Newspapers / The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, … / Aug. 31, 2006, edition 1 / Page 4
Part of The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
4A EDITORIAL AND OPINION/djE C#atl«ne #0« Thursday, August 31,2006 Clje Cljarlotte The Voice of the Black Community I53} Camden Road Charlotte, N.C. 28203 Gerald O. Johnson ceo/publisher Robert L Johnson co-publisher/general manager Herbert L White EDfroR in chief OPINION Hurricane reminds America to take action A year after devastating storm, government has done little to prepare for future The powerful images of human sufFaing in New Orleans and along the Gulf Coast that have been re-branded in our consciousness by the Spike Lee documentary and otho’ com memorations, not only tear at the heart of anyone who has a heart, but are also the things that motivate - or should motivate - people to action Tb make it f simple, what do we do about Katrina? .. George Bush recently answered a question at his press conference about Katrina, referring to the sheet in front of him, citii^ the billions of dollars that had be^ appropriated for this and that purpose. While I could cite them, that is besides the purpose when compared to the gross inaction by the administration, given the urgency the situ ation demands. Now, one year later: 100 million cubic feet of debris remains on the ground that could have been removed; 50,000 families that woe displaced are little closer to having the facilities in their communities of electricity waste dispos al, usable water, and other basic things; jobs are being in- sourced to immigrants, while evacuees cannot return to take them; and the Army Coip of Engineers still is not committed to rebuild the levees to withstand a force greater than a cate gory three hurricane. AH in all, the city of New Orleans does not appear to have a workable reconstruction plan in place that would give dis placed citizens the confidence that if, or when they return, they will be secure finm the rav^es of events like hurricane Katrina. One year later, we still ask where is the govmiment of the United States, with the troops that should be deployed to con trol crime, to pick up the debris, to supplement the adminis trative competence of FEMA, still a nightmare agency for people to work with? The answer is that the federal govern ment appropriated the money and walked away to let the states handle the burden, making a liar out of Bush, who came to New Orleans and said that his goal was to move “quickly,” “with bold action,” that he would “do what it takes” to make people whole. The administration’s priorities seem to be in the Middle East, where they not only appropriate money, but send the troops. In fact, so many troops that they don’t have enou^ troops or money to fix the problems posed by Katrina. Doing something about the proHem of Katrina seem to be related to stopping the fiow of resources into the kfiddle East in a failed military adventure. This failure'of government to address the virgent crisis of Katrina is now on George Bush’s shoulders. But this fall, Democrats are positioned to win the Congress, but they don’t have the Katrina crisis as their priority either. Their six-point campaign agenda features such issues as: National and homeland security, energy independence, health care, jots, college access and retirement security - but they do not address the human crises involving displaced people and dam aged prepay and lives caused by Katrina. But what if we said to candidates running on the Democratic Party line, “no votes unless you pledge to fix Katrina.” Holding an election this year, where a party is depending upon the votes of millions of Blacks, where himdreds of thousands of them have been uprooted, and not demand that they address it in return for their votes is a sellout of the power that was to come fiom the Votii^ Eight Act. People campa^ed to reauthorization of the Voting Eights Act. But for what, just to vote? The power of the vote comes not finm just voting, but instructing those who win election on the strength of the Black vote to do something that makes the Black community whole. How can we answer Frederick Douglass, Martin Luther King, Jr, Mec^ar Evers and the others who gave their lives for the effective citizenship if we simply give that power away? I am aware of the quasi-sophisticated view that if we demand, we could lose. But I also know that many Whites who voted for George Bush are caught up in the throes of this crisis, need the help of government., feel sold out and badly want change. In fact, their loyalty to a conservative, anti-gov ernment politics will be tested now that so many whites in the gulf need government assistance. They now know what it means to be ignored, subordinated, and treated as second- class citizens in their own land. So we must do as we have always done: lead in a progressive direction, and others will follow. Demand that the damage of Katrina be addressed, and don’t vote for candidates who will .,;not pledge to see it happen. RON WALTERS is the Distinguished Leadership Scholar, Director of the African American Leadership Institute and Professor of Government and Politics at the University of Maryland College Park. kATRNA'S oNb NfeAp ANMlVel^feY- AmmshW I ■THIS l^ ST/LL \ to! ^ Hurricane Katrina’s other victims GULFPORT, Miss. - Eesidents of Mississippi’s Gulf Coast have been victim ized more than twice in a year. First, it was Hurricanes Katrina and Eita doii^ the damage. And for the past year, most of the public atten tion stemming fiom tiie nat ural disast^ ba.-i! been cen tered around New Orleans, relegatii^ residents here to second-class status. Just as Pluto has had its I planet mem- I b e r s h i p I revoked, many I residents in I this area feel I they too, have I been kicked out of the universe. That became dear to me over the weekend when I was invited to moder ate a Tbwn Hall meeting in Gul^)ort sponsored by the NQssissippi State Conference NAACP and Oxfam America, a human rights group. One by one, people thanked me for visiting the gulf and expressed disappointment -sometimes anger — that their needs are not receivir^ as much attention as dis placed residents fixjm New Orleans. NAACP National President Bruce Gordon, actor Danny Glover and other activists were taken on a tour of East Bdoxi, a poor community within the shadows of the state’s thriving casinos. Hmricane Katrina left behind g calling card - miss ing roofo, rows of uprooted houses, blocks of anpty land that once constituted nd^- borhoods and a string of deaths. A report issued jointly by the state NAACP and the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning’s Center for Policy Eesearch and Planning, citing HUD fig ures, show that 21 percent of owner-occupied housing units in the state suffered at least some minor damage from Katrina. Approximately 22 percent of renter-occupied units suffered a similar fate. Unlike Louisiana, where the Democratic mayor and Democratic governor have be^ rovmdly criticized for being inept, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour has been able to project a different ima^. The former chairman of the National Repubhean Committee has President Bush’s ear and has projected himself as effectively responding to Hurricane Katrina. But a report by Oxfam titled, “Foigotten Communities, Unmet Promises: An unfolding tragedy on the Gulf Coast,” paints a different picture. “Almost $17 biUion in the form of Community Development Block Grant funds were designated this year for long-term housuag recovery It took Congress and the ' president four months to make the first appropriation; they made a second in Jxme 2006. Eleven months after Katrina and 10 months after Rita, not one house in hfississippi or Louisiana had been rebuilt with those funds.” The governor has received a series of waivers finm the Department of Housing and Urban Development, lower ing the number of units that must be set aside for low- income residents. He has also set it up so that his adminis tration, not the state Legislature, will have the final say over how most of those funds will be sp^t. A doi^hnut of casinos sur- roimds East Biloxi, a commu nity that has an equal pro portion of Whites and Blacks (39 percent), along with grow ing numbers of Hispanics and Asians. And as new casinos are con structed and others are allowed to build fartho’ back finm the shore, that hole in the middle is gettii^ dar^er- ously smaller. There were nine casinos operating pre-Katrina. Mayor A. J. Holloway has pre dicted more than twice that many will be operational by 2010. Gaming officials eJ5)ect revenue to rise fiom $1.2 bil- Uon before the storm to $4 bU- lionby 2010. There is a reason pxiblic offi cials are gambling on the casinos. “By 2005, gaming was sec ond in economic impact in NNPA PHOTO Hurricane Katrina’s devastation ieft the Guif Coast in ruins and promises to rebuiid communities unkept Biloxi only to the U.S. mili tary which had Keesler Air Force Base west of down town,” stat^ the report. “The casinos accoimted for almost $20 millinn in local tax rev enues - more than one-third of the city’s general fund — and employed 15,000 people. State government coffers received $334.6 million in taxes finm gamiug in fiscal 2005, with Gulf Coast casinos accovuiting for about 45 per cent of the statewide mar ket.” Before casinos were built in Biloxi, there were the \isual boasts about how casinos would hire mostly finm the local labor force. That hasn’t turned out to be true. Or, in the immortal words of Bill Cbnton, it depends on what is is. According to one 2003 sur vey only 16 percent of employed East Biloxi resi dents worked in casino-relat ed occupations. Another study said an even laiger pa*- centage lived in more distant coimties and commuted to work. Even whm they find work, the average salary for a hotel worker in Mssissippi is approximately $20,000 a year. But there are fewer housing imits to rent. And those units available in the post-Katrina world are renting at two to three times their earlier prices. This week, the eyes of the nation are focused mostly on New Orleans. While honor ing the deceased in neighbor ing Louisiana, it is equally important to uplift the mem ories of those who died in Gulfport, Biloxi and sur- rovmdir^ communities. Their lives are just as valuable as those being honored in New Orleans. GEORGE E. CURRY is editor- in-chief of the National Newspaper Publishers Association News Service and BlackPressUSA.com. Website: www.georgecurryeom Intimidation won’t work in college In Jffiy 2006,1 was chatting with a Western Alabama African American husband of a public school teacher who shared a story of how his wife had been the victim of teacher intim idation. This worried hus band said that a student told his wife that if she disci plined him that his father would come to the school and shoot her. The husband stated that his wife became emotionally frazzled, and he began to describe the high stress his wife imderwent from this potential fife threatening sit uation. His African America wife . a woman who holds strong convictions on helping students rise to their full potential. She con firmed that the student threat occurred, but she tried to minimize the seriousness of h^ stress. This teacher said that she chatted with other teachers who shared that this student had exploit ed this life threatening ploy in the past. What was very disconcert ing was that this teacher never revealed that the hel lion student suffered any con sequences for this clear case of teacher intimidation. As I recoimted this story in light of the murders that have taken place in schools across the nation, I was concerned that if other teachers knew of this student’s intimidation tactics, why was he stiU in school? As a college mathematics professor, I am a firm believer that you can disdpfine or teach but not do both in the college dassroom if the stu dents are to learn. When stu dents attempt to exploit gang bang^ teacher intimidation antics that may have worked in high school in my dass room, they qmckly find them- sdves asked to leave. 'These intimidator students also learn that I sp^t my early life growing between two public housing projects so gang banger antics only strengthen my r^olve to help them xmdergo an accultura tion to the decorum of a main stream college student. What intimidator students may find in colleges in gener al is that sodal promotion (teachers passing you to get you out of their dassroom) is not something that college professors will tolerate. Hence, it behooves par^ts who are hoping their children are successful in college to see that they mdeigo a main stream acculturation before entering college or intimida tor students may find them selves flunking out of college in their freshman year. Thus parents might consider their finandal losses in payii^ col lege tuition for students, hop ing to brandish a hip hop gang banger persona that may be fine in the hood’ but tantamount to academic sui- dde on a college campus. SHERMAN MILLER is a syndi cated columnist.
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Aug. 31, 2006, edition 1
4
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75