CNN has an article on their website today outlining some recent comments by former first lady Barbara Bush. Read the entire article at http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/06/katrina.presidents.ap/index.html.
The article states:
Barbara Bush, who accompanied the former presidents on a tour of the Astrodome complex Monday, said the relocation to Houston is "working very well" for some of the poor people forced out of New Orleans.
"What I'm hearing, which is sort of scary, is they all want to stay in Texas. Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality," she said during a radio interview with the American Public Media program "Marketplace." "And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this is working very well for them."
Oh-my-GOSH! I am outraged at the sheer ignorance of her comments. Unfourtunatly, Barbara Bush's comments are representative of our country's overall attitude towards poverty. Many people are very ignorant when it comes to issues of class and poverty. Many others, even when trying to understand such matters, are not provided with a true and representative picture of these people by our media.
No matter what class or income bracket you belong to, I think it is safe to say that living in your OWN house/apartment, in the city you call home, with your friends, family, and neighbors, is much preferred over living as a refugee in a dome somewhere in Texas. While many of the Katrina refugees were already poor and by no means lived a life of glamour, it was life and these people got by, somehow. Perhaps they couldn't afford brand new cars, designer clothing, and expensive foods, but they got by. Just as their parents and grandparents did. And here goes Barbara Bush saying that living in a dome is a better life than these people ever had before.
SHEESH.
I'm amazed. I'm saddened.
As a nation, we still refuse to understand our neighbors and fellow Americans who live in poverty.
UPDATE: Great editorial from NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/06/opinion/06kristof.html?ex=1126152000&en=53293edd6324afa1&ei=5070
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qObviously Barbara Bush forgot the dysentary and other diseases that people acquire when they are crowded into small spaces (similar to a ghetto-- the Jewish ones, I mean) and sewage and clean water are not properly dispensed.
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