"Some black areas may not be rebuilt, HUD chief says"
Tags: jesse jacksonAccording to Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson:
"Whether we like it or not, New Orleans is not going to be 500,000 people for a long time…New Orleans is not going to be as black as it was for a long time, if ever again."
This from the Houston Chronicle's "New Orleans' racial makeup up in air".
He said he isn't sure that the Ninth Ward, a predominantly black and poor neighborhood devastated by flooding, should be rebuilt at all. If it is, the new construction should be designed to withstand disaster, he said.
In a meeting with the Houston Chronicle editorial board, the housing secretary, who is black, also criticized the Rev. Jesse Jackson and other black leaders, saying they were stirring up racial animosity in their comments about Katrina.
"I wish that the so-called black leadership would stop running around this country, like Jesse and the rest of them, making this a racial issue," the HUD chief said.
They caught up with Jesse Jackson at the airport, and he said he didn't start the race-baiting, it came to him:
The news coverage of the evacuation and relief efforts made it clear that a great many of those affected were black, poor and unable to leave on their own, he said.
"Those are the images that were burned into the consciousness of the world and became so embarrassing," he said.
More quotes from "leaders" in "HUD chief foresees a 'whiter' Big Easy".
