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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 14, 2005)
Œhl |Jn rtlan ò (©hseruer Page A4 September 14. 2005 Opinion articles do not necessarily reflect or represent the views o f The Portland Observer O pinion Letter to Bush: ÖEvoTBb SO MUCH * OF OUK R^oURCES | To A Ö H T R>K . -W WOmAMD SECURITY > MOME14HP/:, > LS^T HAVE. H o T hi H ó - Pretend New Orleans is Iraq Editor’s note: Michael Moore, the Flint, Mich, director and producer o f 'Fahrenheit 911" wrote the following open letter to President Bush five days after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans on Aug. 29. Dear Mr. Bush: Any idea w here all our helicopters are? It’s D ay 5 o f H urricane K atrina and thousands rem ain stranded in N ew O rleans and need to be airlifted. W here on earth could you have m isplaced all our m ilitary choppers? Do you need help finding them ? I once lost my car in a t Sears parking lot. M an, w as that a drag. A lso, any idea w here all our national guard soldiers are? W e could really use them right now for the type o f thing they signed up to do like helping with national disasters. H ow com e they w eren ’t there to - V~NvT*MA4/M5t>,Á-o5t> Turn P ain from K atrin a Into P ow er Hurricane deemed decade’s ‘Bloody Sunday’ by J udge G reg M athis Hurricane K atrina’s victim s have suffered through and endured what will surely be marked as one o f the w orst natural disasters in U.S. history, despite being largely abandoned for several days by the federal govern ment. Now, as flood w aters recede in New O rleans and clean up begins across the G ulf, these survivors m ust use the painful lessons this ordeal has imparted to em pow er them selves, their fam ilies and their com m unities. By doing so, they ’ 11 ensure that they will never again be privy to such neglect and victim ization. The people o f the G ulf C oast were hit by two disasters: Hurricane K atrina and the failure o f the federal governm ent to respond to it in a tim ely m anner. A ccording to recently released reports, Katrina ravaged the G ulf for nearly five hours before M ichael Brow n, head o f the Fed eral E m ergency M anagem ent A gency, re quested any aid for the region. The airline industry says the governm ent d id n ’t request help with evacuating storm victim s until three days after the storm hit. W hile no one had any way o f predicting ju st how m uch havoc the storm w ould w reak, new s reports indicated Katrina w ould com e dow n hard. As N ew O r leans and other cities evacuated, preparing for the w orse, it d o esn ’t m ake sense that the federal governm ent d idn’ t have an em ergency response team at the ready. If they had, m any m ore lives could have been saved. Many experts estim ate it will take nearly $200 billion to rebuild the lives and com m unities that Katrina 's victims cannot let those who abandoned them dictate w ere tom apart by H urricane K atrina. H ow this money is spent will directly affect the futures o f those affected. It’s ironic that the federal g o v ernm ent - the sam e governm ent that w as slow to respond when these tax paying citizens needed them the m ost - is now discussing how the funds should be allocated. G u lf C oast residents m ust organize and b e com e active participants in the rebuilding pro cess - K atrina’s victim s cannot let those w ho abandoned them dictate how they reestablish them selves. C itizens in this overw helm ingly A frican-A m erican and im poverished region m ust lobby for funds that can be used to create jo b training centers; w ith gainful em ploym ent com es eco n o m ic em p o w erm en t, econom ic pow er breeds independence. On Sunday, M arch 7,1965, ci vil rights m arch ers, attem pting’ to bring attention to voting rights violations, peacefully w alked east out o f Selm a, Ala. T hey only m ade it six blocks, to the Edm und Pettus Bridge. There, law enforcem ent officials attacked the dem onstrators w ith tear gas and billy clubs; several m archers were injured. T he assault w as captured by news m edia and televised for the entire nation to see. A m ericans saw firsthand the brutality and victimization blackcitizensendured. Sup port for the civil rights m ovem ent sw elled after "B loody Sunday.” H u rric an e K atrin a w ill be this d e c a d e ’s ‘B lo o d y S u n d a y .” T h e c o u n try - an d the w o rld - h as w itn e ssed th e w ay th is g o v e rn m en t g ro ssly u n d e rv a lu e s th e liv es o f the p o o r an d the liv es o f p eo p le o f co lo r. A m e ri can s, b la c k A m eric an s in p a rtic u la r, h av e a d u ty to r a lly a r o u n d u n d e r s e r v e d an d m a rg in a liz e d p o p u la tio n s in the w ake o f th is d isa ste r. O u r b ro th e rs an d sisters in th e G u lf m u st le ad the w ay. Judge Greg Mathis is chairman o f the Rain bow PUSH-Excel Board and a national board member o f the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. by J ennifer L a verdure Radical W omen, an international feminist group with local headquar ters at »19 N. K illingsw orth St., is circulating petitions dem anding civil rights for w om en in Iraq and calling for an end to the occupation o f Iraq. Iraqi w om en are 60 percent o f Iraqi society; 93 percent o f them support m aintaining equal rights secured in the constitution that has been in place since 1959. The timing o f the petition cam paign is designed to raise attention to the discrim ina tory articles in the new draft Iraqi constitution and the negative e f fects the U.S. governm ent’s war. Radical W om en supports Iraqi w om en’s w idespread resistance to the threatened im position o f Sharia law, w hich condones m arriage o f fem ale children, polygam y and other abuses o f w om en, such as b eating, stoning, flogging, and forced veiling. In addition, equal rights in d i vorce, education, o w n ersh ip o f property and em ploym ent are in jeopardy. The United States, as an occu pier, has invented a need to create a new constitution. W ith funda m entalist clerics in control o f the process, as a result o f the rushed election process also im posed by the U nited States, the new co n sti tution is a huge step backw ards for w om en. T he U.S. is in essence sup porting fundam entalists and feed ing sectional rivalries. Iraqis see their country as unified and secu lar. O ur struggles areclosely linked: U.S. fem inists are fighting m any o f the sam e encroachm ents on the separation o f church and state here at home. T he p e titio n se ek s to b u ild aw aren ess and to p ressu re the Bush governm ent and C ongress to end the U.S. presence in Iraq, which ItJnrtlauh (0bscruer Established 1970 USPS 9 5 9 -6 8 0 _______________________________________ has prom oted a clim ate o f violence and led to k id n a p p in g s, rapes, prison torture, and m urder o f fe m ale activists. W hile the press has covered the com bat in Iraq and reports daily on injury to U.S. per sonnel, reports gloss o ver the se vere effects o f the conflict on civ il ians, especially w om en. W om en in Iraq m ust cope with the destruction o f a basic infra structure - water, sew er, pow er, schools and hospitals - an u npre dictable food supply, and disease carried by contam inated water; they also face escalating violence in the breakdow n o f civil order and from U.S. m ilitary personnel. N ow they m ust also anticipate the o p p ortunistic destruction o f their civil rights as the m ost reac tionary clerics grab for control o f their governm ent and call it d em o c racy. Jennifer Laverdure is a member o f Radical Women in Portland. Charles H. Washington E d ito k : M ic h a e l L eig h to n K efoktee : Katherine Blackmore D is t e ie v t io n M anager : M ark W a sh in g to n C e eativ e D ie e c t o e : P a u l N e u fe ld t O f f ic e M anagee : K a th y L in d e r laugh! Race has nothing — nothing — to do w ith this! Y ou hang in there, Mr. Bush. Just try to find a few o f our Arm y helicopters and send them there. P retend the people o f N ew O rleans and the G u lf C oast are near Tikrit. OCTOBER 1 st 11:00 a m - 4:00 p m Our Environment, Our Health A N/NE Portland Neighborhood Gathering Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center (IFCC) and Patton Park 5340 North Interstate Avenue (M AX Yellow Line - Interstate/Killingsworth Stop) You can learn more about making your home and neighborhood safer places to live. Learn about asthma, mold/mildew, air pollution, lead safety, recycling, and more! FREE! 6 ♦ 6 6 6 Food Storytelling IFCC Art Gallery Prizes Blood pressure, asthma, and lead screenings! ♦ Oregon Health Plan sign-up Featuring Music and Spoken Word by: • • • • • • N’Touch Motown Review Highland Gospel Choir Real Recognize Real Turlya Autry Cubaneo To volunteer or for more information please call (503) 988-3663 x 22439 SAVE THE DATE! You don’t want to miss! Send address changes to Portland Observer, PO Box 3 1 3 7 , Portland, OR 9 7 2 0 8 4 7 4 7 NE M a rtin Lu ther King, Jr. Blvd.. Portland, OR 9 7 2 1 1 E ditoe - in -C hief , P uklishee : racy in Iraq! O n D ay 3, w hen you finally left y o u r vacation hom e, I have to say I w as m oved by how you had your A ir F orce O ne pilot descend from the clouds as you flew o ver N ew O rleans so you could catch a quick lo o k o f th e d isa ste r. H ey, I k n o w y o u c o u ld n ’t sto p an d grab a bullhorn and stand on som e rubble and act like a com m ander in chief. Been there done that. T here will be those w ho w ill try to politicize this tragedy and try to use it against you. Just have your people keep pointing that out. Respond to nothing. Even those pesky scientists w ho predicted this w ould happen because the w ater in the G u lf o f M exico is getting hotter and hotter m aking a storm like this inevitable. Ignore them and all their global w arm ing C hicken Littles. T here is nothing unusual about a hurricane that w as so w ide it w ould be like having one F-4 tornado that stretched from N ew Y ork to Cleveland. No, Mr. Bush, you ju s t stay the course. It’s not your fault that 30 percent o f N ew O rleans lives in poverty or that tens o f thousands had no transportation to get out o f tow n. C ’m on, th e y ’re black! I m ean, it’s not like this happened to K ennebunkport. Can you im agine leaving w hite people on their roofs for five days? D o n ’t m ake me YOU’RE INVITED! Women Losing Rights in Iraq New constitution is huge step backward begin w ith? Last T hursday 1 w as in south F lorida and sat outside w hile the eye o f H urricane K atrina! passed o ver my head. It w as only a C ategory 1 then but it w as pretty nasty. E leven people died and, as o f today, there w ere still hom es w ithout pow er. T hat night the w eatherm an said this storm w as on its w ay to N ew O rleans. T hat w as T hursday! D id anybody tell you? I know you d id n ’t w ant to interrupt y o u r vacation and I know how you d o n ’t like to get bad new s. Plus, you had fundraisers to g o to and m others o f dead soldiers to ignore and smear. Y ou sure show ed her! I especially like how , the day after the hurricane, instead o f flying to L ouisiana, you flew to San D iego to party w ith your business peeps. D o n ’t let people criticize you for this — after all, the hurricane w as over and w hat the heck could you do, put your finger in the dike? A nd d o n ’t listen to those w ho, in the com ing days, will reveal how you specifically reduced the A rm y C orps o f E ngineers’ budget for N ew O rleans this sum m er for the third year in a row. You ju st tell them that even if you hadn ’ t cut the m oney to fix those levees, there w eren ’ t going to be any A rm y engineers to fix them anyw ay because you had a m uch m ore im portant construction jo b for them — building d em o c Subscriptions are $60.00 per year 503-288-0033 FAX 503-288-0015 news @portlandobserver.com subscription@portlandobserver.com ads (sportlandobserver. com classjfieds @portlandobserver, com The Portland Observer welcomes freelance submissions. Manuscripts and photographs should he clearly labeled and w ill be returned if accompanied by a self addressed envelope A ll created design display ads become the sole property o f the newspaper and cannot be used in other publications or personal usage without the wntten consent o f the general manager, unless the client has purchased the composition o f such ad © 1996 T H E P O R T L A N D O B S E R V E R A L L R IG H TS R ESE R V E D . R E P R O D U C T IO N IN W H O L E O R IN PA R T W IT H O U T P E R M IS S IO N IS P R O H IB IT E D The Portland Observer-Oregon's Oldest Multicultural Publicalion-is a member of the National Newspaper Association-Founded in 1885, and The National Advertising Representative Amalgamated Publishers. Inc. New York. N Y , and The West Coast Black Publishers Association. Serving Portland and Vancouver , i A N/NE Portland Neighborhood Gathering Saturday,October 1, 2005 11:00am-4:00pm