terroist attack in New York and a hurricane in New Orleans. They should have been well prepared for such a hurricane. Sad sad sad. Now the poor have to pay.

 

[Lwek]

I don't believe the slow response was because they are racist. I don't know why there was a slow response, but I cannot imagine ANY administration actually be thinking: "We can wait a little; it's just only poor and black people down there."

 

[Ntrik_]

I don't believe the slow response was because they are racist. I don't know why there was a slow response, but I cannot imagine ANY administration actually be thinking: "We can wait a little; it's just only poor and black people down there."

I think that is very much possible if most people on the administration were white. Racism excists, sad yes, but it's the truth.

 

[Gimmi]

:-/ yeah i saw on the news soem truck driver "yeah, i had my water packed and ready to move on monday, but my boss said i wasnt allowed to come here until today" (friday)
racism is stupid

 

[Biske]

No, Kanye was jumping to conclusions without putting much thought into it, he was speaking out of hurt, which is not always truth. There were whites down there also that were in the same situation.

But, it won't surprise me if this event will show up somewhere down the line as an excuse for a riot.

 

[azn_dudex]

you cant blame bush for other stupidity. i mean they did give out a warning 4 days in advance and yet they didn't leave and tried to weather the storm out, but when they couldn't weather it out they start to bitch cause they feel stupid as shit.

 

[Sogeking]

you cant blame bush for other stupidity. i mean they did give out a warning 4 days in advance and yet they didn't leave and tried to weather the storm out, but when they couldn't weather it out they start to bitch cause they feel stupid as shit.

yes you can, just like you can blame halo for the washington snipers!