Bush Denies Racial Component to Response

[steven]

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- President Bush denied Monday there was any racial component to people being left behind after Hurricane Katrina, despite suggestions from some critics that the response would have been quicker if so many of the victims hadn't been poor and black.

"The storm didn't discriminate and neither will the recovery effort," Bush said. "The rescue efforts were comprehensive. The recovery will be comprehensive."

Bush made the remarks to reporters beneath a highway overpass at the end of a tour that took him through several flooded New Orleans neighborhoods. Occasionally, Bush had to duck to avoid low-hanging electrical wires and branches.

It was Bush's first exposure to the on-the-ground leadership of his new hurricane relief chief. The federal response to the disaster has been roundly criticized as sluggish and inept

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[Caledon]

If you mean that it was the poor and middle class that lived in the lowest (least valuable) ground in the city and thus suffered disproportionately, then its fair to say that in a city where 65+% of the population was african american...there was a racial component.

If you mean that the local, state and federal government purposely and maliciously ignored or mismanaged the crisis because the affected people were african american, then I cant agree with that assumption.
-New Orleans and Louisiana were never the wealthiest or the most efficiently run locality in the nation
-the federal government did redirect FEMA and many emergency response services to focus on terrorism undermining our ability to respond to natural disasters
-It has been said that the state could have used school buses to transport everyone left behind by other forms of transit and that makes alot of sense that at the local level they did not include all the possibilities in their disaster plan (if they had one?)

I dont think anyone was purposely ignoring the situation because of race. Its unfortunate but alot of this disaster has its roots in reorganizing the US government agencies because of 911 than it does with any racial component on the federal level.

I think its fair to blame the local government, the state government and the federal government but when it comes to people and their personal suffering....I see everyone suffering (some more than others) but no ones suffering is being purposely and maliciously compounded because of their race or ethnicity.