REAL RACISM

 

 

 

By Sharon Hughes
September 24, 2005
NewsWithViews.com

While the mainstream media reported and debated claims of racism as the reason for the poor response in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina, the Anti-Defamation League gave proof of real racism concerning this tradegy - hundreds of bigoted messages on white supremacist and anti-Semitic websites.

In their article, "Bigots Gloat over Hurricane Victims; Spew Racist and Anti-Semitic Hate Online" the ADL states: "Realizing that Louisiana and Mississippi have huge non-white populations, the bigots expressed hope that the hurricane would be deadly and "cleanse" the areas hit. Employing classical anti-Semitic canards, they claimed that Jews would seek to benefit from the devastation and that Jewish control of the media skewed the reporting of the hurricane."

Here are a few of the milder quotes white supremacists and anti-semites posted:

Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director said, "While they may be small in number, their reach through the Internet is of great concern. Their messages of hate must be countered by the good words of good people."

Here's an even more far-reaching form of racism: Letting Africans die because of radical environmentalist white idealogues' activism. Paul Driessen, Senior Policy Advisor for the Congress of Racial Equality and former environmental policy advocate, talked with me about this issue on my radio show . He said what few are willing and courageous enough to talk about.

Did you know that in 2004 alone malaria took the lives of more African children than any other infectious disease, and according to UNICEF - three times more than HIV/AIDS? How about that malaria infects 400 million people in sub-Saharan Africa and kills up to 2 million (half of them children) every year? Why? Primarily because of global environmental laws that prohibit the use of DDT spraying.

Paul Driessen points out in his article, "Double Standards on Disease Control": �From colonial times until the 1940s, malaria was the American disease,� says Dr. Robert Desowitz, professor of tropical medicine at the University of North Carolina. At the dawn of the twentieth century, it thrived from New York to Florida, from North Carolina to California. Up to 7 million Americans were stricken by it every year until the mid-1920s, and 3,900 died in 1936. For centuries, it struck down people of all ages in England, Holland, Italy and other parts of Europe. But by the early 1950s, it was gone, and all but forgotten. How was this possible? We used DDT, window screens and other measures to gradually eradicate the malaria parasite from its human and insect hosts. Today, we still spray pesticides (mostly by airplanes) to control mosquitoes and the West Nile virus that some carry. But we apply a vastly different standard when it comes to poor developing countries that are still wracked by malaria. "

Driessen also mentions the European Union, World Health Organization, World Bank, UNICEF and environmental groups like Greenpeace, and others as being on the forefront of preventing the most malaria-ridden nations from using the same insecticides that eradicated the disease here in America. This begs the question: Why are the voices of human rights groups and churches silent about this 'subtle' form of racism, and human-rights abuse? You tell me. Racism is the height of arrogance no matter how it is expressed or where it is found.

Realated Article:
Read Driessen bio and articles here

� 2005 Sharon Hughes - All Rights Reserved