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Originally Posted by Xantar
That's all very well and nice except for a minor little detail: nobody is blaming anybody for Hurricane Katrina. Not even the angry black people crying racism in New Orleans are blaming Bush for the hurricane. They blame him for the response.
People already knew that the estimated death toll if the levees failed would have eclipsed 9/11. So why did Bush wait an extra few days before getting back to D.C.? Why was Condoleeza Rice shopping on her New York vacation until somebody literally screamed "What the hell are you doing?" How did the head of FEMA somehow manage to tell reporters that he wasn't aware of refugees in the Superdome even though footage of people dying in there had been playing on TV the entire day? Why were reporters with TV cameras able to drive right into the disaster area days before any National Guard showed up?
I'm not saying that I necessarily blame anybody, but these are valid questions that will need to be answered when the disaster is over.
As for the racism issue, I don't know how much of a leg they have to stand on. However, it is valid to question whether the response would have been much faster if 90% of the people stuck behind had been white instead of black. You can't honestly tell me that your reaction to news footage would have been exactly the same if every miserable face you had seen had been white.
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You're absolutely right, these questions do need to be asked. Just like the racism question should be asked.
It's just that all I hear is people pointing fingers on the news now. While I think it's right to ask questions, I think it's also right to sit back for a moment and remember that this is a major disaster, and you cannot prepare for everything that will be needed in a disaster like you can with hindsight. It's a disaster, that's the nature of it.
Also remember that the day after Katrina hit, EVERYONE thought New Orleans had just barely avoided the disaster. "Big Easy Breathes Big Sigh of Relief" is only one actual headline of many on Tuesday the day after. On Tuesday Mississippi was by far the worst off. So you have to imagine the gov't thinking, hey, New Orleans is fine let's go help Mississippi. Then by the time they realize Nola needs help, they're moving towards Miss. and the streets in Nola are completely flooded making it difficult to get help in and power and water are down and the levee breaks and it becomes a big and now a surprise disaster. I've already made all these points, so I guess I'll leave it at that.
I think people dying on the streets like this is unacceptable. But the vast majority did make it out of New Orleans safe, and now Americans are being extremely generous to help them in any way possible. Let's hope Katrina is a lesson learned for the gov't, and I think asking questions about the response will help make sure of that.
And like DeathsHand, yeah, maybe you can't but I can honestly say it would be the same response for me. Thank you for not assuming others are racist.