I am a 55-yr-old BLACK female! I have lived through the assasinations of John F Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Robert Kennedy, and Malcolm X! I have lived through the moon walk, and the inventions of computers and the internet. MY generation has witnessed the best AND worst times this nation has ever known!!! Living Black in this nation has ALWAYS been a struggle!! We have been treated as 4th Class citizens since slavery was abolished!! Hurricane Katrina is a tragedy of ENORMOUS proportions!!! The slow response of the govt to aid the 99% Black citizens of Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi is CLEARLY a statement not only to the Black citizens of this country, but to all the citizens of the WORLD, that the USA most definitely does NOT value the lives of Black people!!! GOD IS WATCHING!!! The slow response was not an ACCIDENT!!! The USA will have to PAY for this atrocity!! The WORLD now knows that the government of this nation has NO COMPASSION, NO HEART, and no LOVE for it's Black citizens, and I use the word "citizen" with tongue in cheek!!!!
Wisdom47
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black love black power ! I am not confused/ I know that the black people of new orleans are ME and WE are One . I'm not confused . I know we are at war with white power / And if you do not know that, you are totally confused . Right now my heart is on fire / for US / WE who are being needlessly killed and left to die . Our lives are worth more than depicted in the american media. I know that we are being studied right now & that we are being purposefully genocided. I am beyond sadness/ I am over hearing anything that is not about destroying white power. Long before this present round of genocide & long after, I will continue to fight against white power & for black love & black power . We are at war and we will win - I know it in my heart. 1
blackarmy
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Many people hungrily await the media's coverage of New Orleans as they would a popular mini series. Now largely due to the constant, negative depiction of African descendants in media, and in the psyche of the privilaged class in this system, the illusion the world sees is a people who are 3/5 of a human being. African descendants living in the diaspora are being continually traumatized, victimized and marginalized by a system that denies its citizens justice soley based on the color of their skin - and those citizens are dying. Grandmothers, Mothers, daughters, sister and neices are being destroyed. Grandfathers, Fathers, sons, brothers, and nephews, are being sentenced to a heartbreaking degradation of the spirit, mind and body. There is a biased sentiment that the horrors African descendants endure daily are merely apparitions left over from the days and nights of chattel slavery. However, as the new atrocities unfold before the eyes of the world, even those who doubted our generational pain are stunned into recognition.
rootzhouse
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It's true. The President does not care about black people. One of the National Guard's purposes is to help in natural disasters. Why don't we have enough Guardsmen to help out? Because they are in Iraq taking care of Iraqis. The United States helps other countries, but seem to have trouble cleaning up it's own backyard. But, I would say to the President that charity starts at home.
People are really desperate to save themselves and their families, but what the media effectively shows us is, if a Black Person has food in his hand, it was a result of looting. However if a white person looks for food, then it is called survival. Why is the media focusing on "looting" when there are people dying of dehydration? Why does the media have to spin the news and hide things from American people? Why are they hiding what is really going on.
They need to come out with the truth and stop showing the same footage over and over again.
Why do the people have to be called refugees (the definition of this is One who flees in search of refuge, as in times of war, political oppression, or religious persecution.)? These people are not war victims nor are they oppressed or being religiously persecuted. They are survivors of a hurricane and they should be respected for their perseverance. Why has the military has been sent to New Orleans with orders to Shoot To Kill when these people are supposed to be CITIZENS!!! Is property that more important than human life? For the first time in my 40 years of life, I am seeing how the United Snakes Of America is. Then when Kanye West stands up for Black People, they want to shut him up and call him racist. Well look at the evicence, New Orleans it is mostly made up of Blacks and most of those left behind where Black people who could not get out. Why did the city not have a evacuation plan? This is a DAMN shame. All off this senseless death could have been mitigated or avoided.
Platinum
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Kanye was visibly shaken by the media's protrayal of blacks as "looters" and refugees while hailing whites as merely trying to survive a horrific tragedy. I wasn't shocked by their behavior, but then I don't put any faith in america's media or their leaders. I applaud the mayor of new orleans, ray nagin, for venting his frustrations on the radio. I appreciate Kanye for making an impassioned plea for his people on TV.
I feel that these two men shook the government out of their stooper and caused them to moblized after five days of innaction. I thank both of them for their courage and open honesty.
With all her education and income, one would think Condi knows the definition of racist, or at least owns a dictionary. Perhaps she does, but I can only wonder why such a supposedly power female can be drawn into the feasting frenzy instead of being guided by her higher self. Kanye West neither has the power nor position to be a racists. But Condi does. If she wants to hear real hatred and racism, she should tune into the programs Bill O'Reily, Pat Roberston, and Sean Hannity. Well, she probably does watch and most likey considers it "freedom of speech"
and damned entertaining.
Sesa
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They are looting the streets. They are shooting. The refugees are lawless. Why does our media take what a few does and spin it into something that everyone is doing. Focus on what's good. Focus on providing for those who now have nothing. Focus on what we can learn from them. Focus on planning an evacuation before the disaster strikes. Focus on telling the truth. Tell the world the real reason you don't care whether the people in new Orleans lives or dies. They black, the colored people you all love to hate. You enjoy seeing them in a bad light. You want them to stay in poverty. If they were to rise up and ban together..... you know that you would be out numbered and you would find yourself without the riches and power you love so much. Did they say that they blew up the levy so that the french corridor would go unharmed? Did they say that they told the black people(refugees as they calling them) to go into two schools that were sure to be flooded by the levy breaking? Maybe if you knew this, you would understand that the people were scared when they saw helicopters. They thought they was there to kill them. I would do what I had to do to keep my family alive. If I had to break into a store I would. If I had to steal from that store, I would. It is not like the government is there handing out supplies. They had the fend for themselves. My hats are off to those who did what they had to do for the survival of them and theire families.How does the president and media sleep at night?
Jabbar Gibson should be rewarded for commandearing that bus and driving 13 hours to houston with 70 people on board. The government should have reacted in the same way.
Tweety
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6 comments:
We are praying for you. You are loved.
thank you Sesa, we wit you...
Don't you just love people like four otters. He doesn't blame krakkas for what happened to his people, he blames his people. He cannot speak for my people because he ain't me. Go preach to your people, and when you've found the answer that brings ALL your people out of the condition they are in, never to be successfully attacked by the enemy again - come back and share.
I hope that our Black professionals, academics, entertainers, and politicians are learning frin the tragedy of New Orleans. You are Black, even if you have one drop of Black blood. To White America, White Europeans, White and Brown Latinos, and Asians, YOU ARE BLACK. With the help of the media, they are waiting for you to _____ up. White America, especially like to see us in that situation, so that they can feel good about themselves by helping us. Black professionals, you are a threat! Black Entertainers, you are a threat, Black business owners, Black atheletes, Black politicians, you are a threat! You have money, power, and status, but you are still Black. YOU ARE GUILTY UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT. We, as Blacks, are not citizens of this country. We are tolerated. We are a people in a country without a country. A lot of us want to embrace the term African Americans. We are certainly Afrikan, but, as you saw what happen with Hurricane Katrina, We are refugees and non-citizens in the country we, our parents, our grand-parents, great grand-parents, and our slave ancestors lived and grew up in. Poor, wealthy, famous, infamous, professional, educated, uneducated, we are still ______. I observed at first hand through working as a civil servant. We were in the minority in the upper level, but we held the three highest positions. These Black puppets had no power because they were in fear of losing their big salaries, if they helped or stood up for one of their Black subordinates.
All the majority had to do was threaten to file or file a reverse discrimination suit. Dreads or Braids, although a culture thing, does not reflect your Afrikaness. In fact, I have often seen other race of people wearing dread-locks and braids. In my neighborhood, this is the trademark of a gang that controls and works our neighborhood. Curly hair, straight hair, white skin, yellow skin, brown skin, black skin: EMBRACE YOUR AFRIKANESS AND YOUR BLACKNESS BECAUSE WE ARE A PEOPLE PEOPLE LIVING IN COUNTRY WITHOUT A COUNTRY.
Four Otters, you are very insulting to me as a Black Afrikan woman. You are very disrespectful. Until you walk in my Black Afrikan shoes, until you live as a Black Afrikan in this country, Shut the _____ up. Have you ever been called a refugee in your own country? Have your families been torned apart, your neighborhoods infested by crime, drugs, and gangs? WE, AS BLACK AFRIKANS ARE BEING WIPED OUT BY DRUGS, DISEASE, AND GANG VIOLENCE. WE HAVE YOUNG BLACK AFRIKAN MALES BEING WIPED OUT ON A DAILY BASIS THROUGH GANG VIOLENCE. DO YOU KNOW WHAT OUR YOUNG BLACK AFRIKAN MALES WANT TO BE WHEN THEY GROW UP? THEY WANT TO BE ALIVE. THE MAJORITY OF THE BLACK AFRIKANS THAT YOU SAW IN NEW ORLEANS WERE WOMEN, CHILDREN AND THE ELDERLY. MY BLACK AFRIKAN PEOPLE IN NEW ORLEANS LOST LOVE ONES, JOBS, AND HOMES. HOW CAN YOU BE SO INSENSITIVE AND CRUEL, WHEN YOUR ANCESTORS WERE ALMOST WIPED OUT THROUGH GENOCIDE THEN DISEASE AND POVERTY WHEN THEY WERE FORCED TO LIVE ON RESERVATIONS. YOUR MALE ANCESTORS WERE FED ALCOHOL TO CAUSE DIVISION AND DESTRUCTION OF OF THE FAMILY AND THE COMMUNITY. YOU SIR, NEED TO WAKE UP AND SHUT THE ______ UP.
It was so so sad seeing my people every day suffering and asking for help. My people were protrayed in a bad light, as looters, and people waiting for a handout from the government. And to be called refugees. I had no ideal that we were refugees. Actually, we are in a war of poverty, crime, drugs, aids, drive by shootings, torn up families, and torn up com- munities, and murders of our young people, our young men, every day. In that light we are in a war and are refugees, but we are not getting any relief within our communities. James Brown said a long time ago: "I don't want nobody to give me nothing, just open up the door and I will get it myself." The government has that massah and missus slave mentality. They like to see our people in a bad light so they can help us, which probably in their minds, proves that we could not function on our own and need them to take care of us.
Vivian
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