"Exiles From a City and From a Nation"--Cornel West

[GreenPartyVoter]

It takes something as big as Hurricane Katrina and the misery we saw among the poor black people of New Orleans to get America to focus on race and poverty. It happens about once every 30 or 40 years.

What we saw unfold in the days after the hurricane was the most naked manifestation of conservative social policy towards the poor, where the message for decades has been: 'You are on your own'. Well, they really were on their own for five days in that Superdome, and it was Darwinism in action - the survival of the fittest. People said: 'It looks like something out of the Third World.' Well, New Orleans was Third World long before the hurricane.

It's not just Katrina, it's povertina. People were quick to call them refugees because they looked as if they were from another country. They are. Exiles in America. Their humanity had been rendered invisible so they were never given high priority when the well-to-do got out and the helicopters came for the few. Almost everyone stuck on rooftops, in the shelters, and dying by the side of the road was poor black.

In the end George Bush has to take responsibility. When Kanye West said the President does not care about black people, he was right, although the effects of his policies are different from what goes on in his soul. You have to distinguish between a racist intent and the racist consequences of his policies. Bush is still a 'frat boy', making jokes and trying to please everyone while the Neanderthals behind him push him more to the right.

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0911-32.htm

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URGENT yet easy! Hold the government accountable for Katrina's aftermath
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4736062

[wicket]

1. kicked and nominated

Cornel West rocks.

:kick:

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. He does indeed

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URGENT yet easy! Hold the government accountable for Katrina's aftermath
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4736062

[libnnc]

3. God I love that man...

"I'm going to love my way out of the darkness no matter what."


Dr. Cornel West in a speech on the campus of UNC-Greensboro
April 2005

[GreenPartyVoter]

4. So much darkness right now. Hope we have ample love in us.

------------------------------------------------------
URGENT yet easy! Hold the government accountable for Katrina's aftermath
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4736062

[GreenPartyVoter]

5. kick

[hiley]

6. GreenPartyVoter

It is always interesting to see what Cornel West has to say.

[GreenPartyVoter]

7. Yes it is. Yes it is. I was wondering when we would hear from him after

what happened in NOLA and I was not surprised to his piece on Common Dreams. They do a fairly good job of finding and amplifying progressive voices.

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URGENT yet easy! Hold the government accountable for Katrina's aftermath
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4736062

[philosophie_en_rose]

8. I was wondering when he'd make a statement.

He's very interesting to say the least. :)

[hiley]

15. I love to listen to him speak

too.

[philosophie_en_rose]

16. And he writes very well too. n/t

.

[Outer_Limit]

9. Great article!

[Jade Fox]

10. "Povertina"-good one.

I love Cornel West.

[peacebuzzard]

11. kick

[enough]

12. "do not confuse charity with justice"

Thank you, Cornel West.

[scarletwoman]

13. Cornel West is such an eloquent voice!

A kick and a vote...

sw

[fortyfeetunder]

14. A must read..keep this kicked

:kick: