In Katrina I Didn't See Racism, I Saw
Brotherhood
Posted Sep 7, 2005
(Photos on bottom of page)
In New Orleans, beginning Tuesday morning,
August 30, I saw
men in helicopters risking their lives to save
stranded flood victims from
rooftops. The rescuers were White, the stranded
Black. I saw Caucasians
navigating their small, private boats in
violent, swirling, toxic
floodwaters to find fellow citizens trapped in
their houses. Those they
saved were Black.
I saw Brotherhood. New York Congressman Charlie
Rangel saw
Racism.
Yes, there are Two Americas. One is the real
America, where
virtually every White person I know sends money,
food or clothes to
those in need -- now and in other crises --
regardless of color. This America is
colorblind.
The other is the America fantasized and
manufactured by
Charlie Rangel, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton,
who constantly cry "racism!"
even in situations where it does not exist, even
when undeniable images
illustrate love, compassion and concern. These
three men, together with today's
NAACP, want to continue the notion of Racist
America. It is their Mantra, their
calling card. Their power, money, and continued
media appearances
depend on it.
Often, people caught up in accusing others of
sin neglect to
undergo their own personal introspection. They
begin to think they alone
inhabit the moral high ground. It is high time
these men peered into
their own hearts at the dark chamber that causes
this unceasing labeling of
their fellow Americans as "racist." They may
find in that chamber their own
racism -- against Whites.
There is only one real America. Beginning Friday
morning in
Houston, thousands of regular citizens poured
into the Astrodome
offering water, food, clean clothes, personal
items, baby diapers and toys, love
and even their homes to the evacuees who had
been bused in from New Orleans.
Most of the givers were White, most of those
being helped were Black.
But there was Jesse Jackson, busy on TV,
accusing the country of not putting
Blacks -- i.e., him -- on some type of
Commission he is demanding.
Where was he early in the week? Not sweating
with others
from around the country who had scraped their
last dollar to come help. With
Jesse, it's always about Jesse.
After decades of hearing accusations from Jesse,
Al,
Charlie, the NAACP and certain elitists about
how racist America is, it would
have been refreshing to hear them for once give
thanks to those they for
years have been maligning. These self-anointed
spokesmen for the Black
community lead only when it comes to foisting
guilt and condemnation, and not
when it comes to acknowledging the good in those
they have made a career in
castigating.
As a Rabbi I have a message I wish to offer to
my fellow members
of the cloth, Reverends Jackson and Sharpton:
"It is time to do some
soul searching. Your continued efforts to tear
this country apart, even in
light of the monumental goodness shown by your
White brothers, is a sin."
There are no churches in the world like the
American churches.
And there are no better parishioners and members
of churches anywhere
in the world. These churches are saving the day.
Their members -- infused by
the special and singular teachings of our unique
American Judeo-Christian
understanding of the Bible -- are, at this
moment, writing an historic
chapter in giving, initiative, and selflessness.
They are opening their
homes to strangers. They are doing what
government is incapable of
doing.
America works because of its faith-based
institutions. It always
has. That is what makes it America.
So next time the ACLU tries to diminish and
marginalize the
churches, saying there is no role for religion
in American public life,
that an impenetrable wall must be erected
separating the citizens from their
faith, cry out "Katrina." Next time the ACLU
goes to court asking that
U.S. soldiers not be allowed to say Grace in the
Mess Hall and that
communities be forbidden from setting up a
nativity scene, ask yourself: without the
motivation of Goodness sourced in Faith, would
people offer such
sacrifice?
Where else does this Brotherhood come from but
the Bible which teaches "Thou
Shall Love Thy Neighbor as Yourself."
I saw brotherhood on Fox News, where 24/7
reporters used their perch as a
clearing-house for search-and-rescue missions
and communication
between the stranded and those in position to
save. In contrast, the
Old-line networks continued with their usual
foolish, brain-numbing
programming. Those who always preach
"compassion" chose profit over
people.
The New York Times has utterly failed America.
Its columnists
could have used their talents and word skills to
inspire and unite a
nation.
Columnists such as Frank Rich and Paul Krugman,
however, revealed their
true colors by evading their once-in-a-lifetime
chance to help and instead
chose to divide, condemn, and fuel the fires and
poison the waters of
Louisiana.
In them, I saw no Brotherhood. The newspaper
always preaching "compassion"
verifies Shakespeare's "They protest too much."
Similar elitists here in the northeast and on
the West coast have over the
years
expressed their view of the South as "unsophisticated"
and Texans as "cowboys." Well, the South has
come through, especially
Houston and other parts of Texas, whereas, as I
write this on Labor
Day, the limousine moralizers are lying on east
and west coast beaches thinking
they're doing their part by reading Times'
editorials and calling George
Bush "racist." How sanctimonious life becomes
when proving you are not
a racist depends not on living in a truly
integrated neighborhood, but by
simply calling others racist.
Like so often in history, facts trump
platitudes. Reality reigns. Those who
always preach brotherhood, thus far have acted
devoid of it. Those who for
decades have been accused by elitists of not
having compassion are the
ones living it. They are: the churches, the
military, and
