Reverand Al Sharpton

[RyanLanane]

Things are bad enough in the current situation involving everything that is going on in New Orleans and all the other affected areas.. Today on the news everything I saw was people talking about how much better things got which is outstanding news. I was hearing stories of mothers and daughters reunited.. You name it. There was of course the occasional bad story but finally the news appeared to be focusing on what has and is being done rather than what isn't or hasn't been done.

Late last night I just happened to catch Rev. Al Sharpton on one of the radio stations talking about how the reason our federal government didn't act quickly enough was due to the fact that the areas most heavily affected were black/poor areas of the region. I was floored that he would even insinuate something like that.

Did you see our government fly in with special helicopters to rescue rich people? White, Black, Asian, Mixed, and Italians among with a ton of other nationalities were all involved in this horrible tragedy. To say the government was sitting there saying 'We have to rescure this area of New Orleans first as it is where all the multi-million dollar mansions are' is absolutely ludicrous.

Truth of the matter is people like that had the financial resources themselves to make sure everything was taken care of in time, and got out of town as quickly as possible when they realized what was coming.

I understand and have empathy for the people I am hearing who were trying to get out of town but didn't have the money to pay for gas so they could drive out of town. From the sounds of it people were declining any requests for help right and left... Some are talkign about how it is on their concious now - "Could I have saved that person's life?"

I think he is confusing the mentality of the PEOPLE in that area with the mentality of our national government. People were in survival mode when they were being approached - Worried strictly about their family and their own well-being. This is a touchy subject but and I don't want to start a debate about whether people fleeing should of offered more help because I can see good arguments for their cases on both sides.

Another thing I woudl like to point out is I am sure there are plenty of poor white Americans that were in that region that are also goign through everything the poor black americans are. It is a sad situation for everyone. Him playing the race card was a horrible thing to do - It completely disguisted me. I am not racist by any means and when I watched the news I didn't even pay attention to whether the stories we were hearing, people they were talkign to, etc .. were white or black or asian... I just saw a fellow American.

Sharpton went on and on and on about how if this was Palm Springs it would of been treated differently. The reporter agreed with him but said it was for political influential reasons and the power those people have due to their wealth.

What is everyone's take on this? God knows we were down in Florida quicker for the last hurricane but I do not think that the reason our reaction time was slower for this hurricane was because we thought "It's Poor Black Country". And to see people 'preach' that sickens me.. It really does.

Would love to hear others thoughts on this...

[Dravyk]

Tawana Brawley. 'Nuff said.

[SykkBoy]

Originally Posted by Dravyk

Tawana Brawley. 'Nuff said.

I was thinking the same thing when I saw Sharpton running his mouth...

this wasn't about the feds ignoring poor black people, they were ignoring poor people in general...actually, I would say this is more about incompetence than ignoring the poor people...I wouldn't let this FEMA cocksucker watch my kids muchless manage a serious evacuation/rescue effort such as being done in NOLA, Biloxi, etc.

[Dravyk]

Al and Jesse ... A lifetime of playing the race card, they can little else.

[JR]

Originally Posted by Dravyk

Al and Jesse ... A lifetime of playing the race card, they can little else.

this hurricane and the subsequent "government assistance and aid", the "racist media coverage" and the plight of their peoples, will keep them going for another 20 years.

[Dravyk]

Originally Posted by JR

this hurricane and the subsequent "government assistance and aid", the "racist media coverage" and the plight of their peoples, will keep them going for another 20 years.

Job security is a wonderful thing.

[RyanLanane]

Originally Posted by Dravyk

Job security is a wonderful thing.

No One has job security - Haven't you read how in 5 years we are going to have an economic melt down due to the steadfast/peaked production of oil and steadily increasing dependance upon it? Hell we are all out of work ... Except of course;

Those who put their money in OIL

[Dravyk]

Originally Posted by RyanLanane

No One has job security - Haven't you read how in 5 years we are going to have an economic melt down due to the steadfast/peaked production of oil and steadily increasing dependance upon it? Hell we are all out of work ... Except of course;

Those who put their money in OIL

Sorry my man. Oil is still a finite resource.

Where as there will always be money made from ... racism, gambling, porn, war, religion, beauty products, dieting, prostitution, alcohol, jewelry and anything else that deals with the best and (most profitably) the worst of human emotions.

[Timon]

I'm telling you, it's the man keeping a brotha down.

[RyanLanane]

Originally Posted by Dravyk

Sorry my man. Oil is still a finite resource.

Where as there will always be money made from ... racism, gambling, porn, war, religion, beauty products, dieting, prostitution, alcohol, jewelry and anything else that deals with the best and (most profitably) the worst of human emotions.

I'll try to dig up an article I was reading right when the hurrican hit - Interesting reading might change your perspective a little bit. BTW, 'production' and having the resoures are two different things

Don't think they don't know how reliant we are on them and can tinker with whatever the hell we want and we have to pay what they ask. Look at what Europe already pays for their gas

[RyanLanane]

I'm tired but I think you got what i meant, off to bed for me

[Rolo]

Originally Posted by RyanLanane

Look at what Europe already pays for their gas

Yes, however cars in europe are like half size of us cars, and therefore they consume less, so at the end of the day americans and europeans pay close to the same to get around (ofcourse not taking into account the insane taxes difference here in europe).

Working on conserving energy will have the biggest and fastest results for the US reliance on oil.

[Rolo]

Oh, and 1 gallon of gas is now $7 here in europe

[Biggy]

Al Sharpton gets a tough gig.. he does play the race card a little too hard.
We'd be kidding ourselves though if we didn't think what he said was partially true. If this happened in Texas, or a place with wealthier/whiter people, I think there would be a little more hop in Bush's step.. its more subtle than direct than what hes making it. I also didn't see too many white people at the Superdome, that could just be the media.. but I remember reading in an article where they interviewed an old white lady and they said the overwhelming majority were black, and that she was one of the few white people there.

Another important point to make is this.. when you compare these issues, you have to compare the response. The damage directly from the hurricane that everyone felt you can't really compare - thats Mother Nature doing her thing to whats in her way. I didn't read too many stories about white people starving to death, not getting medical supplies, lack of security in those areas, etc. Its hard to tell when you make judgements from what the media shows you, but just an observation...

[Nickatilynx]

Originally Posted by Timon

I'm telling you, it's the man keeping a brotha down.

yeah yeah...

Don't trust whitey!!!

[RyanLanane]

Originally Posted by Biggy

Al Sharpton gets a tough gig.. he does play the race card a little too hard.
We'd be kidding ourselves though if we didn't think what he said was partially true. If this happened in Texas, or a place with wealthier/whiter people, I think there would be a little more hop in Bush's step.. its more subtle than direct than what hes making it. I also didn't see too many white people at the Superdome, that could just be the media.. but I remember reading in an article where they interviewed an old white lady and they said the overwhelming majority were black, and that she was one of the few white people there.

Another important point to make is this.. when you compare these issues, you have to compare the response. The damage directly from the hurricane that everyone felt you can't really compare - thats Mother Nature doing her thing to whats in her way. I didn't read too many stories about white people starving to death, not getting medical supplies, lack of security in those areas, etc. Its hard to tell when you make judgements from what the media shows you, but just an observation...

This may be true but to be honest we will never know the real numbers. The media definately skews things so their stories are more glamorous so that doesn't help. I am not saying there weren't more black people than white people but it could be due to a variety of reasons possibly including the hardest hit areas of 'Norleans being predominately black

Right now on MSNBC I am watching an older white man being interviewed I would guess early 60's - Crying but trying to get his words out.. I honest to god prior to this thread never looked at whether the people that were being affected were white or black and never thought of it this way.

I am 27 years old.. My generation is where the race issue truly became less of an issue. Today more and more kids don't even consider their black class mates any different than their white class mates. Race is, thankfully, becoming less and less of an issue as the years go on.. This is coming from someone from Pekin, IL to boot I am sure it is even less of an issue in Chicago, Atlanta, L.A, or any other big cities.

I simply think the director of FEMA did a shitty job and that's the bottom line - He did NOT head the disaster relief in N.Y. per 911. Want to know who made that disaster as managable as it was? The citizens, fire fighters, police men, and volunteers of America. They were NOT ASKED they just came and the majority of them put their lives at risk without a second though. That's what America is about.. As it has been said before there is no comparison between the two but that is why I think 911 was handled so much better than this hurricane. Add in the fact that any American that wants to volunteer can't really save people's lives or help people who TRULY NEED IT THE MOST due to the fact they are literally in the middle of a lake now, doesn't help things at all.

[RyanLanane]

Originally Posted by Nickatilynx

yeah yeah...

Don't trust whitey!!!

I never trusted you Nick

[Carrie]

Originally Posted by Biggy

I also didn't see too many white people at the Superdome, that could just be the media..

Or it could just be fact that 67% of New Orleans is black. The people screaming race keep forgetting to mention that. "All dem media folks is showin' on tv is dah black man looting stores!" Well yeah, hello... the overwhelming majority of the city is black, so that's what you're seeing... what, you want us to hire some white actors to go down and portray a racially-equivalent proportioned number of looters?

[Nickatilynx]

Originally Posted by RyanLanane

I am 27 years old.. My generation is where the race issue truly became less of an issue. Today more and more kids don't even consider their black class mates any different than their white class mates.

Nigga Lover!!!!!!!!!

;-)))






( thought the tone could do with lightrning up a bit ( no pun intended) )

[RyanLanane]

I was staying at the Suisse Hotel in Chicago about 5 or 6 years ago.. Walked out of the room we had (it was pimped, two floor glass all around etc) and she was leaving some door she was knocking on with a friend all pissed off because the people weren't there...

Well her and her friend were salt and pepper... And I had myself some pepper in the limo ride to Crazy Horse (I think, all I remembered was the $7.00 beers!). That pepper was some of the best pew tang I have ever had... Man she could jiggle her ass like... welll ... you just can't explain it

So you pegged me Nick