ADMIT IT: KATRINA’S VICTIMS ARE BLACKS
The obvious[1] yet mostly unspoken[2] fact of the Katrina disaster is that all but the poorest blacks escaped New Orleans before the storm[3].
Lacking in[4] automobiles and money or credit cards to secure lodging[5] outside the flood[6] zone, the “refugees” are now attacked by Cable News anchors[7] as looters[8] for simply trying not to die — without food and water, people tend to die — while the few whites still stuck[9] in New Orleans are only “finding” food and water. […]
The population of New Orleans was 67% black. The poverty rate in Orleans Parish was a staggering 34%, nearly triple the national rate of 12%.
A shocking example of the utterly random[10] “law[11] and order” shown on the flooded streets of New Orleans came today, videotaped for millions to see on the cable news channels: Police stopped and arrested a man (black) who took an abandoned car to try to drive his family to dry land. The world saw this man handcuffed[12] and pushed against the automobile he attempted to use to get his family out of the toxic floodwaters.
Meanwhile, some 15,000 hurricane[13] survivors — black people, with very few exceptions — have been camped out at the New Orleans Convention Center for days. They were told buses would arrive to take the survivors out of the lawless flood zone, that water would arrive, that supplies and medical help would be delivered. They are literally begging[14] on the cable-news channels for a food drop[15], a drop of drinking waters from the helicopters that buzz constantly but deliver nothing.
The blacks abandoned to the flooded horror of what was New Orleans are being raped[16], beaten, shot dead, and left to die of thirst[17] and disease[18]. […]
Those who didn’t drown[19] or die in the aftermath[20] are at this moment being uprooted[21], sent to uncertain exile in cities up north and neighboring states[22], where they will most likely resume[23] hard lives with dead-end jobs, terrible schools and (at best) a roof over their head that belongs to a landlord or the government. […] They don’t own homes, so they have no insurance to rebuild their property. If they had jobs, those jobs are gone — the rebuilding jobs will go to out-of-state contractors[24].
Adapted from :
http://www.sploid.com/news/2005/09/01/admit-it-katrinas-victims-are-blacks-123542.php, 9/2/2005
[1] obvious [ : évident, manifeste
[2] unspoken [ : inexprimé
[3] storm [ tempête, orage
[4] lacking in: faute de, par manque de
[5] lodging [
[6] flood [inondation
[7] Cable News anchors [ : présentateurs de journaux télévisés sur le Cable
[8] looters [: pillards
[9] stick, stuck, stuck: (ici) coincés
[10] utterly random [ complètement, totalement au hasard
[11] law [ : la loi
[12] handcuffed : menotté
[13] hurricane [ ouragan, cyclone
[14] beg, beg, beg: supplier
[15] drop: ( ici) parachutage
[16] rape [: violer
[17] thirst [ : la soif
[18] disease[: maladie
[19] drown [: noyer
[20] aftermath : suites, conséquences
[21] uprooted : déracinés
[22] neighbo(u)ring states [ : états voisins
[23] Mresume [ : reprendre, recommencer
[24] contractor: entrepreneur