US Govt. Turned Down Millions in Foreign Aid Offers to Katrina Victms

An article in Sunday's Washington Post reported that the Federal Government was so unprepared to deal with the aftermath of the damage to New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, that it turned down more than 50 offers of aid from nations around the world to help the citizens of New Orleans.

From water pumping equipment, generators and search and rescue teams to cell phone networks, ships to house displaced residents and medical supplies, the US government turned down aid potentially worth almost a billion dollars. If you're interested use the link above to read John Solomon and Spencer Hsu's eye-opening article.

It's more than a little disconcerting to discover that our government, which has spent more than $125 Billion dollars in taxpayer money on Katrina-related costs, could not find ways to channel aid which was desperately needed to the citizens who suffered for days in the sweltering heat until the US Army finally managed to begin tranpsporting supplies to relieve the suffering.

But it's not surprising. In a nation that still has an enormous blind spot when it comes to obejective historical analysis of slavery and the effects on the institutionalized racism still a part of America to this day, why should it come as a shock that the same GOP-led government was somehow "uable to cope" with the distribution and transportation of desperately needed supplies to thousands of poverty-stricken largely African-American citizens?

Read the Post article and decide for yourself. Was the government more concerned about saving face after the huge bureaucratic failures in the wake of Katrina, or were they legitmately unable to find ways to transport aid to those in need?

Remember, relief supplies transported across the globe by the US military had reached Indonesia 48 hours after the 2005 Tsunami. There are a range of unexplored issues related to the race of many of the New Orleans Katrina victims and the shockingly slow, ineffectual and unacceptable response of the Federal Government. Are most Americans ready to examine these issues?

Probably not, for like slavery they force us to collectively look inside our national conscious and squarely face the realities of race in our country and in our hearts. What's in there isn't easy to face.

CG

Rodney King 15 Years Later

Sunday April 29, 2007 - On Sunday afternoon NPR broadcast a really fascinating episode of the Tavis Smiley Show from Los Angeles that looked back on the riots that gripped the City of Angels in 1992 in the wake of the acquittal of the four white LAPD police officers charged with beating African-American motorist Rodney King.

California State Senator Mark Ridley-Thomas, Maxine Waters the US Representative from California's 35th congressional district and LA Mayor Antonio Villagrosa were all on the program. Former LA police Chiefs Darryl Gates and Willie Williams were both guests on the program as well.

Gates was surprisingly candid about how shocked he was when he walked into work the day after the videotapes of the vicious beating of King were released and his secretary told him something horrible had happened. After examining the tapes himself, Gates said he was as disturbed as anyone.

Some have accused Gates of creating something of a "occupational force" mentality within the LAPD ranks in regards to the controversial police tactics used in the mostly African-American and Latino communities. So I admit to being somewhat taken back hearing this from the mouth of the same man who created SWAT teams in part to deal with urban violence stemming from the riots that broke out in southern Los Angeles' mostly African-American community in the 1960's.

Willie Williams (the former LAPD chief hired in the wake of Gates departure) expressed concern that the rapid clean up of the landscape and streets of LA had the effect of clouding the deeper issues of prejudice and racism that have existed in the city of Los Angeles for decades. Tensions between African-Americans, whites, Koreans and Latinos stem in part from the lack of education, community investment, economic planning, career opportunities and jobs that affect the poor communities of color.

Each of the politicians reported that it is in fact these socio-economic conditions that lie at the root of these problems that explode into the media spotlight in the wake of incidents like the OJ Simpson decision, the acquittal of the LAPD officers in the beating of Rodney King or when Soon Ja Du, the Korean grocer who killed 15 year-old African-American Latasha Harlins when she shot her in the back of the head after a physical confrontation over a $1.79 bottle of orange juice; Du received 5 years probation, a $500 fine and 400 hours of community service from Judge Joyce Karlin. Karlin's decision outraged community activists and further fractured relations between the black and Korean communities in LA.

Let's get serious; can you imagine the reaction if a 15 year-old white girl from Westchester County was shot in the head for stealing a bottle of juice from a convenience store?

The causes of these incidents are not just racism, it's about perception; nearly 70% of the LAPD is now made up of people of color yet the tensions between police and residents of poorer communities continues to exist as do incidents of police brutality by the LAPD.

America can never collectively evolve as a nation until all citizens have a better understanding of how substandard education, exclusion, lack of economic opportunity, fear and ignorance spark the prejudice and racism that continue to divide our nation and pollute our collective conscious.

CG

April 26, 2007 - A cnn.com piece reports that Israel announced it will plant a forest of trees in honor of Coretta Scott King, the wife of slain civil righs leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It's such a postive healing step for relations between African-Americans and Jews as well as a healing balm for the areas scrorched by Hezzbollah rocket attacks last year.

Anti-Semetism has always troubled me. Our next door neighbors were Jewish in the suburban Bethesda, Maryland neighborhood in which I was raised. As the oldest son in the only African-American family in the area I always found that a genuine closeness and comfort existed between our two families. Mrs. "J" (their last name begins with J and ends with a Z, but I'm protecting their privacy) would always happily offer a ride to school to my younger brother or me if we needed one. During holidays, my mother always sent my brother or me over to their home with fresh baked bread to honor Hannakuh. I can't count how many games of Kick the Can we played with the two kids Jenna and Paul during long summer evenings.

That was my experience with Jewish people growing up, not seeing them as Jewish but simply as the nice people who lived next door. In the 1980's and early 90's when a new wave of Black Nationalism and Afro-Identity swept through popular culture via music, there were some really uncomfortable periods for African-American/Jewish relations. I got really bored with the tedious, Anti-Semetic rants from people like Khalid Muhammed and Sister Souljah who often used the media spotlight to demonstrate their contempt for Jews.

Don't get me wrong, I loved Chuck D and Public Enemy, but Sister Souljah always came off as a loose associate of the group, but she had no real musical talent of her own who seemed desperate for attention. Frankly she was such a moron I never took her Anti-Semitism very seriously - it was based on ignorance and anger; and shed light on her own personal fear and insecurity.

Jesse Jackson calling New York Hymie-Town didn't help. Nor did it help when a car in the motorcade of a popular Brooklyn Rabbi struck and killed 4 year old Gavin Cato; an African American child wo lived in Crown Heights. The subsequet protests between members of Crown Heights black and Orthodox Jewish residents horrified the nation and divided New York City.

But there are many of us, Jewish and African-American who have never bought into the media's common stereotypical Spin of Jewish-Black relations. History makes it clear that the ancestors of Jews and Americans of African descent share a common bond in being used as slave labor and scapegoated for societal ills.

April 25, 2007 - Author Robert Dallek was interviewed on NPR's 'Fresh Air' tonight about his new book chronicling the intriguing and multi-layered relationship between former President Richard Nixon and former National Security Adviser and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.

'Nixon and Kissinger; Partners in Power' draws on a tantalizing mix of Kissinger's phone transcripts, previously unreleased audio tapes from Oval Office conversations as well as documents from H.R. Haldeman and Alexander "I'm in Control Here" Haig.

Dallek, who interviewed Kissinger extensively, only confirms Nixon's strange paranoid personality with a variety of accounts that offer piercing insight into the Chief Watergate Conspirator. Some of the best; Nixon always insisted that he exit the door of Air Force One alone for full effect, (including the historic "de-planing" in China in 1972) and it really irked Kissinger; Nixon loathed the press with an unsettling hatred and contempt often labeling them "sluts" and "fucking cocksuckers" in private; while Dicky was ranting about the need to overhaul the Whitehouse staff for his second term, he did insist that they keep then RNC Chair George HW Bush on because "he'd do anything we asked him."

Most disturbing however, Dallek's descriptions of Nixon's surprisingly pedestrian anti- semitism. Nixon called Kissinger a "Jew boy" behind his back and to his face as well. The former President seemed to harbor a simplistic narrow-minded perception of Jews that was likely shaped in the WASPish Southern California (Yorba Linda) community in which he was raised.

As with most who harbor racist or bigoted views, there is absolutely no rationale to Nixon's anti-semitism (beyond his own personal insecurity, fear and paranoia) - Dallek relates a time in the Oval Office when Nixon was impatiently waiting for Kissinger to show up for a meeting. H.R. Haldeman noted that he (Kissinger) was running late and Nixon is said to have remarked, "Of course he's late! He's a Jew isn't he?"

Interesting how a figure enmeshed in complexities such as the Vietnam War, conflicts in the Mid-East and Watergate could harbor such a simplistic, distorted perception of people outside his own race and religion. Sadly the Nixon Administration is hardly the only Republican White House in which key power players were well known Anti-Semites.

Jim Baker anyone?

CG

IAC To Launch African-American-Focused Website

April 24th - Last Thursday Carly Mayberry penned a piece on the Hollywood Reporter Website about IAC's January launch of a Website with content geared towards an African-American audience. As yet there is no name for the site which is part of IAC CEO Barry Diller's IAC Progamming initiative.

If you've surfed for hotties on match.com, trolled for information on ask.com or tried to boost party attendance on evite then you're already familiar with InterActive Corp./IAC.

(With the expanding power of Webmetrics God knows they are familiar with YOU...)

Even though the intent is to market products and services I think it's a good sign to see advertisers and marketers actively reaching out for the African-American Dollar - which was around $600 Billion in 2002 according to the BE Board of Economists. Sure advertisers target the black audience on channels like UPN, or BET - but to be honest I'm African-American and I really never gravitated towards either of those channels though I think it's a positive step for media evolution that there are at least SOME efforts to target content towards an urban Africa-American television audience.

For me personally I get a much more engaging sense of connectivity to my culture by listening to the Tavis Smiley show on NPR or by reading James Baldwin or Zora Neale Hurston than I do say, watching a show like Moesha or the Hughleys.

Most of the "mainstream media" ads I see in print or online rarely target African-Americans, I'll make it a point to give some closer examination to a broader range of media targeted towards African-Americans and other minorities as this blog (and eventually the Website) continues to evolve in scope, complexity and analysis. We hope.

CG

Sunday April, 22nd - 60 Minutes just did an excellent piece on Iraqi physician Dr. Quoresh al-Kasir, one of millions of Iraqi citizens struggling to cope with day to day life in Baghdad.

Lara Logan gives a piercing insight into the realities of living in the middle of a war zone and gives a fresh perspective on the innocent civilians trapped between US Forces struggling enforce the rule of law and the Shite and Sunni militias battling for control of the region.

Dr. Quoresh and his family are residents of the violence-wracked Adamiya neighborhood and it was difficult to listen to him describe how Iraqi gunmen murdered two unarmed boys in front of his young daughter.

Regardless of where one stands on the US occupation of Iraq the conditions on the streets of Baghdad are glaring evidence that the current strategy in Iraq is not working.

I share the views of those who have little faith that the Bush administration will muster the moral courage to put aside their stubborn determination to be right and acknowledge that relegating US troops to the role of intermediary between the Sunni and Shiite militias waging an internal civil war is folly pure and simple.

To those who would argue that an immediate phased withdrawal of US forces from Iraq would lead to a descent into chaos: Chaos already reigns in Iraq - 72 Iraqis were killed today and three more US soldiers won't be coming home alive.

Cotton Eye Joe

Took in my first Yankee game of the year tonight up in the Bronx! The Yanks looked sharp defensively nailing at least two double plays to support a solid pitching effort by first-time MLB winner Kei Igawa.

It was chilly, enough that when Alex Rodriguez went after a pitch that looked way outside and drilled a two-run homer into left field in the sixth inning, my wooden seat felt cold when I finally sat down after standing up to cheer the homer and waited for A-Rod to come back up the steps of the dugout for a tip of the hat to the fans.

A near constant "misting" from the cloud-filled sky above and the breeze blowing through the wooden seats in tier box section 638 (four rows up from the upper deck rail above the third base line ) made the temperature feel more like 45 degrees.

With NY ahead 8-2 I was debating going home because I'd gone to the stadium straight from work and wasn't dressed warmly enough. So my buddy suggested we walk down to find some better seats on the lower level. Enough fans had left that we found a couple empty seats about 20 rows back just off home plate, it was much warmer under the cover.

We were talking when my buddy Eddie called me to invite me up to his box on the loge level. Eddie and I used to bartend together at an Irish Bar on the Upper West Side and he's been a bartender in Yankee Stadium for about 6 years. So he's got some pull in the proverbial chain; enough that if the people using the box he's working in are really cool - he'll call me and tell me to come up and hang out.

It took four minutes to walk up there and we met the guy who'd rented the box, a really laid back guy in his early fifties who'd graduated from the University of Michigan. Being a Penn State grad myself I conceded that they'd kicked the Nittany Lion's ass for the past few series. He laughed and just welcomed me as if I was a guest. Most of his party were gone, so I hung out with Eddie and my other buddy and feasted on the buffet leftovers while watching the last two innings in complete comfort.

The host and I watched the large color flat screen as Yankee fans danced to the Rednex club-mix version of the old American folk tune Cotton Eye Joe. Periodically the camera cuts to a "Live!" feed of this kind of Italian-looking guy wearing a straw hat strumming a bat and doing his own peculiar version of the Cotton Eye Joe dance - a graphic below him flashes: Cotton Eye Joey.

If you've never been to Yankee Stadium they crank the song in the late innings to keep the crowd geared up during the frequent pitching changes. The cameras sweep the stadium for brief shots of fans dancing and everyone just kind of dances, watching the big screen to laugh at the people who get on camera and get into a frenzy when the camera pauses on them. If you're really good or just get flat-out buck wild or outrageous you get more camera time.

Standing O's are rare but I've seen it happen. Great night in the stadium, I suspect true lovers of trivial tidbits of information would be interested to see the actual lyrics of the song.

Strange that a song with a title that comes from one of the many old stereotypical images of the old, black male slave is so popular in the Bronx.

CG





http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotton-Eye_Joe

Helmuth James Graf von Moltke

The German Embassy has a pretty interesting Website (www.germany.info) that covers an interesting array of current events, cultural news, sports facts and a sampling of pretty amusing off-beat humor; all with a decidedly pro-German, but pleasant slant.

The site recognized Helmuth James Graf von Moltke's birthday last Wednesday, March 11th with an interesting piece on this member of the German aristocracy who allowed members of the Kreisau Circle; an alliance of Germans united in their opposition to Nazism, to meet on his estate. The Gestapo eventually arrested him and he was executed in 1945.

After looking at my last post I want to make sure I'm not confused in any way as some kind of Deutschland-basher.

Quite the contrary, I've visited Berlin on two different occasions and can say from my personal experience that as an African-American during my two ten-day stints, I had countless positive exchanges and experiences with German citizens and people from a wide variety of nationalities. I had a blast and the Berlin nightlife I got to experience gets four stars.

I felt far fewer outward displays of prejudice because of the color of my skin than in a number of American cities or towns. Are there German neo-Nazis and or political extremists in Germany? Sure. But I never saw or met any - only outgoing, friendly fellow world citizens with a generous capacity to enjoy life.

Achtung Baby!

Okay call me crazy but this seems like a rather peculiar element of the weapons-training program of this particular branch of the German Army!

One might think that a military force wrestling to free itself of the stigma of the legacy of the Third Reich in the 20th Century would say, place a high emphasis on sensitivity training for Wermacht soldiers?

The German Army certainly isn't the only military with members in it's ranks with a predilection towards extremist political leanings or plain old-fashioned racist (Timothy McVeigh anyone?) or bigoted behavior. Given their presence in Afghanistan and likely a greater role as part of UN or European peace-keeping forces deployed on the African continent, this is more than a little disturbing.

Fighting Isms and Schisms

Kudos to the Speaker for just going over to Syria representing a more realistic representation of the American people's perspective on the conflict in the middle east. I my not agree with everything she says and does but I respect her for not standing around holding her breath waiting on the Bush administration to make some diplomatic breakthrough.

Whatever you may personally think of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, there's clearly no denying her political saavy and courage. Critics from both blue and red states have slung enough cheap opportunistic sound-bite attacks on her to last the next hundred years.

She caught shit at the start for trying to set the tone and lay out at an agenda for the new majority on the Hill to follow. She rankled members of her own party in the naming of the power positions. Some the of same members of the minority who've green-lighted this complete foreign policy morass in Iraq to the tune of billions in wasted taxpayer dollars in fraud and the same old no bid-contractor shell game nonsense tried to make an issue out of the security details for a person who is third in line for the Presidency, by having the gall to question the government's expenditures on the plane she travels in.

Right now she's got the Bush administration looking pretty inept in a foreign policy-sense. Their questionable diplomatic communication tactics and strategy leading up to and during the occupation of Iraq has possibly already set America's strategic international relationships back by years. Maybe decades in some cases.

Pelosi has forced the administration to reluctantly abandon their strategy where Syria is concerned. At times the Bush strategy towards Syria seemed to be an odd policy of simultaneous non-communication and a stubborn refusal to even engage in any sort of real constructive dialouge.

Pelosi's visit is making that strategy irrelevant and putting the Bush foreign policy team under the spotlight as they appear reactionary and unsure of the directional shift that's going to have to take place in order to work with the countries in the mid-east.

Work to help them to take a more collective responsibility to find a way to decrease the sectarian violence in Iraq and broker a peace deal that all sides can accept and agree to enforce.
I think regional global alliances are going to have to start stepping up to the plate in the near future if humans are really going to evolve to higher states of consciousness. More evolved ways of living and interacting with one another.

I think Pelosi's trip is a step in the right direction and a shrewed political move in their ongoing battle to yield to the overwhelming will of the American people and carefully alter the direction of the war in Iraq.

Newt Gingrich - Advocate of Alienation?

On Saturday March 31st former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich left little question about his perception of immigrants and non-English-speaking residents in the urban areas of the United States. In a speech before the National Federation of Republican Women Gingrich blasted bilingual education for non-English-speaking students and labeled languages other than English as, "the language of living in a Ghetto."

Read the full excerpt of his speech at CNN.com

The tone of his speech seemed to echo the comments of GOP pundit and former presidential candidate Pat Buchanan who famously once rallied the conservative crowd (and alienated and frightened millions of voters) on the opening night of the 1992 Republican National Convention by insisting that America needed "take back our cities" in a controversial speech that widened the cultural gap in America and stripped his rival incumbent George HW Bush of moderate supporters who eventually voted for Bill Clinton.

The National Federation of Republican Women is comprised of some 100,000 members in chapters around the country. What kind of support do they contribute to the GOP?