U.N. committee says poor, blacks harmed most by Katrina

[tpsbmam]

Source: New Orleans Times-Picayune

A United Nations treaty committee ruled Friday that the United States' response to Hurricane Katrina has had a greater negative impact on displaced black residents and called on the federal government to do more to guarantee that they can return to affordable housing in their hometowns.

The U.N. committee also ruled Friday that the U.S. government must make sure displaced residents have a greater say in plans that affect their return.

Housing advocates in New Orleans proclaimed the decision as a victory in their protracted battle with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, saying the U.N. finding proved that HUD failed to consider alternatives to its plans to demolish four large public housing complexes and replace them with a mixed-income model with fewer total units.

Advocates called on HUD to halt the demolitions and specifically focused on one of the complexes, Lafitte, saying its sturdy buildings are historic and can be easily repaired to increase the supply of affordable housing in the city.

U.S. admonished

The U.N. committee, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, or CERD, was considering whether the United States had complied over the past seven years with the anti-racism treaty the country signed in 1994. It praised the United States for some of the steps the government has made to address racial discrimination, including the reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act in 2006.

But among its concerns, which included admonishing the United States for de facto segregation in public schools, police brutality and permitting life imprisonment of juveniles, the treaty committee singled out housing issues in the wake of Katrina.

Read more: http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2008/03/un_committee_says_poor_blacks.html

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It's a long article -- rest at link.

[efhmc]

1. It took a committee for them to figure this out. Someone should have

been at the Astro Dome in Houston with me to see the 99.99% of the AA people who came off of those buses.

[ohio2007]

2. the bar must have been closed at the UN

and they had to vent in some way. Members of that committee should look at their own countries treatment of citizens before they point out the obvious demographics of one hurricane disaster in the US. Of course, thats a moot point
?
Say !
Just where was the UN when it came time to send disaster relief to the US Delta region ?

<crickets>

hey UN, how's those genocide committee findings coming along ?

<crickets>

[tanyev]

3. But that was a step up for them, wasn't it?

"And so many of the people in the arena here, you
know, were underprivileged anyway, so this--this (she
chuckles slightly) is working very well for them."

Her Ladyship Barbara Bush, September 2005
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001054719




:grr:

[salin]

4. well the "Silver fox" said it was a *good* thing for those folks

that kind of nasty condescension and ignorance (from a former first lady and current first mother) embodies how many wanted to view it so as not to be made uncomfortable (and now want to have it far back in the mind so they don't have to think about it - you know... so 2005). Callousness embodies a too large segment of our society. :cry:

[Ian David]

5. The original headline is misleading.

The headline should be, "U.N. Committee finds Poor, Blacks most harmed by U.S. Government's Post-Katrina Response."

[Hugabear]

6. DUH

They really had to reach to come to that conclusion, eh?

[H8fascistcons]

7. What really makes me so,so sad....

All the corruption after hurricane Katrina and the way these Americans were treated, the greed and ought right Fascism created in America over the last 7 years by the criminal Fascist republicans and the national polls show that McCain is only behind by a few percentage points against either Obama or Hillary. What the Hell is wrong with this country? This country died when Ronald Reagan was elected in 1980, Fascism was set in motion and the Bush crime family has completed the coup d'etat with the takeover of the media and I don't think it is possible this country can or will ever come back. We have both progressives and republicans touting Ronald Reagan free trade, which we know is the nail in the coffin of democracy and Americans basically say I got my cheap junk from China, I don't care you lost your job, I don't care about the trade deficit, it doesn't effect me. Sorry loyal progressives I don't have much hope, because this time we have to save America from ourselves....

[tom_paine]

8. Exactly. The Old American Republic is as over as the Weimar Republic was by 1936.

People don't want to see it, but it is exactly as you say.

And W. McCain is going to "win" in November. This script is boring, I have seen this bad Reality TV Show before and I have no wish to pretend again.

As we well know, W. McCain only has to lose by less than 10% to "win". Maybe more, considering how many years the Bushies have gotten away with wholesale Election Fraud scot-free in broad daylight, often with the help of the Democratic Leadership in sweeping any investigations under the rug (like Jennings in Florida 2006, most recently). Considering they have had time to consolidate their old Election Fraud strategies and create new ones, this thing is a done deal.

And we haven't even seen what the October Surprise is going to be this year. It's all quite open and obvious. The Bushies have learned that they can do that, be as open and obvious as they like with their criminality, and suffer no consequences.

I am afraid you are correct, H8fascistcons. And no one wants to see it becaue it is so painful.

[H8fascistcons]

13. Thank You Tom Paine,Thank You...

AAAHHHHHHHH.... This is wonderful, i'm not crazy, i'm still depressed about our future but at least there are other progressives out there that have a grip on reality..

[nomorenomore08]

9. And in other news, the sky is blue and the Pope is Catholic.

:sarcasm:

[LeftishBrit]

10. Elementary, my dear Watson...

but good that an official body are pointing this out.

What a HORRIBLE man Bush is!

[shanti]

11. no shit, sherlock!

:eyes:

[nealmhughes]

12. Harry Connick, Jr. on why people did not "get in their cars and flee" Katrina:

"Cars! Hell, them folks down at the Convention Center and Superdome don't even got air conditioners!"

I think that the debacle in LA and MS and AL will keep many a memory alive of the "Yankee gubment's" betrayal for many a long year in the SE.