TVSquad

Wow... That was amazing, I actually have it Tivo'd in my house cause i could tell something was up. Kanye is the man and this just made me think he was even cooler. The real problem here is that NBC switched off of him when he started to give his actual opinion. What ever happened to freedom of speech?

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Kanye West's comments were ridiculous..does he really think only "black" people were effected by this disaster. I'm from New Orleans, I'm white and still have family members missing in outlying areas. Why are we only focusing on New Orleans - those people are just lucky to be alive! What about everyone else?

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Mr. West comments were on point! The world saw how the african americans in Louisania were and are being treated. He just stated what we who are african american have known all our lives that the American Government doesn't care about us until it is time to vote! It does not matter if your rich or poor the bottom line is if your black get back. You watch the news and it is heartbreaking to hear/see any American Citizen white,black, green or yellow being treated in that manner. If you travel abroad to what america considers third a third world country all you will hear is how they want to come to America.(God's own country). It is a same that the Uniteds States Governments spends so much time and money being "Big Brother" to other countries and when in time of need for their own country men the resources are not available in a timely fashion. It is a disgrace!! Charity begins at home! Our government needs to refocus their priorities and take care of home. All of us who have been blessed to be living in other states need to remember that it could have been our state and we could have been sitting on that side walk begging for help! We don't know if, when or where it will happen again put we all should agree that the response by our government needs to really be upgraded.

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Again....It's NOT just black people who have been affected. Of course, you wouldn't realize that from the terrible reporting from the news stations. I am sick and tired of the race card being tossed around and every single person I've spoken to is sick and tired of it! The same black people you love to portray as victims have raped a 10 yr. old girl, an 8 yr. old girl - there have been murders, beatings and rapes at the convention center....What would you call these people and am I supposed to have compasion for them as my family members drown in their attics? Our homes and businesses were being looted and destroyed before the storm even hit! The black community better get some new leaders and stop blaming everyone else for THEIR problems. Those people were out of control from the get go. Thye are TOTALLY dependant on the government for everything. I can assure you that any other group of people would have organized themselves in New Orleans and waited calmly for assistance and not think about only themselves. Obviously, they are still there because OTHER people have more immediate needs...like drowning in their attics. SO SELFISH!!!!!!!!!!!!

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I'm not going to make this a 'black and/or white' thing, but I am going to make it a priority thing. When the last hurricane hit Florida, Bush removed his thumb from his behind and helped his brother out. I just want to know why is it that a city we all loved to flock to, be it for a music feast, Mardi Gras, or a college football game, why is it then, that there are still people, both black AND white still suffering? Let's not keep playing the race card fore there are just as many white men and women who rape, lie, steal, and kill. -A Black Woman frm Chicago

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Actually listen to what he says.. he didn't say it was only black people. The point is the media likes to look at black people and call it looting, and then show a white person and say, "he's just looking to feed his family". That's the point..

Sure there are white people in just as bad ways as the black people are, but by looking at the coverage I'd wager a guess to say a good 90% of the poor people in that area are Black.

There simply is no excuse for the lack of action by Bush and his government. Thankfully Kanye isn't the only one saying it, as most media - CNN in particular, are hammering the government for their lack of quick action.

As far as cutting as NBC cutting away from the segment, they really have no choice. For somebody to come straight out and say that Bush doesn't care about Black people is a very liable situation. As a Canadian I felt bad for Mike Myers who looked pretty stupid reading off the teleprompter after Kanye's first rant.

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you know why there are still people suffering? because we were hit with the worst natural disaster EVER in the history of the US. do you people understand what that means? 90,000 acres of this country have been destroyed. it's hard to get relief in places that have no more roads, no more bridges, no more infrastructure. it's not a video game where you can just expect the governement to swoop down and evacuate 200,000 people from a flooded city. use your brains people...be "free thinkers" and try to wrap your heads around the situation and stop thinking selfishly. this takes time. and I just want to say on a side note that when people are shooting at rescue helicopters, at policeman and thugs are trying to break into Children's hospital and basically terrorizing the city, the tourists and people stranded, then we have a serious problem. It must be addressed within the black community. Resources have been taken away from trying to save peoples lives in order to handle the violence in the city. People have lost their lives because thugs on the street looted every gun they could get their hands on. why is this happening? Is this America? I am embarassed to be from New Orleans right now. The behavior has been terrible and rescue efforts were seriously hampered! Wake up people and STOP making excuses for this behavior!

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I am not white, I am of Asian descent but I did not appreciate West's statement,its ridiculous, unfounded, uncalled for. Ir made me angry. I truly believe that we have a fair and equal government. People need to quit using the race card. Get over it!

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I can not fault Kanye West for having an opinion and expressing it because if he doesn't, who will? If any person with a heart is paying attention they will see that primary people being affected by the inept services of our govt are black and or poor. New Orleans is 2/3rds black by the way and 20 percent of the people of New Orleans live below poverty. America has never adequately addressed its race issue, we like to sweep things under the rug, so these problems are bound to happen.

I have a new-found respect for Kanye West.

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I am really getting angry here with all of the blame being placed on our President. What I want to know is...where are the blue states? where are all the bleeding heart liberals? why isn't John Kerry's state of Massachusettes offering to take in refugees, or California, Connecticut? I would love to see Cape Cod and the Hamptons taking in displaced people and enrolling the children in their schools. the only people I see offering help are white Republicans...not to mention all of the religious groups that liberals hate so much. Texas has already taken in over 200,000 evacuees...thats a "red-state"... right?

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Taking time to get a relief effort together is one thing... going to a California fundraiser while people were dying like animals is another. Like Bill Maher said: "Boy, I remember the days of 9/11 when Bush only sat on his ass for seven minutes!" He is a disgrace, a stain on our history.

However, I do want to point out that, because the large majority of poor people in New Orleans are black, it is natural that black faces would be the ones you see looting. As for the controversy about a picture of black people taking supplies from a store being labelled as looters, while whites doing the same thing were described as "finding" supplies... these pictures and captions were from TWO DIFFERENT WIRE SERVICES. The one that used the word "finding" was AFP, a French wire service, while the other was the AP, and American wire service. It is an un-like comparison, and is not logical or fair to draw conclusions of media racial bias from this.

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Carrie,

I feel very sad for you. Today you are grieving for your family so your anger can be justified. Just think soon you can be free of "those people."

D.McEntee
I truly believe in Santa Claus, does that make it true? Watch the world around you.

I heard a cop on Fox say he was shot at, but was afraid to shoot back because it was too dark to see...so...how does he know he was shot at?

Finally, do some research before you rant. N.O. never had a plan to evacuate its poor!

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Carrie,

I feel very sad for you. Today you are grieving for your family so your anger can be justified. Just think soon you can be free of "those people."

D.McEntee
I truly believe in Santa Claus, does that make it true? Watch the world around you.

I heard a cop on Fox say he was shot at, but was afraid to shoot back because it was too dark to see...so...how does he know he was shot at?

Finally, do some research before you rant. N.O. never had a plan to evacuate its poor!

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Carrie

any updates about your family?

or are you too busy with your rants to find out?

Us atheist, blue state, donation giving, freedom loving, people would love to know?

By the way, many of us have opened our hearts and homes. Columbia University has accepted all Tulane students. I know its Ivy League, but Bush went to Yale and was raised in Conn. and Maine, so I guess us blue staters are ok.

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Dru - I appreciate what you are saying, however, being from New Orleans I can tell you that thousands of vehicles actually drove to the Superdome to spend the night. Many people (including my own family I can't locate) simply stayed behind because there is an "atmosphere" of "this isn't really gonna be that bad". Thousands of people who could have evacuated...simply did not heed the warnings. And I include my own family that simply wouldn't listen to us. Yes, I am angry. I am angry because we are hearing from the doctors and nurses, our friends and family still stranded down there. It is not a rumour that there were actual shootings, lootings, robberies and complete chaos. I don't think anyone in the government including our local state and city officials (who are black by the way) could have imagined that we would have people stealing guns and shooting at rescuers. This HAS and IS happening as we speak. Just because the national media isn't reporting it, does not mean it's not happening. Just so you all know, as we speak, some evacuees are being dropped off in outlying parishes where they are looting, breaking into stores, homes carjacking - it's complete chaos. We are hearing reports from Baton Rouge, Gonzales, La Place EVERYWHERE. I have an uncle who is locked inside his home while gun battles are going on in the street. This IS happening right now! It is complete chaos down there...I'm so sad...i love that city

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Dru - I have no updates on my family...because there are no phone lines, no power. or did you not hear about that? How noble of Columbia University to take in the very wealthy Tulane students. my family was too poor to send me that school or to send me to college at all, so I guess I would never be welcomed to your state. right?

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Well, I think the misinformed Kanye West let his emotions overrun his tongue. It saddens me that it always has to be a race thing. Please see the link below and click on picture 4; you will see George Bush embracing a hurricane victim which happens to be 'black'. He doesn't care about black people huh?? Click on picture 10 and you will see Laura Bush attending the buffet line serving food to another hurricane victim.. Ah yes which also happens to be black..
Kanye along with Jesse Jackson need to stop with the supposed racial treatment.
I'm sure George Bush is doing everything in his power to get aid to these people. Who happen to be Black, White, Hispanic, Asian. etc..

You know what’s funny? I'm defending Bush but I voted for Kerry... = )

Link
http://www.boston.com/news/weather/gallery/bush_katrina/

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I think many of you are missing the point of Kanye's arguments. Like somone else mentioned, something happened in Florida and Bush was all over it, sending aid and help to those areas. But the Tsunami that terrorized Florida DESTROYED many parts of the Carribean (Jamaica, Grenada, Haiti). Bush was not quick to aend aid there, it was whatever to him. Now look at a horrible tradegy that affected our own soil, our home, and the repsonse is slow. And I wouldn't play the race card if the majority of the faces I saw on the reports weren't Black like my own. Yes, OTHERS WERE AFFECTED, whites, asians, latinos, EVERYONE! However, be real, most of the people down there are Black, so what is happening is that the other people are also being hurt by a form of Racism and Discrimination. It is wrong and needs to be dealt with.

Kanye was speaking some truth. Bush does not care about Blacks. I would venture to add the poor, the less fortunate, Latinos or anyone that doesn't carry 90% of the nation's wealth, which ladies and gentlemen, is the top 10% of the country...all of Bush's friends.

This is embarrasing because we can go into Iraq, into other areas and tell people how they should live and run their country, but we haven't even mastered how to run our own.

And to those who think racism is dead or that Kanye's points are invalid, you spend 4 years in college, perform MUCH better than many of your white counterparts, and still get ass'ed out of scholarships, fellowships, and honors form your faculty and administration. Then come talk to me.
-J

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Carrie,

when you say."I have an uncle who is locked inside his home while gun battles are going on in the street.' I assume you know that because you talk to him. If you have others still missing I wish you well.

You can only come here if you are a rich, non-english speaking, gay, athiest, doctor who wants to get married to an under-aged partner and open a free abortion clinic

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John, I respect your opinions, however you are ignoring the fact that New Orleans is 80% black. That is why the faces you are seeing, are black. If the hurricane would have hit another city, you would see maybe all white faces. The fact is that my city was hit with a hurricane, the levee broke and flooded it...plain and simple. You keep bringing up the hurricane that hit Florida... well, the water came and went. Why are you focusing on New Orleans? - we have people suffering up and down the gulf coast. Places where they can't even get camera crews into. Like I said earlier, the people at the convention center are lucky to be alive. There are still thousands dying and stranded in their homes with immediate life threatening needs. Don't turn this tragedy into a race issue becasue it simply is not. My suggestion, retire Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and all of the black leaders who incite anger instead of empowering their own communities. Nelson Mandela is a true leader of the black community who should be respected. He encourages people, brings them together instead of tearing them apart. Stop with the blame game.. it serves no purpose.

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