Muncie Times, Muncie, Delaware County, 6 October 2005 — Page 29

The Muncie Times • October 5, 2005 • Page 29

NEWS BKIEFS

continued from page 28 review of a play called “No Room For Zion,” written by Fred Newman. The play was about the impact of Zionism. Fulani maintains that she is not anti-Semitic and that her statements were taken out of context. Fulani claims that the attack is motivated by the state’s Democratic leadership, who she says is threatened by her efforts to bring African American voters to the Independence Party. She also claims that she has made great progress in organizing efforts downstate. “I have, in many different ways and repeatedly, shown the Black community that the Democratic Party doesn't represent their interests and has abandoned them,” Fulani said. “The Democrats have responded by attempting to intervene into the internal affairs of the Independence Party, a party that we, that all of us, together, built with our bare hands,” she added. Rodney Capel, executive director of the New York State Democratic Committee, said there was no merit in Fulani's accusation against the Democrats. “The Democrats have no role or involvement in the inner workings of the Independence Party,” said Capel. “Furthermore, it’s obvious that Dr. Fulani's comments speak for itself, in that members of her own party have kicked her off of the Executive

Committee.” In an interview, Fulani said, “Everybody and anybody that knows me know that I am not an antiSemite. I am someone who has strong beliefs about U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. In my opinion, serious mistakes have been made that have been hurtful to many people. I have been accused of being anti-Israel. I am not. Israel has every right to exist. And, I believe as well, that the Palestinians have the right to their own state.” Fulani said she has spent the last 25 years working closely with Jewish colleagues and friends. Her mentor, Fred Newman, is Jewish, and she is vigorously supporting Michael Bloomberg, who is running for mayor, and he is Jewish. Although Fulani is no longer on the Executive Committee, she is still active on the city level and on the State Committee because it is an elected position. Fulani said her removal from the Executive Committee has done nothing to diminish her power within the party. “People are bent out of shape, and that should send a message to Black people about how valuable my work on the ground is in the community,” said Fulani. “What's more, it exposes how all of this is going down and not one Black leader in this city has opened their mouth and uttered not one word.”

Proof positive of a racist president, misleading a racist America After several arguments — fights and near fights — between federal, state and local authorities, including representatives of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the National Guard and various police departments, it was agreed that New Orleans would not be suckered again — that they would be ready when the call came to vacate the city as soon as word was given that the city may face another disastrous hurricane along with Texas and Florida by this week's end. For all intents and purposes, the first hurricane, Katrina, a category 4-5, has laid waste to New Orleans and other parts of Louisiana and Mississippi. As a result, officials were determined that the same devastation would not occur from the new forming of Hurricane Rita that was in a skirmish with the Florida Keys and on its way through the Gulf, where it was expected that it would be warmed by the waters and turned into a hurricane of a category 4, and possibly a category 5, strength. The officials of FEMA and New Orleans agreed that another danger may be eminent and went to the airwaves immediately to announce that there were up to 500 buses with drivers available to take citizens of New Orleans who

had returned, on instruction from the mayor, and those who had not taken advantage of the opportunity before, to leave the city for higher ground and safety. The buses were supposed to have been staged at the ill-fated convention center in New Orleans where there was so much devastation and death only a few days before. No one wanted to use the convention center for anything other, than to load the buses and go to a designated place of safety. On Tuesday, September 20, several buses arrived at the convention center because no one knew or had any idea how many people were in New Orleans or how many remained or came back to the city. There simply was no way of knowing what would happen next. One bus holding fewer than 50 people was loaded, and left New Orleans for parts unknown. That was the only bus to leave on Tuesday. On Wednesday morning when Hurricane Rita was in full approach through the Gulf, but not yet to the city of New Orleans, fewer than a dozen people had arrived at the convention center wanting to board, and leave New Orleans. The call continued to go out through whatever means available to those remaining in New Orleans to evacuate the city in the meantime. City officials in

Galveston, TX, were preparing their people to leave, especially after the storm, a category 4, threatened to become a category 5 and endanger all of the 350 miles of the shoreline from Corpus Christi to Biloxi. Hospitals and retirement homes were clearing out in Galveston County where there was a mandatory evacuate order in place. People were being loaded into school buses by volunteers and officials who were able to provide physical help in nursing homes and such facilities. Hundreds of other buses were being staged while many citizens of Galveston were lining up, waiting to be told which bus to board, and where that bus was going. Television revealed that the majority of those boarding the handicap buses were Black, as were people waiting in line for buses, and a place to go. No matter what we have been told, or are being told about the "government screw-up in the Delta," there is every reason to believe that had the majority of citizens affected by Hurricane Katrina been white and middle-class, the president of the United States and his minions would not have allowed the tragedy of New Orleans to continue for three or four days without relief. The first dying white infant or elderly grandmother that appeared on the silver screen as a viccontinued on page 30