Kanye West during the Katrina Telethon: "I hate the way they portray us in the media. You see a black family, it says, 'They're looting.' You see a white family, it says, 'They're looking for food.' And, you know, it's been five days [waiting for federal help] because most of the people are black... with the way America is set up to help the poor, the black people, the less well-off, as slow as possible...We already realize a lot of people that could help are at war right now, fighting another way -- and they've given them permission to go down and shoot us!...George Bush doesn't care about black people!"
Damu Smith, founder of the National Black Environmental Justice Network: "Whether they (the federal government) got in a room and conspired or not, what they did is they ignored us, they forgot about us ... because we look like we look." (As he was speaking, Smith held out his arm to show his skin color).
Well, new statistics show that the so-called abandonment of blacks in New Orleans just isn't so. Take a look at the latest piece from CNS News:
Statistics released by the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals suggest that fewer than half of the victims of Hurricane Katrina were black, and that whites died at the highest rate of all races in New Orleans...the state's demographic information suggests that whites in New Orleans died at a higher rate than minorities.
It seems to easy nowadays to play the race card whenever a political advantage can be seen. It's a dirty shame that during a time when the U.S. could have rallied around the city of New Orleans, the media, public figures and otherwise unintelligent idiots were escalating rumors, lies and personal opinions instead. Maybe we will learn our lesson next time. I, for one, won't get my hopes up though.
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