marjorie says...
There are congressional hearings happening on the role of race and class in the response to Hurricane Katrina. Democracy Now has excerpts that are fascinating.
In this transcript, community members argue that they WERE held in concentration camps:
REP. JEFF MILLER: May I ask you a question? You mention -- you talked about the parishes. And this is something that I have heard people talk about. Is it true that some parishes are refusing to allow temporary housing of certain peoples within their parishes?
LEAH HODGES: Very true. Very true. Particularly true of [inaudible] and Jefferson Parish. Jefferson Parish is where the Causeway concentration camp was housed, where we experienced the Gestapo-type oppression, as opposed to being rescued. We were three minutes away from the airport. They could have taken us to the airport. Those military vehicles could have taken us to any dry, safe city in America. Instead, they dumped us at a dumping ground, sealed us in there, and they backed up all their authority with military M-16s.
And there were thousands and thousands of people. On the last day we were in there -- and let me tell you something -- they hand-picked the white people to ride out first. Yes, racism was very much involved. They hand-picked the white people to ride out first. Every day, the crowd got darker and darker and darker until finally there were only – there were 95% people of color in that place.
REP. JEFF MILLER: Miss Hodges, would you be offended if I respectfully asked you not to call the Causeway area a concentration camp?
LEAH HODGES: I am going to call it what it is. If I put a dress on a pig, a pig is still a pig.
REP. JEFF MILLER: Are you familiar with the history?
LEAH HODGES: Yes, sir, I am. And that is the only thing I could compare what we went through to: a concentration camp.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: And that's the truth.
LEAH HODGES: And everybody in the place with me, the lady sitting next to me was there, my mother was there, my younger brother was there, my two sisters; we ran into others. That is the point, that they broke up families and dispersed us.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: That's right.
LEAH HODGES: And they stood over us with guns and enforced their authority, and yes, they tortured us. And then they used various forms of torture. And yes, I know what a concentration camp is. I'm a college-educated woman.
REP. JEFF MILLER: Not a single --
LEAH HODGES: And I love the study of history.
REP. JEFF MILLER: Not a single person was marched into a gas chamber and killed.
LEAH HODGES: They died from abject neglect. We left body bags behind. Pregnant women lost their babies.
In this transcript, Cynthia McKinney takes the Democractic Party to task:
AMY GOODMAN: Harry Alford, president and CEO of the National Black Chamber of Commerce. After three hours of moving testimony, the hearing came to a close. The Republican chair of the committee was about to end the proceedings before he was interrupted by Congress member Cynthia McKinney.
REP. TOM DAVIS: Let me just thank this panel. Thanks for your patience and sitting through it. Thank you for the dialogue, and we very much appreciate this information.
REP. CYNTHIA McKINNEY: Mr. Chairman, don't bang the gavel yet, because I would like to have concluding words.
REP. TOM DAVIS: Ah, yeah. Ms. McKinney.
REP. CYNTHIA McKINNEY: I would like to thank you, Mr. Chairman, for allowing us to have this day.
REP. TOM DAVIS: You can take as much time as you want on that comment.
[laughter]
REP. CYNTHIA McKINNEY: Because were it left up to—I'll get in trouble now—but were it left up to the Democratic leadership, we would not have had this day, because we wouldn't be here. The Democratic leadership has instructed us to boycott this panel, because we can't trust the results or the report of this panel. But if we participate as our constituents voted us to do up here, we can at least insure that there's more integrity than by boycotting it.
And so I would like to thank my chairman for giving us the opportunity to invite people who don't have the opportunity to come and testify before Congress, except for Barbara, of course, she comes up here a lot. But, we’ve heard from people for whom getting here has been a struggle, whether it's just because they are Katrina survivors at the armory, and it was a struggle for them to get to the armory, or if they are Katrina survivors living in New Orleans still, determined to stay there and maybe every once in a while get a glimpse of their member of Congress.
We are here to serve all of the people of this country, and too rarely do we hear from all of the people. But thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Shays, for staying here throughout the entirety of this hearing to hear what my people—my people—have to say. Because the road that we walk is not paved. Or as some great poet said, life for us ain’t been no crystal stair.
REP. TOM DAVIS: Thank you. Cynthia, thank you very much.
AMY GOODMAN: Congressman Tom Davis of Virginia thanking Democratic Congressmember Cynthia McKinney, who called for the hearing on race and class as it relates to Hurricane Katrina.
Technorati tag: katrina, new orleans
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