EVACUATION "like a horror movie" (Rita evacuees denied help)

[democracyindanger]

DALLAS - Alex LeBlanc left Beaumont on Thursday to begin a 50-hour bus trip across East Texas. What he experienced, he said, was "like a horror movie."
...
LeBlanc was one of about 3,000 evacuees who fled Hurricane Rita aboard a convoy of about 50 Beaumont Independent School District school buses. The drivers originally were scheduled to pull into Lufkin, but were prevented from stopping there. That pattern continued until they reached Canton, about 250 miles from Beaumont, at about daybreak Saturday.
...
As they sat outside on folding chairs, having a smoke, they described seeing people on their front lawns glaring at them with shotguns in hand, and pickup trucks with nooses hanging in back (most of the bus passengers were black).The drivers said whenever they tried to stop to rest or let their passengers use the restroom, town officials had court orders waiting for them to get out of town, an assertion those town officials later denied.
...
Drivers said they carried some food and water with them, but it was quickly exhausted, and for two days, they had almost no other way of getting provisions to their fellow evacuees. What help they did receive was meager.

(more)

http://www.southeasttexaslive.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=15293465&BRD=2287&PAG=461&dept_id=512588&rfi=6

[opihimoimoi]

1. Michael Moore needed to be there with his fuckin CAMERAS

Compassion my ass....

[fooj]

2. OMG!

:cry:

[Lindacooks]

3. Well, that confirms my opinion of Texas.

And before someone says I'm being unfair, read the article again. Those are eyewitness accounts of the actions of a bunch of racist pigs.

[democracyindanger]

4. I was going to post this in GD

so I could use the headline "Fuck Texas", but resisted the urge.

[Castilleja]

6. That is a "special" area of Texas for that sort of thing

as far as I have ever heard or known. We have driven through there a few times, strange place. It does not represent the whole of the state, you know. Read Michael Lind's book "Made In Texas" and you will understand.

[Lindacooks]

10. I don't care if it's ringed in white lights and fluorescent signs. It's

disgusting, vile, and racist. And based on the way that Texas votes, it sure as hell is representative of the state.

[wellstone_democrat]

23. well west Texas has Tulia

so its represented out here as well.

Not only are these eyewitness accounts, they are Texans who are telling the tale. They know what and who they are seeing.

Another shameful episode.

[PurgedVoter]

19. I worked in a shelter this last weekend.

Our schools, and churches and city meeting places were opened as shelters. This all happened withing 6 miles of the Bush Library. Many of the people I worked with, who showed great compassion, are republicans. The Vet School shut down and took in refugees. This town showed a heart. Even while being the beating red heart of Texas. I have to say this of Texas Republicans, forgive them, they know not what they support. The day that they learn, they will cry.



updated due to spelling issues.

[girl gone mad]

25. Keep believing it's something unique to Texas.

Whatever helps you sleep at night.

[FredScuttle]

5. I'm not going to hold Texas wholly responsible

but GOD DAMN that state has some fucked-up towns!

[lavenderdiva]

7. This is not true of ALL of Texas...

Please don't make blanket statements about all of us. I live in Houston, and my church has taken in over 200 Hurricane Rita evacuees, and they continue to live, be fed, and provided for by our church, in our church gymnasium.

[AndyTiedye]

21. That is Why...

...so many Katrina refuges from New Orleans kept fleeing until they got all the way to Houston.

They were not welcome anywhere in their own state or in rural east Texas.

[TahitiNut]

22. Well, there are a lot of very positive things going on in Iraq, too.

:sarcasm:

Murderers don't murder every day. Thieves don't steal from everyone. Rapists are courteous to some women. When Al Capone tossed a few dollrs into the Salvation Army kettle, it didn't make him a "nice guy."

I'm ashamed of my country because of the crimes it commits. It's not enough that a majority aren't complicit or are merely clueless. It's not enough that a minority are working hard to clean it up. Until the guilty are brought to justice, we're shamed.

It's the same in Texas.

We can only take pride in our country, state or community when we succeed in making it something we can be proud of. Cheerleaders and slogans just don't hack it.

[lavenderdiva]

27. See post #20.

Every state has idiots. Obviously. I don't appreciate your 'sarcasm'. Everyone I know here in Houston has gone above and beyond in doing what they can to help those affected by Katrina and Rita. We have opened our homes and wallets and tried to give hope and healing. I find your words hurtful and callous.

There will always be ignorance and cruelty in this world. Of course, we all should counter hate and vile acts with strong words and criticism. There is always room for improvement. Ignorance and prejudice exist EVERYWHERE, not just Texas.

Yet there are those who try to meet pain and hardship with knowledge, caring and love. You state: 'We can only take pride in our country, state or community when we succeed in making it something we can be proud of. Cheerleaders and slogans just don't hack it.' We are TRYING, and for the large part, succeeding in making our community one we can be proud of. I am proud of my community and city. Yet you insist on demeaning those efforts. I may not agree ideologically with many here, however, they extended their hands and hearts to those who lost more than any of us can imagine, in ways that made me proud. I take issue with your comments characterizing my post as 'cheerleading or a slogan'. When you find a light, trying to shine, why do you insist on trying to snuff it out, instead of encouraging it to spread?

[NJCher]

8. How sad

It makes me sad that people who had to escape their homes
had to be exposed to such ugliness.

I wish I could apologize to them for the human race.




Cher

[jobycom]

9. That part of Texas is not Texas.

East Texas, right along the Louisiana border between the two interstates (10 and 20) is not a good place. This is where James Byrd was dragged to death. There was some instance in Vidor in the late 90s where a group of blacks tried to live in the town, and were chased out, and one man wound up being killed all the way in Houston over it. The stories of racist cops and judges and racist crimes from that area are sickening. If Bush wants to get freedom on the march, that's the part of the world he should invade. Of course, that's the part of the world that he ruled as governor, and they voted heavily for him.

It's not much better for women. Wives who turn up dead aren't overly investigated, unless of course they can convict a black man for it.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

14. While I understand not wanting to own up to that part of Texas

It is still part of Texas and as such it's part of the states shame.

I've never been to that part of the state (other than passing through on a train) and have only heard rumors and read news reports on the atrocities that have taken place there in the past. This is just one more in a long list of growing reports that this area has to add to it's reputation of hate and bigotry.

My daughter is currently in North Texas and she's shocked at how different the attitude there is on race than here(she's from near Austin in the Hill Country).

I understand this is a large state, and as such it varies greatly from one border to the next. While I try and keep that in mind, I do understand more now why some people think Texas is a haven for small minded bigots and idiots. I consider myself lucky to not have had this type of experience myself, but it angers me when I see where others have had to endure this type of treatment.

[NYC]

16. Is that in or near the pine barrens?

I read a book about east Texas. Deliberate Indifference:A Story of Racial Injustice and Murder by Howard Swindle.

http://www.blogofdeath.com/archives/001044.html

Amazon seems to be down. This is the closest I could find to a book review.

http://ppi-pwf.texterity.com/ppi/sociology2005/?pg=36

[jobycom]

26. That's the exact area

Here's Amazon's quote: "On Christmas Day, 1987, a law-abiding black man with a wife and six children went on what should have been a brief errand. He was stopped by a white police chief in a small Texas town near the Louisiana border, taken to jail, and beaten to death with a lead-filled blackjack. Award-winning journalist Howard Swindle, himself a Texan, draws on his personal knowledge to tell a spellbinding tale about the local law-enforcement and criminal-justice systems, both before and during this landmark case. "As if the 70-foot-tall pines were an impenetrable social barrier," Swindle writes, "Deep East Texas lies stagnant in a civil rights time warp, more forties and fifties than eighties and nineties." The New York Times praised "the author's compelling storytelling enriches every page of this nonfiction thriller.""

Though one of the other reviews mentions Hemphill, which is west of Houston. The worst area is north of Beaumont and south of Tyler--roughly between the interstates. Jasper and Vidor are two towns that have made news. A lot happens there that doesn't.

[Pepper32]

11. "shotguns in hand, and pickup trucks with nooses hanging in back"

:wtf: The racist in this country are becoming more bold by the day.

[anitar1]

24. Wonder why? God must be speaking to them every Sunday. n/t

[Lisa]

28. actually, they spend all Sunday bragging about how compassionate they are

Totally drowning out anything God might be trying to tell them.

Or so I suspect.

[UpInArms]

12. Proof that there are people in this country that

I never want to know, meet up with, share the same air with, live on the same planet with.

I am so sorry for those that had to endure this horrific treatment.

:cry:

[mirandapriestly]

13. Those are what the Bush supporters are like

We can't figure out why people would support Bush, well, it's because they are like the people described in that article.

[NYC]

18. That's scary.

Truly scary. There are some people who think big cities are frightening and/or dangerous. I'm glad I live in New York.

[Catherine Vincent]

15. And I believe that happened.

My niece and her husband and three kids traveled to Longview, Texas from Houston and they weren't really welcome there. What helped them get a room were the kids. If they didn't have the kids with them, they would have been out of luck.

And people wonder why I don't like driving through small towns, you never know what kind of reaction you'll get from local folks.

[Avalon Sparks]

20. I was raised in Longview Texas...

I really have a hard time believing that about Longview. People there are extremely friendly. There are a lot of African Americans living in Longview, and even years ago I don't recall ever seeing any blatent acts of racism. I live in Dallas now, but I go to Longview several times a year to visit relatives and I've never once heard anyone even use the "N" word much less openly bash and discriminate against people.

You know I've never once complained about this, but I am really getting tired of people on DU bashing on Texas. I'm sometimes not the biggest fan of this state and Gawd knows I have to deal with my share of SUV's and idiots in close proximity. I've also had to deal with YEARS of Bush*... and so have the rest of the DU Texans... and it's just bullshit to hear so much bashing of our state on this website.

In all my years in this state I have only met a few people that were racist and it was shocking to hear what came out of their mouths, because it's so rare to hear it. I know and have known a lot of people too... maybe I just don't know many assholes, I dunno.

Right now I'm pretty proud of the way of the majority of people in Houston, Austin and Dallas stepped up to the plate and welcomed the Katrina victims to this state. Everyone, and I mean everyone I know gave something to help out... everyone I work with and all my family and friends gave their time, money, or direct donations (like diapers, water, ect) that were asked for by various organizations.

All these people that I know that offered help were those horrible TEXANS you are bashing. So really, I mean REALLY get the hell over bashing Texas. Believe it or not there are assholes in every state in this country. Texas is a bigger state than most, so maybe we just have a few more of them here.

[Catherine Vincent]

29. Where in my post did I bash Texas?

For heaven's sake I have lived in Texas all my life. Just because you or anyone you know haven't been the victim of good ole Texas prejudice doesn't mean it doesn't ever happen. And because people call out fellow Texans and their unpleasant behavior doesn't deny the fact that there are good people in Texas. You may have a hard time believing what I said about Longview but I will believe my niece and her husband even though I have never been there. Sorry.

[The_Casual_Observer]

17. I'll bet this didn't hit the evening news. After all, bush is up 5 points

You don't go up 5 points with additional shitty news.