Mike Davis- Poor, Black, and Left Behind

[Tom Joad]

Mike Davis tells it like it is, and he saw this coming. And sorry for the folks who like to think the Democrats are not to share blame in this crime against humanity, because he makes it clear that they do. Please read the whole article by checking out the link, but here is the first part. Do me a favor and recommend this too.

Note this was about Hurricane Ivan, and was written last September 2004.

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0924-02.htm

The evacuation of New Orleans in the face of Hurricane Ivan looked sinisterly like Strom Thurmond's version of the Rapture. Affluent white people fled the Big Easy in their SUVs, while the old and car-less -- mainly Black -- were left behind in their below-sea-level shotgun shacks and aging tenements to face the watery wrath.

New Orleans had spent decades preparing for inevitable submersion by the storm surge of a class-five hurricane. Civil defense officials conceded they had ten thousand body bags on hand to deal with the worst-case scenario. But no one seemed to have bothered to devise a plan to evacuate the city's poorest or most infirm residents. The day before the hurricane hit the Gulf Coast, New Orlean's daily, the Times-Picayune, ran an alarming story about the "large group…mostly concentrated in poorer neighborhoods" who wanted to evacuate but couldn't.

Only at the last moment, with winds churning Lake Pontchartrain, did Mayor Ray Nagin reluctantly open the Louisiana Superdome and a few schools to desperate residents. He was reportedly worried that lower-class refugees might damage or graffiti the Superdome.

In the event, Ivan the Terrible spared New Orleans, but official callousness toward poor Black folk endures.

<snip>

[EC]

1. The Democrats he's talking about are DLC

they aren't democrats, I disagree with him on Kerry though...and I don't know but the cutting of federal money to Democratiic Governors, Senators and Mayors could have a lot to do with the problems, as created by the Republican Executive, House and Senate.

[Tom Joad]

4. kerry voted to go to war

Kerry was a courageous defender of Bush going into Iraq. Despite the millions who protested, Kerry voted to give him the power to wage war (and did anyone expect Bush would not go to war unless he was forced not to?!) . Of course, only congress can vote to go to war, and cannot cede that right. But hey, what's a constitution if you can't bend the rules a little.

Clinton's policy in Iraq killed massive numbers of civilians there through sanctions. His Secretary of State said killing all those children was "worth it".

We have to work to build a society where no one is left behind, where we share the earth as equals.

[EC]

8. They were all given the made up "evidence" from the Iraq

Group.

And I don't agree with sanctions for any country or embargo's. But then again, as much as I like Clinton, I keep in mind, he is DLC. Kerry's not...Those that were once poor like Clinton remember that and do have empathy. And remember Kerry's family were not rich, they had periods of unemployment and no money too, Kerry sold encyclopedias to pay his college tuition...


None of us can agree 100% with any party, but I will help the one that believes in the rights of the working man...that has a chance of winning...I don't even entirely agree with the Greens or the Progressives and on and on, I also know they don't have a chance in hell of beating the corrupt GOP .

[Mythsaje]

2. He's right...

These people are the very image of poverty and class distinction in this country...and they've been ignored by the Dems too long. Clinton connected with them, as he connected with everyone, which was a part of his success. But the mainstream Dems don't seem to care about people who can't give them money as well as votes. And so lose both.

A true populist party that spoke to all the strata of disaffected in this country could steal much of the Dems' thunder. It would have to address this very issue...no one should be left to live in these conditions and treated in this way in a country where the wealthiest can live their whole life without ever suffering a moment of discomfort.

[Erika]

3. Democrats were much closer than the GOP

The lines of wheel chair evacuees, mostly elderly, was heart breaking.

[Mythsaje]

5. Fraid I'm not catching your point...

though, yes, it was quite heartbreaking.

[renate]

6. I didn't remember where Ivan had been headed

So they actually had a chance to practice this a year ago and didn't realize they needed plans to evacuate people who wanted to leave but couldn't?

That is very upsetting.

[EC]

7. During the evacuation the airports shut down

even though the mayor begged them to open and help take out people.

[roseBudd]

9. Shortly after the 2000 Bush coup it was reported that red states were

rewarded with federal dollars while blue states were punished.

[MasonJar]

10. I disagree with some of your comments. I believe that both

Kerry and Gore have an enormous empathy and compassion for the poor and needy. In fact Stump and his neo-cons are probably the only presidential group in history past and future who would allow so many to die while they vacationed. As Sylverter would say, "They are des-s-spica-a-ble.