JACKSON, Miss. — President Bush's top advisers met Saturday with black
leaders concerned about the administration's slow response to blacks
suffering from Hurricane Katrina, while the head of the NAACP said it
was not time for "finger-pointing."
MARCIO JOSE SANCHEZ / AP
Local residents examine the destruction caused by Hurricane
Katrina, Friday in Bay St. Louis, Miss.
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NAACP President Bruce Gordon said that any recriminations over how the
government treated Gulf Coast residents can wait until the mostly poor
and black victims are given the care they desperately need.
"Right now, the NAACP is in what I call a life-saving mode. We are not
in a finger-pointing mode and until every life has been stabilized and
every life has been saved, we will devote all of our energies for that
purpose," Gordon said.
Gordon and Mississippi NAACP officials spoke at a news conference in
Jackson hours after Bush administration officials including Homeland
Security Secretary Michael Chertoff met with black leaders in Washington
about allegations that indifference to black suffering slowed the
response.
White House press secretary Scott McClellan said the group discussed how
to evacuate, save and sustain lives, create temporary housing and ways
to work with community and faith-based groups to handle the long-term
needs of the displaced.
Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, Democrat of Maryland and past chairman of the
Congressional Black Caucus, said he believes the administration was
partly interested in offering assurances that any missteps in getting
relief to the victims would be corrected.
"I think a lot of people in the African American community - and others,
by the way - share Bush's view that the results of his efforts have been
unacceptable," Cummings said after the White House meeting.
Gordon said the NAACP will monitor how federal officials provide relief
in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast while offering assistance to displaced
residents and those in need.
"Once we are satisfied that some level of stabilization has occurred,
then we are going to figure out what happened," Gordon said. "Because
are there discrepancies? Yes."
The Rev. Jesse Jackson and some black elected officials have said racial
injustice was at the root of the federal government's disaster response.
Jackson on Saturday criticized the Federal Emergency Management Agency,
calling its rescue efforts a "colossal disaster." He also said the
government failed to put together a coordinated effort to address the
crisis and should be held accountable.
"There was no national emergency evacuation plan for Americans in the
line of danger," Jackson said at his Rainbow/PUSH Coalition headquarters
on Chicago's South Side.
