The Gantt Report - If Black people on the Gulf Coast are not careful, the aftermath of Katrina will be worse than the Hurricane!

President George Bush is responsible for the slow federal response to help hurricane victims and to save lives of citizens in Louisiana and Mississippi.

Now, leave that alone.

We cannot help our brothers and sisters by parroting what the Republican Party’s evil twin, The Democratic Party, tells us to say about the Republican led federal government.

Right now hurricane victims need money. Money for food, shelter, schools, health care, security and money for everything else.

I am sick of my colleagues in the media spending more time blaming politicians than they do assisting our people in need.

Yes, newspapers have contributed dollars and other items to hurricane causes. Yes, radio talk show hosts have assisted families.

But most of their pages and broadcast comments have been blame games!

A lot of talk has been centered around comments that "Bush doesn’t like Black people".

Well, tell me something new!

Regardless of who is or was President, Black Americans have always put devilish Presidents first and Presidents, and other elected officials, have always put Blacks last!

Instead of complaining about what others won’t do for us, we need to encourage each other to do what we can for ourselves.

If we help ourselves, God will help us. Other countries will help us. Africa will help us. Cuba will help us. Even Chavez in Venezuela will help us. Even Fox in Mexico will help us.

African-Americans are doing worse than hurricane victims on China White heroin. The heroin addicts, like Malcolm X said, have a little monkey on their backs while Black people have a big white federal ape on their backs.

Four hundred years after slavery, we still look to olden day and modern day slave masters for assistance and direction.

To me, it is more important to be involved in the distribution of the money being pumped into New Orleans and into Gulfport. What can we do to insure that Blacks get jobs and contracts to rebuild their own neighborhoods and their own communities? Why can’t Blacks be involved in the decisions about how their communities are going to be rebuilt?

The answer to the first question is that so-called Black leaders, editorial columnists and radio show personalities don’t have a clue as to how government money is appropriated so they can’t advise us on the best economic approach to hurricane relief,

In short, Presidents and Governors don’t appropriate government dollars, Congress and State Legislatures do. The government officials that will ultimately make most spending decisions are local folk. After getting federal dollars, city and county commissioners will decide which laws are changed, which services are important to provide, which road gets paved, which houses will be rehabilitated and how their citizens will live on after a disaster.

We can’t expect white America to do everything for Black Americans. To suggest to our people that things will be better if we criticize the President is wrong. If no one helps us, we must live on. We shouldn’t just help Blacks in New Orleans and those in Mississippi, we should help people that need help wherever they are.

History is the best teacher. New Orleans is not a "Republican city". African-Americans have caught hell no matter what party Presidents and other politicians were affiliated with. In Mississippi especially, Blacks have died and have been vitimized by previous hurricanes, floods and damaged leevees. Every predominately Black urban area, like New Orleans, is ran by Black Democrats and has been that way for years.

I don’t encourage Blacks to be Bush Backers but I don’t encourage them to be Bush Whackers either!

In a capitalist system, when it comes to hurricane relief, keep your eyes on the prize, also known as the money! We must have meaningful participation in the distribution and receipt of hurricane relief dollars! (Contact Lucius Gantt @theganttreport@comcast.net)