Is this permitted by the party hierarchy?
http://today.reuters.com/investing/financeArticle.aspx?type=bondsNews&storyID=2005-09-02T210500Z_01_N02562673_RTRIDST_0_WEATHER-KATRINA-RACE-UPDATE-1.XMLWASHINGTON, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Black leaders on Friday condemned the slow response to the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina and said poor and mostly black storm victims in New Orleans were bearing the brunt of the suffering.
"We cannot allow it to be said by history that the difference between those who lived and those who died in this great storm and flood of 2005 was nothing more than poverty, age or skin color," said Rep. Elijah Cummings, a Maryland Democrat and former head of the Congressional Black Caucus.
The overwhelming proportion of black people among the refugees, made clear to Americans by television coverage of huge black crowds pleading for water and food in New Orleans, has raised questions about the role of class and race in the response.
Blacks, frequent targets of discrimination since the days of slavery, account for about two-thirds of the nearly 500,000 residents of New Orleans, according to census figures.
About 28 percent of them live below the poverty line, more than double the national poverty rate.
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