Brian Williams On Katrina: What Happened To Our National Conversation On Race And Poverty?

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by Glynnis MacNicol | 1:56 pm, August 29th, 2010

» 45 comments

Today marks the 5th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Meet the Press did a special broadcast this morning from New Orleans, hosted by Brian Williams to mark the occasion including a fascinating tour of Brad Pitt‘s Make It Right housing project in the Lower Ninth Ward, and hard panel discussion about NOLA five years later. Also, whatever happened to that national discussion we were supposed to have about poverty and race?

After playing some very devastating clips from NBC’s 2005 coverage of Hurricane Katrina including a clip of Aaron Broussard, president of Jefferson Parish, weeping on Meet the Press, begging Tim Russert for help. BriWi reflected on the disparity between the treatment of the residents of NOLA and the NBC staff that went down there to cover it:

The children and relatives of the people at this table, I’m going to go ahead and guess would not have gone a week without water or food because their dads, their dads’ companies would have found a way as NBC news did to get us supplies in the central business district. they found us in the parking lot of a used car dealer and made sure we had something to drink. What’s the difference? Why didn’t it matter to someone? Why wasn’t someone able to get supplies and get those folks out?

That’s harsh assessment, one that would have been harsher and perhaps more helpful if more people had focused on it at the time, but nevertheless, here’s guest Wendell Peirce‘s measured response:

I think the thing you have to remember is that we have to understand that the disaster lifted the veil of issues of race, of issues of class, not only in this city but in the country. If we are to move past it and truly be a part of this wonderful recovery that we’re feeling, we can’t looked at it through rose colored glasses. there’s not an indictment of one person. it’s an indictment of us all.

Later BriWi asked historian Douglas Brinkley “what happened to that national conversation we were all supposed to have about what was exposed by Katrina?” Brinkley says we “got amnesia” and “forget quickly.” One might suggest the country would be less apt to get “amnesia” and “forget” if powerful media folks like NBC and it’s uber popular anchors were more apt to shine a consistent light on the problem in the intervening years between big anniversaries. One might also suggest that we are in fact embroiled in a national conversation about race, it just simply does not look like what anyone imagined or hoped it would five years ago.

Meanwhile, here’s a happier story involving Brad Pitt, who has been very active in the rebuilding of the Lower Ninth Ward. Perhaps most interesting about the Make It Right housing he has helped build in NOLA is that they are green, Pitt says it is now “the greenest neighborhood in the world.” This means, among other things, that the houses themselves produce more energy than they consume. Says Pitt: “Families were getting bills that were $8, $12, processing fees it tell them they didn’t owe anything for utilities. There’s no reason to build any other way. I think this place is a template for the future.” It’s truly amazing to think the Ninth Ward could be a template for anything positive five years after being devastated by Katrina. Both segments below. I think they’re worth your time.

Post-Katrina Conversation

Brad Pitt

Brad Pitt, Brian Williams, Douglas Brinkley, Hurricane Katrina, Meet the Press, Wendell Pierce

Azarkhan

“Meet the Press did a special broadcast this morning from New Orleans”

The game is to change the projected outcome of the November elections by bashing Bush, Republicans and conservatives. It won’t work, but you’re welcome to try.
TfT

Good old National Barak Channel; didn’t watch it, don’t intend to. No doubt, the mainstreamers are out there bashing Bush over all of this, praising Nagin and Blanco (whose responsibility it was to protect the people of their city/state), and then lying about it all.

The Coast Guard was there in a heartbeat; Nagin/Blanco ignored the fact the Bush declared a State of Emergency three days before Katrina hit, and DIDN”T DO THEIR JOB…but hey, in BriWi’s opinion, they are the heros.

The day after Katrina passed, the media all claimed “we escaped the big one” and then the levi’s broke. And still, not a single media outlet that is part of the lamestream press went into the details about the corruption of the democrat government in LA and how they withheld funds from the corps of engineers, etc.
BatBoy

No one really cares what Brad Pitt does or says…

If he had to do something without a camera in is face…he couldn’t get anything done.
tobys mom

How out of touch the liberals are. The really dont’ undersatnd ethics do they?
http://www.facebook.com/people/Bill-Adkins/1585417987 Bill Adkins

What happened? I’ll tell you – from 2001 – 2010 it went from the 21st century to the late ’50s of the 20th century. The regression to the period of strife that was the civil rights struggle of that era is amazing. Who threw gasoline on that fire? People like Glenn Beck who called the president a racist while comparing the Obama Administration to the “Planet of the Apes.” Snake oil salesmen like Limbaugh – and as for ethics, I think it’s a fluke that a Tealiban member could even spell the word and have no expectation that they could define the term.
dummy123

The left constantly playing the race card ends the debate before it begins.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Bill-Adkins/1585417987 Bill Adkins

No one really cares what Glenn Beck does or says…

If he had to do something without a camera in is face…he couldn’t get anything done.
JimBob

Brian Who ?
writer

I think Bill Adkins exemplifies why there can’t be a national discussion on race. Obama goes to a racist church for twenty years, but Glenn Beck is the racist for pointing it out. Unless you begin your conversation by immediately placing a halo over the head of every minority, the left doesn’t want to hear it.
http://gordonbloyershow.com gordonbloyershow

There can be no conversation on race when the leaders are race baiters and liars like Obama, Sharpton, Jackson, Joyner, Waters, Rangle, Lee, Norton and Dingle.
http://gordonbloyershow.com gordonbloyershow

I watch Meet the Press every week. Not today, I deleted the show when it was ALL about Katrina. I already saw all those lies the first time.
felixw

It’s impossible to have a national conversation on race. Look at what happened to Bill O’Reilly, who praised a black-owned restaurant in Harlem. And then got called a racist as a result. Because his praise made it seem like a black-owned restaurant wouldn’t be good, etc. etc. etc. If you say Tiger Woods is a bad golfer, you are a racist. But if you say, “Isn’t Tiger Woods an amazing golfer!” — that also becomes proof of racism. Welcome to the topsy-turvy world of leftwing “thinking.”

If you doubt this, just look at the leftist posters at Mediaite and count how many times they include accusations of racism in response to the most innocuous comments. That probably accounts for most of comments from the Left here. Even after the Left has run out of arguments — or, especially when the Left runs out of arguments — this becomes their last desperate ploy.

In short, the Left in this country want to use the issue of race to intimidate political opponents and justify failed initiatives, bureaucratic waste, out-of-control spending and the worst sort of back room politics. And if you disagree with them, they never debate you; they only smear you. As long as this is the case, no real dialogue will take place.

Then again, to have a discussion on why we aren’t having a national dialogue on race would be quite worthwhile. But don’t expect Brian Williams to touch that topic with a ten-foot pole.
jk76

Are Haiti and Darfur no long cool?

I’m just a natural skeptic. I’m not against helping people or being less consuming. If this is so good, then it shouldn’t take 40years to rebuild it. There should also be more national interest in it. They say the houses are storm-resistant, they’ve adjusted structures to use less material and compensated with fasteners, plus there’s base materials. Will this really hold up against a hurricane?

They have financials on their website, it seems legit. I think I just hate celebrities. How about eco-friendly shacks in Haiti? they just want shelter before convenience.
Jim R

Our “national conversation on poverty and race” got hijacked by millionaire Republican shills on radio and TV, who’ve manipulated poor dupes into supporting the anti-democratic agenda of wealthy billionaires like the Koch brothers.

Otherwise well meaning citizens have been selling the middle class and the poor down the river since Reagan, when Republicans figured out average folks would vote against their own interests if you lie to them repeatedly and scare them half to death about the “the other”.
writer

“scare them half to death about ‘the other’.”

Have you been reading Al Sharpton’s playbook?
shootfromthehip

Amen “JimR.”

Truth.
FearMonger

felixw said:
Then again, to have a discussion on why we aren’t having a national dialogue on race would be quite worthwhile. But don’t expect Brian Williams to touch that topic with a ten-foot pole.

Absolutely spot-on post felixw. I was never too much into politics until 2000 but I have always been interested in fairness and equality. Anybody who has paid any attention at all to my posting knows that I loathe double-standards. That’s why my radar wet up when the (D)’s sued NOT TO RECOUNT ALL OF FLORIDA’S VOTES, but just a few heavily (D) counties. This after the ‘butterfly ballot’ problem in ONE county opened the door for such shenanigans.

Recounting SOME of the counties in Florida without recounting ALL the counties in Florida disenfranchises EVERY Florida voter.

If you didn’t understand that last sentence read it again por favor. If you STILL didn’t understand it then you are one of the idiots who is part of the problem and I’m not about to explain it to you as I doubt it will matter anyway.

And YES… I called you an IDIOT.

Anyway, ever since then I’ve kept a closer eye on politics and what I have witnessed is both depressing and encouraging. Depressing in that ‘bipartisanship’ is now defined as scrounging ONE VOTE from the opposing party. We are more divide than ever and most of it is intentional. When somebody actually DOES make an honest effort to unify WE THE PEOPLE, they are attacked and marginalized by all means necessary.

Most of the credit for my optimism goes to technological advances which have exposed hypicrisy in such wonderful ways. People are now (more than ever before) being held to account for what they say and double-standards are being exposed on a daily basis.

I would think everybody would be pleased by such advances but it seems that being on the BASHING side of the isle for those 8 Bush years has put the leftwingers at a disadvantage. We on the right have seen their tactics for quite a while and we have learned.

Now it’s THEM on defense for the first time in many years and they are finding out that times have changed. They are on the record with their Bush Monkey images and Nazi comparisons etc etc etc etc etc etc etc…

and they don’t seem to like playing by the rules they created.

Anyway… back to your point…. THEY KNOW DAMNED WELL that they can’t approach the subject of RACE fairly without exposing who insistently defines every issue around it. Seriously, why in the hell was the debate over the HC BILL reduced to a race debate? Why?

Ask St. Shirley.

Why was (and is) the Tea Party painted as ‘straight up racists/ hatin’ on a black man”?

Ask Garofalo.

Why so some STILL insist on referring to Obama as ‘the first black President”?

Ask Mattews.

Why are people getting called RACISTS simply for disagreeing with Obama?

Ask Tommy Christopher.

Is there any wonder why we can’t have a ‘National Conversation on Race and Poverty’?

Ask those who insist on seeing America through race-clored glasses.

Will BriWi dig deep and get to the uncomfortable, inconvenient truth?

Not in a million years…..
notsofast

Brian Williams – you, the MSM and libs have already held your dialogue on race: If you disagree with Barry or libs, you are a racist.

That was easy and on poverty? Barry is responsible for RECORD job loses and RECORD foreclosures.

How is that for poverty?
notsofast

BatBoy said:
No one really cares what Brad Pitt does or says…

If he had to do something without a camera in is face…he couldn’t get anything done.

But we have gained one insight into the mind of that loving, peaceful lib, Brad: He is now for the death penalty for BP executives.

More hate brought to you by Libs, Inc.
notsofast

FearMonger said:
Absolutely spot-on post felixw. I was never too much into politics until 2000 but I have always been interested in fairness and equality. Anybody who has paid any attention at all to my posting knows that I loathe double-standards. That’s why my radar wet up when the (D)’s sued NOT TO RECOUNT ALL OF FLORIDA’S VOTES, but just a few heavily (D) counties. This after the ‘butterfly ballot’ problem in ONE county opened the door for such shenanigans.

Recounting SOME of the counties in Florida without recounting ALL the counties in Florida disenfranchises EVERY Florida voter.

And Gore tried to disqualify military votes.
BatBoy

That’s why my radar wet up when the (D)’s sued NOT TO RECOUNT ALL OF FLORIDA’S VOTES, but just a few heavily (D) counties.

Fear…You forgot to add the 1,600 ballots they wanted to toss out without counting them.

My radar when up in the 2000 election too. I remember big Al was trying to scare the retired folks saying GWB was going to take away their Social Security…it is sad to say that my father believed him.

Then Big Al dwelled so much on appointments to the Supreme Court…it is then I realized the Democrats wanted to stack the courts at all levels with the leftist judges…it is much easier for them to change the law then have the “STUPID LITTLE PEOPLE” vote on things they do not understand.

Good Job FearMonger!
notsofast

Jim R said:
Our “national conversation on poverty and race” got hijacked by millionaire Republican shills on radio and TV,

You mean like Rush, Hannity, and FOX. These few hijacked your dialogue?

How can that be when you libs have:

NY Times, LA Times, Washington Post, NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, Salon, Slate, Time, Newsweek, Mother Jones, Rolling Stone, The View, HP, Vanity Fair, Village Voice, The Nation, The Atlantic,the Boston Globe,Chicago Sun-Times,The New Republic,The Seattle Times, Daily Kos, Huffington Post, Media Matters, The New Yorker, et al.
Arkansas Steve

Like Gordon, I DVR all four (4) morning news shows.

Today’s grades are:
NBC = D-
ABC = D (from best to worst in 1 week, yuk)
CBS = B (surprise)
FOX = B

I sped thru 60 minutes of Meet the Press in about 4-5 minutes.
puck30

Arkansas Steve said:
Like Gordon, I DVR all four (4) morning news shows. Today’s grades are:NBC = D-ABC = D (from best to worst in 1 week, yuk)CBS = B (surprise)FOX = B I sped thru 60 minutes of Meet the Press in about 4-5 minutes.

I didn’t watch any of the morning shows but did any of them mention this?

http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/08/29/on-katrina-anniversary-louisianians-give-bush-higher-marks-than/

Say What?
notsofast

puck30 said:
I didn’t watch any of the morning shows but did any of them mention this?

http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/08/29/on-katrina-anniversary-louisianians-give-bush-higher-marks-than/

Say What?

That’s easily explainable: Everyone in Louisiana is a racist.

Case closed.
puck30

Jim R says:
August 29, 2010 at 3:14 pm

“when Republicans figured out average folks would vote against their own interests if you lie to them repeatedly and scare them half to death about the “the other”.”

Democrats would never play on the FEARS of the people. Tell me all about it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKv0_JLI3Hk
notsofast

puck30 said:
Jim R says:
August 29, 2010 at 3:14 pm

“when Republicans figured out average folks would vote against their own interests if you lie to them repeatedly and scare them half to death about the “the other”.”

Democrats would never play on the FEARS of the people. Tell me all about it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKv0_JLI3Hk

And who can forget the “robo calls” made to Seniors in 2000 with Ed “Assner” warning Seniors their Social Security was at risk?
PureFreedom

We must stop the victim attitude and start showing people to be responsible.
Brian Williams is a elitist sitting there trying to sound caring but is the problem and not a solution.

the left just does not get it! They have tried and tried for years with welfare, foodstamps and government handouts.
These dont work they just breed over and over new people who expect handouts.

Once the Blacks wake up and realize they will never rise to any level while under the Democrats then they can be more productive in society. Bill Cosby tried to tell Blacks this but they just shoot him down.
shootfromthehip

“NotSoFast” is ever the revisionist.

You want to talk “record job losses?”

How about loosing in excess of 400,000 jobs EVERY MONTH during the fall of 2008 when Bush’s house of cards economy came crashing down

Compare and contrast with Obama’s handling of the situation, when instead of 400,000 jobs lost per month it has leveled off to under 100,000 per month.

2.6 million jobs lost in 2008. The worst year since 1945

http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/09/news/economy/jobs_december/?postversion=2009010908
Rescuedog

“what happened to that national conversation we were all supposed to have about what was exposed by Katrina?”

Well Brian, this is how that conversation goes: I turn on MSNBC at 6 pm, and am repeatedly called a racist until 10 pm. Multiply that by a few hundred thousand viewers each night (and shrinking) and that’s the conversation we’re having. If you don’t like the tone of the “conversation”, then pick up the phone and talk to your colleagues about changing it. Not that it would do any good. The self-styled elites* have deep contempt for the vast majority of people in this country, and contempt can’t be switched on and off like a lamp.

*Side note: Does anyone besides me gag when Joe Scarborough and his entourage refer to “elites” and “elite opinion” (usually in relation to themselves) without the slightest trace of irony, self-awareness or skepticism?
Sean68

Here’s what happened: The Obama admin realized that most Americans don’t buy his or the left’s side of the “dialogue” and have an irritating habit of arguing over things the he and the left consider inarguable. So they realize the subject only hurts the guy. Obama’s probably still shocked that not every in America had the same fawning reaction to his “speech on race” that his liberal worshippers at the NY Times had.
cockistan

Newsflash, idiots. Neither of these clips mentioned Bush or Nagin once. You guys brought up Bush. If you’re gonna bring him up yourself, that’s not a great strategy. Bush really was a disaster. Don’t defend a disaster. It just makes you look ignorant.

I cannot believe that some of you refused to watch the clips just because they were about Katrina. Could it be because it’s the nastiest eye-sore on one of the worst eight years in history?

And why are you people so upset that someone would call you racist? If you’re not racist, brush it off. Obviously it touches a nerve otherwise.

Katrina was a failure of government on the federal, state and local levels. It was a civil engineering failure. This isn’t a political issue, it’s an engineering issue. All you tea-partiers who all of the sudden claim to be defenders of liberty should be holding massive rallies in New Orleans to make sure the levees are rebuilt properly. Instead, you’re all packing up and gathering in Washington, just so you can pat your back on how big the crowd was. And for what? What is it you really believe in? Liberties for YOU and not THEM? If you’re gonna fight for rights, it has to be everybody’s.

Conservatives are afraid to have a discussion about Katrina because it’s something they literally don’t care about. They’re happy it happened, because they hate the underprivileged. They believe that everyone who died or lost everything in the engineering disaster deserved everything they got. Some say it was retribution from God. At any rate, that’s their stance and they’re sticking to it. If poor people get screwed, don’t sit around blaming anybody, just don’t talk about it at all!

Good, conservatives. Don’t pay attention. Don’t pay attention to what good people are doing in New Orleans. In return, you’ll be left out of the discussion completely, and you’ll become even less relevant, and normal, progressive people will be happier as a result. Stay clueless!
cockistan

PureFreedom said:

Once the Blacks wake up and realize they will never rise to any level while under the Democrats then they can be more productive in society. Bill Cosby tried to tell Blacks this but they just shoot him down.

The Blacks? All of em? How many do you know?
cockistan

BTW, psssst, the president is a black.
notsofast

shootfromthehip said:
“NotSoFast” is ever the revisionist.

You want to talk “record job losses?”

How about loosing in excess of 400,000 jobs EVERY MONTH during the fall of 2008 when Bush’s house of cards economy came crashing down

Compare and contrast with Obama’s handling of the situation, when instead of 400,000 jobs lost per month it has leveled off to under 100,000 per month.

2.6 million jobs lost in 2008. The worst year since 1945

http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/09/news/economy/jobs_december/?postversion=2009010908

Nice revisionist history child!

I guess you don’t stay CURRENT!

Obama Presides Over Most Jobs Lost Since 1940
By Julia A. Seymour
Business & Media Institute
1/8/2010 11:03:00 AM

Unemployment shot up in 2009 from 7.7 percent in January to 10.1 percent in October before settling at 10 percent in December. Behind those percentages were more than 4.1 million people who lost their jobs during the year. According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, that’s the most job losses in a year since 1940. (BLS could only provide data from 1940-2009)

bawahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
notsofast

cockistan said:
BTW, psssst, the president is a black.

You finally figured that out, libby?
NORBIT

“What Happened To Our National Conversation On Race And Poverty?”
————————————————————————————————-

80% Single-Parent Households in the black community!

CONVERSATION OVER!
FearMonger

NORBIT said:
80% Single-Parent Households in the black community!

That’s Bush’s fault….
alamo2

gordonbloyershow said:
I watch Meet the Press every week. Not today, I deleted the show when it was ALL about Katrina. I already saw all those lies the first time.

Now Gordo, I just defended you on another topic, when Iris dumped on you. And then you say “I already saw all those lies [about Katrina] the first time.” I have no idea where you are coming from here, nor any idea where you are going. I can only assume that you have no interest in the people whose lives were destroyed by nature. What a pity.
alamo2

NORBIT said:
“What Happened To Our National Conversation On Race And Poverty?”————————————————————————————————- 80% Single-Parent Households in the black community! CONVERSATION OVER!

What a sad comment. The conversation should not be over. We should be in the middle of it, trying to fix our problems, not just shouting and attacking.
NORBIT

alamo2 said:
What a sad comment. The conversation should not be over. We should be in the middle of it, trying to fix our problems, not just shouting and attacking.

That was IDENTIFYING the problem, which Democrats and the old Race-Based Civil Rights leaders refuse to do!
alamo2

NORBIT said:
That was IDENTIFYING the problem, which Democrats and the old Race-Based Civil Rights leaders refuse to do!

I have no idea what you are talking about. Actually, I thought your previous post didn’t make sense to me, but I did think it was kinda rude….
Nachi

Predictably, it never began. Stopped in its tracks as always by Republiscum ignorance & hatred. Nothing new there.
writer

alamo, I believe Norbit was saying that many of the black community’s problems, such as 70% single parent households, are self-inflicted. But any mention of that gets shouted down by the left as being racist. That’s why there can’t be a national discussion on race. The left won’t allow it.
FearMonger

cockistan said:
Conservatives are afraid to have a discussion about Katrina because it’s something they literally don’t care about. They’re happy it happened, because they hate the underprivileged. They believe that everyone who died or lost everything in the engineering disaster deserved everything they got. Some say it was retribution from God. At any rate, that’s their stance and they’re sticking to it. If poor people get screwed, don’t sit around blaming anybody, just don’t talk about it at all!

Wow. You asshole. You hypocritical full-o-shit asshole. What a bigoted prejudiced racist thing to say.

You say…

“

cockistan said:
And why are you people so upset that someone would call you racist? If you’re not racist, brush it off. Obviously it touches a nerve otherwise.

First of all….”YOU PEOPLE”????

Second of all, let’s just see if me calling you an asshole and a bigot ‘touches a nerve’ or whether you ‘just brush it off”.

Respond or don’t respond, either way I make my point. TYVM.