Why New Orleans Went Under--A Black Man's Comments

Go ahead and read this then make sure you scroll down to the bottom to read my response. My policy of responding to such truth engineering stands. No offense, the author has his opinion.... I will give mine below his.



The propaganda E-mail: (read my response after)

Why New Orleans Went Under--A Black Man's Comments Carefully read the whole
article. You'll be amazed at this guy!!! (I am amazed all right- S.S.)

I don't know the man who wrote this, but I looked at his picture and read it
with my mouth hanging open. He says things here that no white man could ever
write and keep his job as a writer, and he speaks the truth.


Posted: September 21, 2005
1:00 a.m. Eastern

Say a hurricane is about to destroy the city you live in. Two questions:

1. What would you do?

2. What would you do if you were black?

Sadly, the two questions don't have the same answer.

To the first: Most of us would take our families out of that city quickly to protect them from danger. Then, able-bodied men would return to help others in need, as wives and others cared for children, elderly, infirm and the like.

For better or worse, Hurricane Katrina has told us the answer to the second question. If you're black and a hurricane is about to destroy your city, then you'll probably wait for the government to save you.

This was not always the case. Prior to 40 years ago, such a pathetic performance by the black community in a time of crisis would have been inconceivable. The first response would have come from black men. They would take care of their families, bring them to safety, and then help the rest of the community. Then local government would come in.

No longer. When 75 percent of New Orleans residents had left the city, it was primarily immoral, welfare-pampered blacks that stayed behind and waited for the government to bail them out. This, as we know, did not turn out good results.

Enter Jesse Jackson and Louis Farrakhan. Jackson and Farrakhan laid blame on "racist" President Bush. Farrakhan actually proposed the idea that the government blew up a levee so as to kill blacks and save whites. The two demanded massive governmental spending to rebuild New Orleans, above and beyond the federal government's proposed $60 billion. Not only that, these two were positioning themselves as the gatekeepers to supervise the dispersion of funds. Perfect: Two of the most dishonest elite blacks in America, "overseeing" billions of dollars. I wonder where that money will end up.

Of course, if these two were really serious about laying blame on government, they should blame the local one. Responsibility to perform – legally and practically – fell first on the mayor of New Orleans. We are now all familiar with Mayor Ray Nagin – the black Democrat who likes to yell at President Bush for failing to do Nagin's job. The facts, unfortunately, do not support Nagin's wailing. As the Washington Times puts it, "recent reports show [Nagin] failed to follow through on his own city's emergency-response plan, which acknowledged that thousands of the city's poorest residents would have no way to evacuate the city."

One wonders how there was "no way" for these people to evacuate the city. We have photographic evidence telling us otherwise. You've probably seen it by now – the photo showing 200 parked school buses, unused and underwater. How much planning does it require to put people on a bus and leave town, Mayor Nagin?

Instead of doing the obvious, Mayor Nagin (with no positive contribution from Democratic Gov. Kathleen Blanco, the other major leader vested with responsibility to address the hurricane disaster) loaded remaining New Orleans residents into the Superdome and the city's convention center. We know how that plan turned out.

About five years ago, in a debate before the National Association of Black Journalists, I stated that if whites were to just leave the United States and let blacks run the country, they would turn America into a ghetto within 10 years. The audience, shall we say, disagreed with me strongly. Now I have to disagree with me. I gave blacks too much credit. It took a mere three days for blacks to turn the Superdome and the convention center into ghettos, rampant with theft, rape and murder.

President Bush is not to blame for the rampant immorality of blacks. Had New Orleans' black community taken action, most would have been out of harm's way. But most were too lazy, immoral and trifling to do anything productive for themselves.

All Americans must tell blacks this truth. It was blacks' moral poverty – not their material poverty – that cost them dearly in New Orleans. Farrakhan, Jackson, and other race hustlers are to be repudiated – they will only perpetuate this problem by stirring up hatred and applauding moral corruption. New Orleans, to the extent it is to be rebuilt, should be remade into a dependency-free, morally strong city where corruption is opposed and success is applauded. Blacks are obligated to help themselves and not depend on the government to care for them. We are all obligated to tell them so.

The Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson is founder and president of BOND, the
Brotherhood Organization of A New Destiny, and author of "Scam: How the
Black Leadership Exploits Black America."

The e-mail above is taken from the article linked HERE.


Peterson's rant has sure made the rounds. I have gotten it five times now. I am feeling a bit rambunctious today so I reckon I will go ahead and respond.

OK. First let me acknowledge that the editorial article contains a few grains of
truth. Unfortunately, it also contains some overblown generalizations and a fair amount of balderdash. Also, it seems to be implied that since a black person has written this rant that somehow it carries more weight. Simply put, this is not so and the very premise is racist in itself.

It may be true that concerning the emergency response to Hurricane Katrina- the Mayor of New Orleans was the weak link in the chain of leadership that leads from municipal government all the way up to the White House. However, the fact is that the entire chain is weak. I can hardly conceive how this conclusion could be avoided...if one thinks critically and at least somewhat objectively. For decades, perhaps even centuries now, the primary criteria many of our "leaders" and cabinet position holders have been chosen by is party allegiance and adherence to certain popular ideological doctrines. Whenever "leaders" are chosen for any other reason than merit and/or experience then what you get is actors instead of actual leaders. The civil government of New Orleans is guilty of this. The state government of Louisiana is guilty of this. In all probability the civil and state government where you live is also guilty of this. The Democrats are guilty of this. The Republicans are guilty of this. No administration has ever been MORE GUILTY of this than
the Bush administration under George W. Bush. For the love of God, now former director of FEMA, Michael D. Brown, who was "asked to resign" in the aftermath of Katrina is as fine of an example of this principle at work as any in history. Before his service as an "emergency management official" he was the president of the International Arabian Horse Association- a post he was in fact "asked" to resign from due to general incompetence. Read more about "Brownie", as he was affectionately known within the Bush Administration, HERE.

I listened carefully to the President's wrap-up speech concerning Katrina. It was a good speech. He said about everything that one would expect and like to hear is such a speech. I think it is safe to say that G.W.B. did not write this speech. This means that the speech did not emanate from our illustrious leader's own mind. All presidents these days have speech writers- I acknowledge. Which demonstrates my point brilliantly. This means that his eloquent speech was a carefully crafted script. I just have one word to say about that. ACTOR.

When this method of leadership selection- by party allegiance rather than skill-comes to fruition- the vacuum of real leadership occasionally combines with disasters both man made and natural- and large numbers of people die needlessly. Let us not forget that the presiding administration was also billed during its campaign for re-election as the "Homeland Security Administration", saying, in essence, that if you dared to elect the other group you would be much more likely to die because of the other group's lack of competence in security management.

I have long believed, or dare I say UNDERSTOOD, that our country functions primarily on a false sense of security. In general most people don't devote much time to comprehensive plans covering exact courses of action in case of catastrophes. After all, isn't that what we have civil "leaders" for? Isn't that what we are paying for when gazillions of tax dollars are poured into agencies like FEMA? Let us revisit Winston Churchill's quote from the 1930's. "The responsibility," of government, Churchill told the British Parliament, "for the public safety is absolute and requires no mandate. It is in fact, the prime object for which governments come into existence."

 So, to sum up these thoughts it can be deduced that as a country we in the U.S. have some major CULTURAL problems...problems with leadership selection and problems with an overblown sense of security...problems with the credibility of our government from the bottom to the top and the top to the bottom..problems indeed with our collective perception of reality. When a civilization becomes disconnected from reality in such ways, again I say, occasionally large numbers of people die NEEDLESSLY. This disconnect from reality we are collectively enfolded in would also include unreal perceptions of race relations and poverty, the legacy of America's ugly past that much of America works so hard to ignore.

Now, let us next address some of the other flaws in the logic of Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson....his quotes below:

"Most of us would take our families out of that city quickly to protect them from
danger. Then, able-bodied men would return to help others in need, as wives and others cared for children, elderly, infirm and the like."
"Prior to 40 years ago, such a pathetic performance by the black community in a time of crisis would have been inconceivable. The first response would have come from black men. They would take care of their families, bring them to safety, and then help the rest of the community. Then local government would come in."

First of all, from the time it came readily apparent that Katrina was the monster it was and was going to strike New Orleans- until it was too late to run for many- there was only a window of escape time somewhere between 48 and 72 hours for a city of millions. Do you really think your municipality or municipal "leaders" would have fared better evacuating an entire major city under the circumstances? I reckon not. Despite this, the Reverend is suggesting that there was not only enough time for most people to get themselves and the "elderly and infirm and the like" out in a orderly fashion and take care of business, but enough time for "able bodied men" to RETURN and evacuate more people in need. This premise is preposterous. The idea that there was any community, of black men or any other color, 40 plus years ago that could and would have performed better in the same circumstances- RETURNING to help more people- again- AFTER securing their own families elsewhere- is also preposterous. I would like to see one authentic example of this in history. Also, let us not forget that 40 plus years ago the catastrophe would probably been much worse because in that time they lacked the technology to forecast and track such a storm in the first place. 

Let us now examine the timeline and sequence of events:

Four days before Katrina hit they are still predicting that the hurricane will not be much to be worried about. That it will diminish and for people to use common sense in getting ready for a mild storm. Three days before Katrina hits Max Mayfield from the hurricane center calls the President of Jefferson Parish telling him that the storm is going to come right at New Orleans and it is going to intensify, even though no weather channels are making this prediction at that time. FEMA and the White House were also notified on the same afternoon.

Saturday morning was the first "overwhelming" indication that the storms path was
intensifying and was not turning like had been predicted by every major weather network inthe US.
The LA. National Guard was called up Saturday afternoon, 4000 troops, but over 3000 of them are deployed in Iraq, along with their gear which includes water craft, generators and high water vehicles. They are pre-positioned with water and food and told to be prepared to move after the storm passes.

The governor, Kathleen Blanco, realized that the storm was too big for state and
local government so she calls the president and asks him to declare a state of emergency and he does. Mayor Ray Nagin issued the first mandatory evacuation of New Orleans,the head of Jefferson Parrish, Walter Mastrie, sends Fire Trucks through the neighborhoods with loud speakers telling them neighborhoods they need to evacuate because they are expecting massive flooding. About 1 million people do leave..probably 100 thousand stay behind. The US Census shows that about 120 thousand people in the area do not have cars. These people are told to go to specific staging areas around the city and buses will be there to pick them up. Many buses never showed up. And nursing homes do not evacuate and no one seems to notice.

At this same time the New Mexico governor calls Kathleen Blanco and offers his National Guard troops. They are told that she will get back to them.

Staff members from more that 40 state and federal agencies camped in one room at Baton Rouge emergency headquarters, each being told to be prepared, positioned and ready as soon as the storm passes.

FEMA - in charge of distributing food and water to hurricane victimsUS Army corps of engineers- Water damage National Guard - Troops to protect and bring order to the area.

ALL ARE GIVEN ORDERS TO BE READY AND IN PLACE AFTER THE STORM PASSES.

Once the storm hits they lost all ability to contact each other. The phone lines,
cell phone lines all went dead and power is not available to re-charge hand held radios. The few generators that are not in Iraq are in the Baton Rouge command center, so do nothing for those stranded in the field. Very quickly the few battery operated communication tools they had have gone dead so except for small pods of volunteers they are basically cut off from all communication and coordination.

Tuesday morning they see a breech in the levee and the canal system fails, the city starts flooding. Meanwhile, the Chief Coordinator for FEMA goes on television, that very morning saying that he did not believe that New Orleans was "filling up like a bowl so to not be alarmed" but this is exactly what was happening. Also, Tuesday morning the emergency planning agent for Jefferson Parrish made the official request for the food and water, medical assistance, all things that were supposed to be in place already, along with the mobile morgue and he is told that it will be there within 24 hours. The New Mexico troops have still not been called to come ahead.

On Wednesday morning 25,000 evacuees are packed into the Super Dome and thousands more at the Civic Center, this is part of the original plan made to help in making sure that people had a safe place to go while waiting for relief to arrive. Total chaos is breaking out. They are waiting with no lights, no outside communication and no idea that NO ONE will be there for three more days. Local officals have been pleading with the National Guard to send troops unaware that the governor has still not given her blessings.

Wednesday afternoon they still have not seen the food or water.Dan Wessel who is a
FEMA contractor to bring food and water, sends his trucks and they are directed to the wrong cities. One is sent someplace in Alabama and one is sent to Dallas. When they do arrive in Louisiana there is no one to help distribute the goods.

Thursday morning the director of homeland security says, "I have not heard a report of thousands of people in the convention center without food or water." He says this on national television.

This is the same day that President Bush tells "Brownie" that he is doing a "heck of a job".
_______________________________________________________________________________
Now- Holding our government, at all levels, accountable is not only our basic right as Americans but it is our duty.
_______________________________________________________________________________

Next the Reverend says:

"If you're black and a hurricane is about to destroy your city, then you'll probably wait for the government to save you."

"When 75 percent of New Orleans residents had left the city, it was primarily immoral, welfare-pampered blacks that stayed behind and waited for the government to bail them out. This, as we know, did not turn out good results."

Although the Reverend works hard to give the impression that most of the people that did not leave were stupid, lazy, co-dependent, immoral Negroes that lack the intelligence to survive, let alone prosper, he fails to account for the elderly and infirm that he suggests he cares so greatly about, the poor, the members of other races etc., that stayed or were left behind for any number of reasons besides ignorance, immorality and/or blackness. Many people of many races and classes stayed behind for lots of reasons. Some stayed by choice and poor judgment, again victims of a systemic false sense of security. Many more lacked the ability, the finances or the transportation to leave or had anywhere to go TO especially with elderly or children in tow. Yes, there was a preponderance of black people left in New Orleans after the storm. Could this be attributed at all to the fact that the
preponderance of people that resided within New Orleans to begin with were black?  Naaa, it couldn't be could it?

I will mostly skip the comments concerning Jesse Jackson and Farrakhan, racist Bush, the conspiracy theories about the levees and the dispersion of rebuilding funds. All this goes under the heading of "what politicians do", unfortunately. Again this is a cultural problem- not restricted to black culture or black "leaders", but one that infects our culture at large.

More quotes from the Reverend:

"Of course, if these two were really serious about laying blame on government, they should blame the local one. Responsibility to perform – legally and practically – fell first on the mayor of New Orleans. We are now all familiar with Mayor Ray Nagin – the black Democrat who likes to yell at President Bush for failing to do Nagin's job. The facts, unfortunately, do not support Nagin's wailing. As the Washington Times puts it, "recent reports show [Nagin] failed to follow through on his own city's emergency-response plan, which acknowledged that thousands of the city's poorest residents would have no way to evacuate the city."
"One wonders how there was "no way" for these people to evacuate the city. We have
photographic evidence telling us otherwise. You've probably seen it by now – the photo showing 200 parked school buses, unused and underwater. How much planning does it require to put people on a bus and leave town, Mayor Nagin?"
"Instead of doing the obvious, Mayor Nagin (with no positive contribution from Democratic Gov. Kathleen Blanco, the other major leader vested with responsibility to address the hurricane disaster) loaded remaining New Orleans residents into the Superdome and the city's convention center. We know how that plan turned out."

Ok, so a hurricane is about to hit a major American city with only two or three days of notice. This city is an important part of the national and subsequently the world economy because of its port, its oil refineries and drilling rigs. It also is home to millions of taxpaying U.S. citizens. Are you telling me that the extent of the Federal Government's job description is to SIT THERE WAIT FOR THE MAYOR OF THIS CITY TO CALL AND SAY THE MAGIC WORDS FOR THEM TO SPRING INTO ACTION? If this is the case then I must say that there has been a great misunderstanding and I would like a much larger tax refund than I have been getting. Also, I would like an explanation as to what exactly we need FEMA, the most powerful federal agency of them all for in the first place. After all the title suggests federal emergency management- and the last time I checked- hurricanes threatening major U.S. cities qualifies as an emergency situation.

Yes, Nagin (and others) failed to execute the evacuation plan in total. As established, there simply was not a lot of time to pull off even the best of plans. Not that 200 hundred school buses would have done a whole lot for the tens of thousands of people needing a ride out of town....what with all the able bodied men skedaddling out of town to put their own families aside before RETURNING to navigate school bus loads of "immoral welfare recipients" (Peterson's concept) out of town as well. Note that part of the plan was also understood by just about everyone to be for people to congregate at the Superdome and at the convention center in case of a major hurricane. FEMA and all the other agencies knew that ahead of time. Now they play dumb.

More Peterson:
"About five years ago, in a debate before the National Association of Black Journalists, I stated that if whites were to just leave the United States and let blacks run the country, they would turn America into a ghetto within 10 years. The audience, shall we say, disagreed with me strongly. Now I have to disagree with me. I gave blacks too much credit. It took a mere three days for blacks to turn the Superdome and the convention center into ghettos, rampant with theft, rape and murder.

I think this is the crux right here. It appears that the Reverend is more interested in vindicating himself for that speech he gave five years ago than the facts. First off, he is certainly generalizing by stating that BLACKS would turn the country into a ghetto in ten years. The man just doesn't seem to think very highly of the race he is a member of- lumping the entire group into one broad, homogenous category, "BLACKS". This being the case, should we really trust him either, him being black and all? I am sure many people did take great issue with such grossly negligent statements five years ago. Hooray for them.

I acknowledge that African Americans as a group have many issues. I have seen stats that demonstrate that there are more black men in prison than in college. One reason for this is the root of bitterness buried in the past over inequality that goes largely unreconciled and the legacy of poverty, disenchantment and strife it has flowered into. One may tell themselves that they do not personally owe another race anything from any kind of reparations to even an apology for the past- even as they live with and off of the benefits of the nation's ugly past. Technically this is true. But, leaving it there does nothing to resolve the problems for any/either race. America will not see the harmony, the prosperity or any of the ideals it professes to strive for- until as best as it is able- it reconciles the past SOMEHOW. This can only come about by reckoning the truth instead of stereotyping, ignoring the valuable lessons of history and copping out.

Speaking of reckoning the truth- it has come to light that much of the chaos- the alleged rapes, murders and so on- in fact never happened. None of these reports have been substantiated. Read more about this here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/katrina/story/0,16441,1563532,00.html

I have to say that I am absolutely appalled that Re. Peterson has not retracted his statements regarding the rapes and murders that were reported so sensationally and then later revealed to be fictitious. I am amazed that his article and comments about these fictions stand still today in his web articles and the propaganda e-mails that are circulated hither and yon. Really!

More from the Rev.:

"President Bush is not to blame for the rampant immorality of blacks. Had New Orleans' black community taken action, most would have been out of harm's way. But most were too lazy, immoral and trifling to do anything productive for themselves."

"All Americans must tell blacks this truth. It was blacks' moral poverty – not their material poverty – that cost them dearly in New Orleans. Farrakhan, Jackson, and other race hustlers are to be repudiated – they will only perpetuate this problem by stirring up hatred and applauding moral corruption. New Orleans, to the extent it is to be rebuilt, should be remade into a dependency-free, morally strong city where corruption is opposed and success is applauded. Blacks are obligated to help themselves and not depend on the government to care for them. We are all obligated to tell them so."

It is true that president Bush is not responsible for anyone else's immorality. He is responsible for his own- which is a whole new subject.

It is hard for me to imagine blacks or any other "community" cohesively taking action the way the Reverend is suggesting. The very idea seems somewhat contrary to human nature and indeed the Reverends own words in which he talks about taking care of one's own family first AND THEN coming back for others.

I know a lot of immoral and lazy people. Most of them still have enough sense to dodge things like hurricanes inasmuch as they are able. His very thesis seems quite flawed there. As far as race hustlers stirring up hatred, I wonder what exactly he thinks he is doing by writing articles like this one
and labeling a whole race as immoral, stupid, lazy, incompetent and so on? New Orleans should be remade into a dependency-free- morally strong city... like say Washington D.C.? Please.  Actually, It would be the first such city on this planet. Blacks are obligated to help themselves? Fair enough. I think it has been shown that you can't depend on the feds for much except trying to get themselves elected. No disagreement there. That's reality. Ok, I am wondering though...who IS the government and/or "Christians" like Reverend Jesse Lee Peterson obligated to help? Read more about one fairly famous fellow's answer to that question at this last link below:

http://www.columbia.edu/cu/augustine/arch/teresa94.html

As voting, taxpaying citizens it is our right and our duty to hold our government at all levels accountable.


Hey Reverend Peterson, drop on by for a chat. God bless you. I actually think the programs you are engaged in are good- but the article regarding Katrina and New Orleans is a real travesty. I believe you should either defend it or retract it.

Here is the address for Peterson's
BOND group: bond@bondinfo.org Drop him/them a line.
Info about BOND can be found HERE.