I assume the author of this article is spending their FIRST day on planet Earth! Therefore, I would like to explain to our honoured alien guest that the USA has always had no interest in the fate or fortune of poor Black people.

Maybe a lttle bit of our Earth history would help you understand. Black people were shipped in bulk to the US to be used as slaves, in the areas of manual labour, domestic labour, sexual services, and medical experimentation. As the US developed as a country, so did the excuses used to mistreat Black people, ending up with the fabrication of 'scientific theories' of race that are still used to day to 'prove' that black people are the most inferior, and jewish people the most superior. Not surprisingly, the pseudo scientists that came up with these slavery justifying theories in the early part of the 19th century tended to be jewish- an irony since eventually Hitler would borrow these self same theories from the US, and use them to justify his extermination of the Slavonic (and to a lesser extent the jewish) people during WW2. Given that you are an alien, I would like to point out that there is ONLY one human race, but that humans do sometimes differentiate themselves on ethnic lines, a slightly odd concept bringing together aspects of skin colour, culture, upbringing, language, geography, belief systems, politics etc. In truth, only stupid humans identify themselves significantly this way. Intelligent humans recognise their family, and then their humanity, and would only discriminate against other groups of humans on the basis of objectional belief systems willingly adopted by that group since adulthood, eg., common criminals, or 'ethnic' groups that have declared themselves a 'master-race' (sometimes called 'god's chosen').

Anyway, so successful were these various racists rantings that today in the States, black people are still considered inferior, disposable, and responsible for their own fate. As in the days of slavery, the ONLY black people allowed wide publicity for their views in the USA are those that:
-agree with the status quo.
-agree that black people are inferior
-agree that it is FAR MORE important for the US to spend its money helping Israel than helping its own black population
-agree that the US army should be filled with black Americans dedicated to the killing of other dark skinned humans across the Earth.
-agree that the far smaller jewish minority in the States must ALWAYS have far more political influence or power than the VASTLY greater black minority
-agree that the worst thing that happened in human history was the part of WW2 that killed jews, and not the slave trade (practised by Europeans and Muslims) that genocided whole populations, and led to the rape, torture, and murder by forced labour of tens of millions of black humans.

Any black american that fails to agree with ANY of the above points is targetted for political or professional destruction!!!

So, that black person dead in a ditch, or burnt in a church, or lynched from a tree, or arrested for having a white British wife (see WW2), or dissected while still alive, or raped by her master, or castrated by his owner, or thrown overboard, or whatever, forms the ETERNAL SYMBOL that defines the true nature of American society!!!

Don't forget to tell your alien that balck people were used as slaves by other black people long before the white people used them as such, and that white people were used as slaves by black people hundreds of years ago. Also, tell the alien that the adjective black is not used with a capital letter unless it appears at the start of a sentence, the same rules as for any other adjective. It is normal to write black people, white people, red car, brown cow, etc.

You talk complete garbage. Seeing a lot of "black people" hurt by the hurricane in a city with a large black community is to be expected. Secondly, a lot of "white people" have been made homeless and had lives ruined by Katrina, and we've seen a lot of them too.

George Bush has not gone around ordering the federal agencies not to save black people. It is more down to the ineffectiveness of these services, which has made us see a lot of people from New Orleans suffering. This happens to include a lot of black people, but it includes a lot of white people as well. We do however see a lot of media coverage of "black people hurt by the hurricane". Whether this is because media outlets are trying to portray this event as something like the horrors that occur in places in Africa is not something I know.

I also see the people who say this as racist in their own right. I mean, they say "OMG a black person in the water, that must be racist!!!1111!!" when if it is someone white, nothing at all is said. There is an obvious reason for this, and this is due to people who are racists in their own right, such as Kanye West, expecting special treatment for "black people" just because of their skin colour. What a great way to spit on long fight for equal rights in the past.

To expect to be saved by the richest superpower in the world when you are drowning, dehydrating and starving, is not "special treatment" it is a right, whatever your colour.

But I must commend Twilight for his truthful post. Black and brown-skinned people are being deliberately exterminated like animals all over the Earth, that much is crystal clear.

"To expect to be saved by the richest superpower in the world when you are drowning, dehydrating and starving, is not "special treatment" it is a right, whatever your colour. "

So what you're saying is that because some were black, and they weren't saved straight away like a lot of people from different races or colour...that makes the US Government racist?

I think it makes them incompetent, yes, but racist? No, that's obviously a contradiction of the event that took place.

It is irrelevant whether the government’s criminal negligence was in of itself “racist”….the result is the same.

What is racist, and obvious to anyone who has eyes in his head is that in New Orleans, as in the rest of the U.S.A., the poor are, have always been, and seemingly always will be, made up predominantly of Black Americans. In the U.S.A., Black Americans are denied the education, the services, and the opportunity to rise above the poverty in which they were (quite literally!) enslaved more than 200 years ago.

That is what is racist, and to ignore it, is to be ignorant, stupid, or blind.

>>George Bush has not gone around ordering the federal agencies not to save black people.

Why should he?

Perhaps if you believe the idea that his cronies in FEMA mounted a laissez faire or incompetent rescue operation that left the car-less and poor helpless, you might think the US govt was simply negligent ("criminally negligent" in moral language)

But FEMA didn't behave in a laissez-faire manner. In fact it hindered the rescue effort while not mounting any of it's own. The fact is that this tactic, which also helped obscure the general negligence of FEMA by allowing it to block reporting, was excused by the racist propaganda that the mostly black population "had to be controlled" more than they had to be rescued. Ergo the pictures of blacks floating goods captioned as "looters", while whites were "finders".

When a racist propagandist system is complicit in the deaths of thousands of blacks, I call it ethnic cleansing. What do you call it?

">> Ergo the pictures of blacks floating goods captioned as "looters", while whites were "finders"."

I'm not going to get into a debate over Yahoo!, who did this exact thing (and which has consequently had every other news agency/government painted with the same brush). I will say however that Yahoo! is NOT a subsidiary of the US government, and that I gather the news postings on Yahoo! were made by two separate Newsies.

">> When a racist propagandist system is complicit in the deaths of thousands of blacks, I call it ethnic cleansing. What do you call it? "

That is a ridiculous statement to make; you'll find many "white people" died in the catastrophe as well. Hurricanes and its effects don't pick out people due to class boundaries.


">>What is racist, and obvious to anyone who has eyes in his head is that in New Orleans, as in the rest of the U.S.A., the poor are, have always been, and seemingly always will be, made up predominantly of Black Americans. In the U.S.A., Black Americans are denied the education, the services, and the opportunity to rise above the poverty in which they were (quite literally!) enslaved more than 200 years ago. "
First of all, education is a state responsibility not a federal one, so it still doesn't make "George Bush racist" as everyone seems to be throwing around. Secondly, up to 16, education is compulsory for all, regardless of colour. As for "services" that's a pretty loose term.

Logical in defending a false premise? You keep arguing that George Bush is not a racist. Yet I don’t seem to hear anyone saying that he is.
So what’s your point?
What I do hear people saying, is that American society is so constructed as to keep Blacks on the bottom of the social ladder (for 400 years).. and thus American society is inherently racist.

Or what? What is your excuse for this situation?

And as you pride yourself as being “logical”, please include some facts…(after all, logic is only useful if based on facts)….tell us what is the percentage of American Blacks as defined as being poor, and what is the percentage of American Blacks in America’s prisons?
And then, please explain why this is.
….and in doing so, please make some reference to the fact that in America, Blacks were kept as slaves for over 300 years….it just might be relevant.

'But I must commend Twilight for his truthful post. Black and brown-skinned people are being deliberately exterminated like animals all over the Earth, that much is crystal clear.'


Yes, mostly by other black or brown skinned people. China executes 10,000 people per year according to Amnesty, and thousands are killed at Chinese workplaces every year. Africa is a good place to go if you want an early, violent death too. The war in the Congo has killed about 4 million people in the last seven years.

">> Ergo the pictures of blacks floating goods captioned as "looters", while whites were "finders"."

I'm not going to get into a debate over Yahoo!, who did this exact thing (and which has consequently had every other news agency/government painted with the same brush). I will say however that Yahoo! is NOT a subsidiary of the US government, and that I gather the news postings on Yahoo! were made by two separate Newsies.


--


The racist portrayal of black people in the US media isn't something I have to prove purely in relation to this. That blacks are violent and prone to rioting has been suggested by mass media narratives that have been built up over decades.


--



">> When a racist propagandist system is complicit in the deaths of thousands of blacks, I call it ethnic cleansing. What do you call it? "

That is a ridiculous statement to make; you'll find many "white people" died in the catastrophe as well. Hurricanes and its effects don't pick out people due to class boundaries.


--


You're misconstruing my argument again. We're discussing the rescue effort not the hurricane.

As for the race / class division point, of course all the victims weren't black, but they were almost all poor. Besides, fascists like the Bush junta tend to lump 'trailer trash' whites in with the blacks whose culture they share. There are few parts of America with a higher proportion a black population.

">>Logical in defending a false premise? You keep arguing that George Bush is not a racist. Yet I don’t seem to hear anyone saying that he is.
So what’s your point?"

Read This:
">>I assume the author of this article is spending their FIRST day on planet Earth! Therefore, I would like to explain to our honoured alien guest that the USA has always had no interest in the fate or fortune of poor Black people."
George W Bush represents the USA and it's clearly insinuated that he and everyone else in American has "no interest in the fate or fortune of poor Black people", which of course is exactly why he asked for billions of dollars of Congress.


">>And as you pride yourself as being “logical”, please include some facts…"
I VERY MUCH DID. Someone pointed out that blacks are "denied education" and I produced the fact that everyone in the US gets an education up to 16 (like the UK and many other countries i'll add). I

">And as you pride yourself as being “logical”, please include some facts…(after all, logic is only useful if based on facts)….tell us what is the percentage of American Blacks as defined as being poor"

It depends on what you amount to being "poor" and of course this would change from different economic areas in the US. Also, reliable figures aren't available for what you call "American Blacks" as most of such things are done on ethnicity not colour. (the US Census being one)

">>And then, please explain why this is.
….and in doing so, please make some reference to the fact that in America, Blacks were kept as slaves for over 300 years….it just might be relevant. "
Yes perhaps in the Imperial Age several hundreds of years ago. What next? Are you going to start claiming the whole of Germany hates the Jews because of the holocaust? get a grip

">>Besides, fascists like the Bush junta tend to lump 'trailer trash' whites in with the blacks whose culture they share. "

Yes of course, George W Bush ships people from all over the country out of those too categories and puts them in Hurricane prown areas. Or it could be due to settlement, that they're large numbers of Black people in the Southern US (such as New Orleans) in comparison to other parts of the US.

"It depends on what you amount to being "poor" and of course this would change from different economic areas in the US. Also, reliable figures aren't available for what you call "American Blacks" as most of such things are done on ethnicity not colour. (the US Census being one)"
.............

Well actually, poverty IS defined by the US government, and actually records ARE maintained by race by the US Census, and a cursory look on google would show you that. American Blacks are twice as likely to be poor (as defined by the U.S. government) then the population as a whole.

These are quotes from the US Census Bureau:

"As defined by the Office of Management and Budget and updated for inflation using the Consumer Price Index, the average poverty threshold for a family of four in 2004 was an income of $19,307; for a family of three, $15,067; for a family of two, $12,334; and for unrelated individuals, $9,645. "

"There were 37.0 million people in poverty (12.7 percent) in 2004

"In 2004, the poverty rate remained unchanged for blacks (24.7 percent)"

(thus, the poverty rate for American Blacks are twice that of the rest of the population)


So, either do your homework... or just stick to your pompous grammatical suggestions, because you obviously don't know what you're talking about when it comes to Amercan Blacks in American Society....(you ain't got a clue)

">>Besides, fascists like the Bush junta tend to lump 'trailer trash' whites in with the blacks whose culture they share. "

Yes of course, George W Bush ships people from all over the country out of those too categories and puts them in Hurricane prown areas. Or it could be due to settlement, that they're large numbers of Black people in the Southern US (such as New Orleans) in comparison to other parts of the US.

--

"lump in" is a colloquial figure of speech meaning "to stigmatize or discrimnate against by association"

">>Well actually, poverty IS defined by the US government, and actually records ARE maintained by race by the US Census, and a cursory look on google would show you that. American Blacks are twice as likely to be poor (as defined by the U.S. government) then the population as a whole.

These are quotes from the US Census Bureau:

"As defined by the Office of Management and Budget and updated for inflation using the Consumer Price Index, the average poverty threshold for a family of four in 2004 was an income of $19,307; for a family of three, $15,067; for a family of two, $12,334; and for unrelated individuals, $9,645. "

"There were 37.0 million people in poverty (12.7 percent) in 2004

"In 2004, the poverty rate remained unchanged for blacks (24.7 percent)"

(thus, the poverty rate for American Blacks are twice that of the rest of the population)


So, either do your homework... or just stick to your pompous grammatical suggestions, because you obviously don't know what you're talking about when it comes to Amercan Blacks in American Society....(you ain't got a clue)"

Thank you for doing as I predicted.
You point out that 24.7% of "black people" are below the poverty line. What you fail to spot is 75.3% of people are not black and below the poverty line, but of course they're not black so it of course doesn't matter to your outdated stereotypical opinions.

Eariler you also said:
">>is that American society is so constructed as to keep Blacks on the bottom of the social ladder (for 400 years)"
Yet the majority of the people at the bottom are non blacks, and that the majority of blacks are not at the bottom, making this Imperial Age comment off par. Clearly "the "blacks" are not anchored at the bottom of the social scale.

">>"lump in" is a colloquial figure of speech meaning "to stigmatize or discrimnate against by association""

Thanks for clearing that up, it's a new one to me. xD

Jeez, you're such a fu*king idiot...you can't even read your own "cut & paste"...maybe if you'd do a little research...like go to the American Census Bureau website, you could learn something...but hey, that might get in the way of you pre-concieved, ill thought out, racist opinions...and subsequent stupid "logic".

(cut & paste)
"In 2004, the poverty rate remained unchanged for blacks (24.7 percent)"

(translation for the dumb):

24.7% OF THE AMERICAN BLACK POPULATION are in poverty.

(cut & paste)
"There were 37.0 million people in poverty (12.7 percent) in 2004 "

(...again, translation for the dumb):

12.7% of THE AMERICAN POPULATION AS A WHOLE are in poverty.

(one again):

American Blacks are twice as likely to be poor than the American Population as a whole.

Do your homework...ok?



Jeez!! (it's embarrassing!)

"Twilight"'s comments are anti-semitic, any chance the moderators could hide them as per the guidelines?

There's a lot to be said about racial discrimination in the USA (and elsewhere), levels of poverty for different ethnic groups and all the other issues raised by Hurricane Katrina, but recycling conspiracy theories about Jewish people is not something which should feature on indymedia.

Take care

Dan

Mr Logical, you seem to care more about grammar than people.

Come down to the real world, meet with everyday people, we are not so scary.

You might even find your heart, and realise that your postings which aim to show just how correct you can be, alienate you from your fellow beings and hurt and antagonise the very people you suggest that you support.

Take my hand and the first step..

To my eyes, the picture suggests three people in a big gov limmo and one person in the water. I did not first see the colour/race of any of these people.

I saw the difference in means. The US gov (just like many other gov's), cares only for it's own interests, as do many individuals.

Until we all start putting the needs of others first, others will suffer. I will say that again, just to get it into my own head.

Until we all start putting the needs of others first, others will suffer.

Until we all start putting the needs of others first, others will suffer.

Until we all start putting the needs of others first, others will suffer.

Have I found the answer?

I don't wish to appear to be bigheaded but I'm going out to put this into practice now as it just might work, I hope it is contagious...