Black Lawmakers Angry at Bush Response to Katrina, by CTV.ca, at American Buddha Online Library

BLACK LAWMAKERS ANGRY AT BUSH RESPONSE TO KATRINA

by CTV.ca

Updated: Fri. Sep. 2 2005 11:37 PM ET

U.S. Representative Jesse Jackson Jr. says America's government and industry must go above and beyond to help victims of Katrina.

Chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., right, huddles with Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr., D-Ill., left, during a news conference on Friday in Washington. (AP / Evan Vucci)

African American lawmakers have expressed outrage and blamed U.S. President George W. Bush for the "slow and incomplete response" to the devastation wrecked by Hurricane Katrina.

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus, along with members of the Black Leadership Forum, National Conference of State Legislators, National Urban League and the NAACP, told a news conference in Washington D.C. Friday that the response from the federal government was slow because most of those left behind were poor.

Chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md, said residents of the stricken areas had gone far too long without clean drinking water and asked why "the differences between those who live and those who die are poverty and skin color?"

The comments came as Bush, who earlier admitted his government's response was "unacceptable," began a tour of the storm-damaged areas.

Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Illinois., said too much focus had been placed on the looting which detracted from the main priority of getting food, water and stability to the tens of thousands of displaced victims.

Jackson asked why the federal government could not airlift thousands out of the Gulf Coast to New York, Chicago and Washington.

He also called on U.S. companies to take action, asking: "Where are the hotels of America, the airlines?"

Rep. Diane Watson, D-Calif., asked the media to stop describing the hurricane victims as "refugees."

"'Refugee' calls up to mind people that come from different lands and have to be taken care of. These are American citizens," Watson told the news conference.

"The issue is not about race right now," added Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, D-Ohio. "There will be another time to have issues about color."

Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, D-Mich., praised the city of Detroit for offering housing, food and clothing for 500 families displaced by Katrina and urged other cities to follow suit.

Rep. Cummings concluded by calling for citizens and governments to come together "with a force equal to that of Hurricane Katrina" to meet the needs of the hurricane victims.

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