I was personally isickened by the racism demonstrated by NBC's Today. A short piece on people hoping to find loved ones in a shelter, alive, showed six individuals including two couples. They were all white. Later Matt Lauer commmented on a scene of black people grabbing desperately for water bottles; "It looks like a scene from Somalia".

Now of course the white people hoping for news of loved ones suffered as terribly as did black people hoping for news of loved ones but the report seemed to say that only whites were experiencing tragedy. The remark alluding to Somalia implied that the persons so desperately needing water were on the level of a third world country. Maybe that's not so far fetched but the comment was disrespectful.

I nominate for a presidential medal, the 19 year old black youngster who stole the school bus and helped people from his neighborhood evacuate New Orleans. He is a true hero.

Putting FEMA under Homeland Security was a bad idea. We LOST a city as surely as if a dirty bomb or a nuke had been set off. Less dead, maybe. Can you now see what we will have to face when THAT scenario happens?

The undercurrent of racism in America welled up as a shameful flood but it has always been there. To those of you who like to think in cliches; Mississippi, the "deep south", Louisiana, et al are no more racist than any other part of the country. We are ALL racists, and we need to STOP!


CB