Stop It. Stop It. Stop It.

We are enduring a heck of a lot of baloney about RACISM this week, in analysis of the aftermath and disaster response to Hurricane Katrina.

I am
SICK
SICK
SICK
of the RACE CARD played so liberally at every single opportunity and will not stand for it being legitimated without comment in the wake of this NATIONAL HUMAN DISASTER. The bizarro assertions of racism run the gamut, from a mouthy rapper asserting on national TV that President Bush "hates black people" to rampant left-leaning accusations of slow response to the tragedy based on SKIN COLOR.

Are you KIDDING ME? This is sheer and utter nonsense. I am desperately weary of the same old, tired battering ram being used to endlessly criticize the "powers that be". The race card is as useless and distracting as the joker in the deck, and equally well overdue to be expunged altogether. I am sure that racism exists - I have felt it directed at ME as a byproduct of Cherokee blood which courses through my veins and paints my history. But to actually believe that a Mulder~and~Scully~worthy national conspiracy scale of white vs black racism is being appled to the precious people of New Orleans, Mississippi and the outlying Gulf States, as we are being led to believe by some with little evidence beyond the obvious - that this disaster overwhelmed us to the near point of inertia initially, is just plain wrong. And in some cases of the more agregiously rabid accusers, despicable.

Here's a little gentle nudge to all those who subscribe to this acenine notion that our American response to this Hurricane disaster is, in any manner, altered by the consideration of some of the victim's skin color: the blades on these old axes you're grinding are getting awfully dull.

With respect to the looting being reported and the brouhaha over the disparity between the manner in which black looters and white looters are being presented by various media reports, I find Peggy Noonan's WSJ editorial right on point:

"As for the tragic piggism that is taking place on the streets of New Orleans, it is not unbelievable but it is unforgivable, and I hope the looters are shot. A hurricane cannot rob a great city of its spirit, but a vicious citizenry can. A bad time with Mother Nature can leave you digging out for a long time, but a bad turn in human behavior frays and tears all the ties that truly bind human beings--trust, confidence, mutual regard, belief in the essential goodness of one's fellow citizens.

There seems to be some confusion in terms of terminology on TV. People with no food and water who are walking into supermarkets and taking food and water off the shelves are not criminal, they are sane. They are not looters, they are people who are attempting to survive; they are taking the basics of survival off shelves in stores where there isn't even anyone at the cash register. Looters are not looking to survive; they're looking to take advantage of the weakness of others. They are predators. They're taking not what they need but what they want. They are breaking into stores in New Orleans and elsewhere and stealing flat screen TVs and jewelry, guns and CD players. They are breaking into homes and taking what those who have fled trustingly left behind. In Biloxi, Miss., looters went from shop to shop. "People are just casually walking in and filling up garbage bags and walking off like they're Santa Claus," the owner of a Super 8 Motel told the London Times. On CNN, producer Kim Siegel reported in the middle of the afternoon from Canal Street in New Orleans that looters were taking "everything they can."

If our response has been less than perfect (and it has) and has opened our eyes to the areas that need to improve (and there are many), let us band together and IMPROVE our contingency plans and level of preparedness for the next inevitable natural disaster or terrorist event that we will face. Not skewer one another over who did what wrong, who is the bigger idiot, and who should be fired for his bigger breach of imperfection. Or, my favorite of all, how this is all a racist conspiracy and we "white people" do not care about "black people".

Nonsense.

All of us are doing our utmost to address an unprecedented natural disaster that has led to various related tangent problems including looting, arson, marshall law, widespread flooding, inhuman conditions at the Superdome, massive influxes of refugees into already congested areas, disease, limited or no communication, inability to reach certain areas to conduct rescues. This is NOT EASY, people. We are putting forth our very best efforts, still rescuing people from rooftops, making relief aid drops, and caring for the bewildered hearts and souls that have lost everything.

I am not looking at the news coverage and seeing black people or white people. I am seeing American people who are crying out for help and American people who are stepping up my the MILLIONS to answer that cry and provide that help. I am celebrant, relieved, and thankful for the efforts and the lives saved. I continue to pray for those we still have not reached, knowing God will comfort and protect them and that we are determined to rescue and save every single person still left behind in the watery mess that once was coastal Louisiana and Mississippi. I stand committed with American buckle down, get to the work of continued rescues, treatment, caring for the now displaced refugee families, and planning for the future. My heart, arms, home, and wallet are open wide. I do not see black or white - I see my sisters and brothers in huge need. Let our love and compassion be even more vast - let it just wrap around these hurting people, completely enveloping them with our care.

Let us pursue productiveness in healing our friends and neighbors, not bitterness, hate, anger, divisiveness, and fiery, repugnant accusations being thrown around as if to remedy the inevitability of humanity's imperfection. Let's stand united against the bullying of the RACE card. Let's just STOP IT.

And get down to the vital business of loving one another, caring for one another's needs, and rebuilding maimed lives and flattened buildings. It's up to us all to bear this burden together. Let's get to work.