Originally Posted by: RaskolnikovThe first, yes.

However, spend some time in the rougher parts of New Orleans and you'll quickly understand where it comes from.

I don't see what the rougher part of New Orleans has to do with our racism. Saying "they brought it on themselves anyway is an idiotic way of thinking."

The President declared New Orleans a federal disaster area before the storm hit. That's never happened before in the history of our nation.

And what? He declared it a disaster zone then sat around twiddling his thumbs. He could have had relief in the form of water and food to those people in a matter of hours but he did nothing. Not to mention the fact that the man he appointed to FEMA had no experience whatsoever leading a disaster relief effort. Unless you count the American Arabian Horse association as disaster relief.

Now, lets consider some other things:

-The City of New Orleans never used the busses available to them to evacuate those who could not evacuate themselves before the storm (as per the Louisiana state guidelines). Most of those busses are in fact still under water.

Okay, what were they supposed to do? Drive through the hurricane and pick people up on their doorsteps? It is not exactly easy to mobilize a fleet of busses in 100 MPH wind.

-Neither Municipal nor State officials in Louisiana seem to have bothered to go through the correct channels to get FEMA aid. Rather, they waited for the storm to hit and then cried to the media. I don't know about you, but personally, I don't like the idea of the Federal Government being able to butt it's head into local or state business any time it feels like it.

Sorry, that is straight BS! FEMA didn't roll in until almost a full day later and even then they were underequipped and unprepared for response. In fact FEMA commondeered a radio tower that the Mayors office was using AND a huge reserve of diesel fuel that the city of NO had saved for generator use. Guess that's what happens when you put a horse breeder in charge of FEMA, huh?


I think people should help one another because it's the right thing to do.

I also feel that when somebody goes out of their way to help you, you should thank them because it's the right thing to do.

Granted, but my point is this idiot is basically calling these people uneducated N*****s because they didn't say thank you; does that make sense to you?

Yes, but I also know enough about recorded world history and patterns of language distribution to know that what you're talking about isn't even remotely limited to Western society.

That's not an excuse, but you can't fight something that you're not conscious of.

Really? because if you knew world history than you would understand why the word N***** was not a catch all for ignorance but is in fact a direct insult to African Americans.

Again; blaming this all on the President is not only inaccurate, but doesn't help anything. There were several misteps on the local level that turned a slow Federal response from "annoying" and "inconvenient" into an outright catastrophy.

Again, BS! Your logic is circular here. Earlier you argue that the Federal Govt. didn't fail because they declared NO a disaster zone thus enacting "federal aid" immediately. However, you then go on to blame the municipality for not getting it together. You can't have it both ways pal. The Feds and their empty headed leader failed these people, anyone without their Republican a$$ kissing head up their butts can see this.

But, just as there are some towns in the South that still have segregated schools and open Klan meetings, if I were to break down or make a wrong turn into the wrong part of Baton Rouge or New Orleans (or any number of other large cities), I could kiss my valuables and possibly my life goodbye for no other reason than the fact that I'm white.

If racism is wrong when it goes one way, then it's also wrong when it goes the other. It's detestable, it's a plauge upon us all, but we're NEVER going to stomp it out unless we recognize it, we can discuss it openly and we can fight it in ALL segments of society.