question for americans how did you feel about the way your government has treated the people of new orleans?

Question

i am white and scottish and i think it is shocking the george bush has treated the people of new orleans after hurricane katriona and i think is because they are black and poor and i feel really bad people are getting treated like this because of their skin colour maybe if they were white and rich there would have been many more lives saved and more attempts to get new orleans fixed up

Answer 1

The federal government is not to blame for this. Mayor Naglin should have gotten people out sooner and not turned buses away. He was told to be prepared. Then, Gov. Blanca should have called in her Nat'l Guard units. She needed to get them in there right away as soon as things started going wrong. After all that is done, the federal government is supposed to step in. Bush is not to blame for this disaster. There are lower powers that should have stepped up to their responsibility first. I don't doubt the damage that was done, but Mississippi has managed to rebuild itself without all the free handouts. The people have to want to rebuild and help, but they're not. Alot still haven't begun clean-up. Mississippi was hit just as hard and had areas with severe damage and they're already on the mend. FEMA definitely needs to be restructured, but you still can't blame one man, President Bush for everything that went wrong. It has nothing to do with color. Do you think all those people that are in Mississippi that have pulled themselves up are white?? NO....they just want to live again and are helping themselves and each other to get there. They haven't received nearly the aid that New Orleans did. Why don't you ask Blanco and Naglin where the millions and millions of relief dollars have gone that hundreds of agencies sent there?? Place the blame where it belongs....local and state government. Federal already has enough crap to deal with!!

Answer 2

I think that the media has made a big hype out of this whole situation. There are plenty of white people who aren't rich and don't have their homes rebuilt either. The majority of the badly damaged parts of New Orleans haven't been fixed yet. And the majority of pre-storm New Orleans was black so it is logical that there would be a lot of displaced black people. I think that there are too many people who are expecting the Government to come in and fix everything for them. Some of these people have been living in trailers on their property and haven't been doing very much to clean up their own homes. Garbage haulers come around everyday to pick up refuse that people have pulled from their homes. I can't believe that in one year more people couldn't have hauled out all the trash out of their homes and ripped up their own homes that have been damaged too far. If everyone who lived in New Orleans would pitch in and do the work themselves, it would be much closer to being done. However, that isn't happening. They are depending on the Government and the tax payers to do it. And the mayor and the governor aren't doing a good job and aren't planning very well either. This issue crosses races and isn't just a black thing or just a white thing. There isn't enough community cooperation in this whole tragedy. My dad was down in New Orleans for 11 days helping with the clean up a couple of months ago. The homeowner wasn't even helping clear out his own home. He just came by to see if there were any mementos he could salvage. I don't understand why he hadn't already cleared the house of mementos long before that point and why he didn't help clear out the house while he was there.

Answer 3

I think it's bull. More help would have been offered, but the governor or whatever denied their help. That's why it all came so late. Whenever it comes to moving in the calvary, the federal government needs permission from the state--which wasn't gotten.

There isn't a racial issue here. African Americans still like to play that card and it really pisses me off. They can separate themselves any time, but it's wrong for whites to do the same. Has anyone ever heard of White or Caucasion Studies, a White College fund, an all white sorority or fraternity? No that's racial.

Until African Americans stop separating themselves by supporting such institutions and making such comments, there will be resentment. As I recall in the Oklahoma bombing, those sufferers weren't treated half as well as the New Orleanians, and there was fewer, they were white, etc.

Actually I believe more help was aided them, because the government didn't want to be accused of being racial. Can everyone just give it a break? When will we be JUST PEOPLE?

Answer 4

I think you are wrong about why the people in NOLA had such a hard time with Katrina. Their local and state government officials waited to long to call for an evacuation. The "shelter of last resort" plan was a fiasco. And poor people lived in places they could afford, places that wealthier people could avoid.

The same amount of whites as blacks died, the whites just did it in their homes, in small numbers or alone.

Do I wish things had gone better, certainly. But I think the site of hundreds of school buses sitting, unused, was the most telling thing of all.

I have been to Scotland. I have heard how many of you talk about people of color. You are no saint.

Answer 5

You obviously do not understand our government. IN the US the local and state officials get ready for the hurricane. They evacuate, post the national guards, the local FEMA works with the National FEMA and they coordinate a lot. The President only needs to hear from the Governor BEFORE hand and he will declare a national emergency, so everything flows easy. The locals were incompetent boobs. You need to understand the US can fit all of Europe in it with plenty of room to spare. We depend on our state government to handle these things, just as we have done in every other state. So your anger if focused at the wrong people.

Answer 6

No question about it. You are right, unfortunately.
I guess I was stupidly optimistic , thinking that because of its absolutely wonderful cultural and musical heritage, New Orleans would receive very good treatment. Boy was that mistaken assumption.
I know a lot had to do with the fact that our National Guard was not deployed in a timely manner. Also, the local politicians were somewhat to blame for their corruption and incompetence.
Still overall, Bush and his crew are to blame for most of this heartbreaking catastrophe and the bungled follow-up. It is partially a racial issue and partially a political issue. Disgusting shame! No more Republicans for office! EVER!

Answer 7

The government did and is doing a horrible job at helping those victims. That area looks like Iraq. Being there you feel as if you do not live in America. With all of our resources and money, our tax dollars, our government has not done even a satisfactory job in helping this area. We should have more military personnel there and engineers, contractors, and clean up crews. Yes, there has been work done but not enough! I cannot believe this is America treating it's own citizens this way. I would hate to see if we had a wide range terrorist attack or even a minor one. We are not prepared to protect and help our citizens. Something must be done to fix this problem!

Answer 8

well I have this to say about it.. it was not all bush's fault.. new Orleans had train service they could have got people out. they had school buses they could have used.. Blanco and Nagin didn't order people to leave the time they should have.. and as for fema and Bush they didn't get things going as fast as they should have..so everyone there in the mix was bad

Answer 9

I agree, however I only know what has been presented through public media.
I do know that first week was devastating and embarassing to US because we left our own people dying. Disgraceful.
It seems that money was an issue....however, if the US didn't spend all it's money on "saving" other countries.....then we'd have a BAJILLION dollars to take care of our own people!

Answer 10

Well you know how it is.... Why even ask...? Here does this sound familiar..? "Luke... I am your father." except Darth Vader is george Bush Sr. and Luke is really an idiot, the rebels rebel against morality gluttonously seeking profits for the sake of avarice to the detriment of the American populace where the American populace are US citizens.........

May the force be with you......