Refugees in Houston "thays" wearing out their welcome.

[Dr Strangelove]

Originally posted by Agathon


So did Ray Charles.

OH GAWD, OH GAWD, OH GAWD. They done gone an' battered up the king a' soul an' fried him to a golen' brown.






Kin I have a leg?

[Imran Siddiqui]

Popeye's > Chick Fil-A > KFC

And yes, the comment was racist. Don't let 'em get you down DocFeelGood.

[Gangerolf]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
I reckon none of you people have done volunteer work with some "fringe elements" of the society, such as the elderly, the dispossesed, inner city youths, etc.

They often have very, hm, interesting reactions.

Exactamundo. I've worked with asylum seekers and have seen the same. You'd expect some humility or at least gratitude, but people expressing that are in minority. It's all about the only thing they have left - their pride.

(but maybe it's different in america and black people just hate white people)

[DanS]

Looks like Houstonians are going to have some new neighbors. I can just imagine docfeelgood squirming...

Poll: Many Evacuees Plan to Settle in Houston

By Richard Morin and Lisa Rein
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, September 16, 2005; Page A01

HOUSTON, Sept. 15 -- Fewer than half of all New Orleans evacuees living in emergency shelters here say they will move back home while two-thirds of those who want to relocate plan to settle permanently in the Houston area, according to a survey by The Washington Post, the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health.

The wide-ranging poll found these survivors of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath remain physically and emotionally battered but unbroken. They praise God and the U.S. Coast Guard for saving them, but two weeks after the storm nearly half still sought word about missing loved ones or close friends who may not have been as lucky.

Most already know they have no home left to return to. The overwhelming majority lack insurance to cover their losses. Few have bank accounts, savings accounts or credit cards that work. Still, nearly nine in 10 said they were "hopeful" about the future. And while half say they feel depressed about what lies ahead, just a third say they were afraid.

"I'm setting goals for myself and I'm ready to conquer them," said Lakisha Morris, 30, who was plucked from her roof and spent two nights outdoors on an interstate highway before boarding a bus for Houston. She said she wants to start her own business in this city, possibly day care for the children of fellow evacuees.

The poll vividly documents the immediate and dramatic changes that Hurricane Katrina has brought to two major American cities. It also suggests that what may be occurring is a massive -- and perhaps -- permanent transfer of a block of poor people from one city to another. That may have social, economic and political consequences that will be felt for decades, if not generations, in both communities.

Forty-three percent of these evacuees plan to return to New Orleans, the survey found. But just as many -- 44 percent -- say they will settle somewhere else, while the remainder are unsure. Many of those who are planning to return say they will be looking to buy or rent somewhere other than where they lived. Overall, only one in four say they plan to move back into their old homes, the poll found.

Some can't wait. "Every morning I wake up and pray for them to say we can go back to New Orleans," said Lynette Toca, 26, a homemaker with two young sons who had never been outside her city before they drove to Houston the Saturday before the hurricane swept through on Aug. 29.

According to the poll, most of those who do not plan to go back to New Orleans are already living in their new hometown. Fully two in three of the 44 percent who won't return say they plan to permanently relocate in the Houston area, the city that now is home to about 125,000 New Orleans evacuees.

A total of 680 randomly selected evacuees living temporarily in the Astrodome, Reliant Center and George R. Brown Convention Center as well as five Red Cross shelters in the greater Houston area were interviewed Sept. 10-12 for this Post/Kaiser/Harvard survey. More than 8,000 evacuees were living in these facilities and awaiting transfer to other housing when the interviewing was conducted.

More than nine in 10 of these evacuees said they were residents of New Orleans, while the remainder said they were from the surrounding area or elsewhere in Louisiana. The margin of sampling error for the overall results is plus or minus the percentage points. Potential differences between these evacuees and those not living in shelters or those who lived elsewhere in the affected Gulf Coast region make it impossible to conclude that these results accurately reflect the views of all Gulf Coast residents displaced by Katrina.

The Post/Kaiser/Harvard poll suggests these evacuees will start their lives with virtually nothing. Seven in 10 currently do not have a savings or checking account. Just as many have no usable credit cards.

Missing, too, from their lives are the vital support networks of relatives and friends that have temporarily absorbed the bulk of those who fled the Gulf Coast storm zone: eight in 10 say they have no one that they can stay with until they get back on their feet.

The poll suggests that the story of these evacuees is not merely about how little they were left with -- it is also about how fragile their lives were even before the storm hit. Together, those findings suggest the long-term challenges posed by the evacuees to local and state governments already cutting back services to their neediest citizens.

According to the poll, six in 10 evacuees had family incomes of less than $20,000 last year. Half have children under age 18. One in eight were unemployed when the storm hit. Seven in 10 said they had no insurance to cover their losses. Fully half have no health insurance. Four in 10 had suffered from heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure or were physically disabled.

When illness or injury strike, they were twice as likely to say they had sought care from hospitals such as the New Orleans Charity Hospital than from either a family doctor or health clinic -- needs for costly services that now will be transferred to hospitals in the Houston area or wherever these evacuees eventually settle.

This survey suggests some of these emergency shelters may be forced to host evacuees for weeks and months, or perhaps longer. While half expect to be relocated to an apartment, house or with a volunteer family within a few days, one in five expected to be living in an emergency shelter for at least a few more weeks. Indeed, Houston officials said this week that they have delayed their goal of emptying the temporary shelters by this coming weekend, in part because so many of the remaining evacuees lack resources to set up households on their own.

The survey also provides disquieting clues as to why so many residents remained in New Orleans to face Hurricane Katrina despite orders to evacuate. A third of those who stayed said they never heard the mandatory order to evacuate issued by the mayor the day before the storm hit. Somewhat fewer -- 28 percent -- said they heard the order but did not understand what they were to do. Thirty-six percent acknowledged they heard the order, understood it but did not leave. In hindsight, 56 percent said they could have evacuated while 42 percent said it was impossible.

Bad decisions, bad luck or sheer stubbornness kept many in town. More than a third said the single biggest reason they did not leave was that they thought the storm would not be as bad as it was, or they decided too late to flee. One in 10 simply did not want to leave. Slightly fewer stayed behind to protect their homes from damage or theft. A handful said they did not want to leave pets.

Angie Oneal, 44, a housekeeper from the Sixth Ward, heard the warnings to leave on her radio. But she stayed, to protect her belongings.

"I said to myself, if we went through Bessie, I thought we could go through Katrina," Oneal said. "I thought it was just going to pass over." She worried about the new TV, computer and bedroom set she had just bought.

The days immediately after the storm but before they were evacuated to Houston were filled with terror, pain and uncertainty.

A third of the interviewees said they had been trapped in their homes and had to be rescued; four in 10 said they spent at least a day living outdoors on the street. Four in 10 were rescued by the Coast Guard, National Guard, police officers or firefighters. Still, half said friends or neighbors helped them to safety (25 percent) or they managed to reach safe havens on their own (24 percent).

A majority said there was a time when they were without food or water. A third were trapped in the city without their prescription drugs. One in five managed to survive the storm, only to be threatened or assaulted by other survivors in the chaos that followed Katrina.

Religious faith has sustained the respondents through their worst days in New Orleans and now during their time in Houston. Eight in 10 said their faith was very important during the past two weeks. Remarkably, 81 percent said the ordeal has strengthened their belief while only 4 percent said it weakened it.

"We say, God did this for a reason, to clean up the shootings and murders that have become New Orleans," said Dorothy Stukes, 54, a school security officer from Jefferson Parish who said she spent "four days of hell" in the Louisiana Superdome. "Ninety-five percent of us are good people, but now God is going to take care of those that are not."

While the hurricane drew most New Orleans evacuees closer to God, it further estranged many from their government and political leaders. Three-quarters agreed that the response was too slow "and there's no excuse." Seven in 10 disapproved of the way President Bush has handled the recovery effort. But majorities also were critical of Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco (58 percent) and New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin (53 percent). Overall, six in 10 said the initially sluggish government response has made them feel that "government doesn't care" about people like them, according to the poll.

Assistant polling director Claudia Deane contributed to this report.

[Dr Strangelove]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
I reckon none of you people have done volunteer work with some "fringe elements" of the society, such as the elderly, the dispossesed, inner city youths, etc.

They often have very, hm, interesting reactions.

Oh gee UR golly, I hardly ever see "fringe elements" in my work. You reckon they even exist? I bet you work with "fringe elements" in your line of work than I do.

Tell me about it.

[Pekka]

This raises an interesting question. For example, if it was me up there volunteering, and young black man would say that to me, and it wouldn't be a joke, it would be ignorance. People would understand where it comes from, but the reality of the situation would then be that he'd think I'm a white man, and whites enslaved africans. Now, he would be correct, except that me or 'my people' had nothing to do with it. Many Euros enslaved Africans too, but 'my people' didn't'. We were also 'little people' for bigger countries, certainly not to that extent though, but still considered kind of slow and stupid.

Now.. he would then make a remark about me based on me being white, assuming my ancestors where slaving his ancestors. Which is not correct, not even in the same continent they were.

So this would make that man racist, without any reason to understand it, because the slavery remark does not apply here. But he would not know it. Should I tolerate it? Why can he be racist against me like that? I don't have to understand whites enslaved, because we had nothing to do with it up here in the north, and in other continent.

Ignorance. However... at the same time.. what if he was just joking, but tired, from all the things that happened to him. Maybe his family members got killed, maybe, just maybe I was being racist, thinking he's a thug, and I would tolerate his remarks because my first reaction could be that I'm thinking he's packing heat anyway, and he would shoot me or something if I start mouthing because of the remarks. But then I'm assuming. For all we know, he could be the future Einstein, decent young man who just lost it all in one big disaster, being tired, and throwing one joke I didn't get.

Who was the racist? Or were we both racists? Or neither of us?

[VetLegion]

Pekka stop reading philosophy it's bad for you

[Imran Siddiqui]

Pekka should stop reading altogether, it's bad for him .

[Pekka]

Excuse me! But I think me post above is very good both in basic content and the premise it sets.

I guess the only answer as how to act is to always try to suck it up, and move on, unless it's quite impossible. As in, when you are not sure if you are facing racism, move on, don't dwell on it. Because if you start calling the racism card, you might end up dead, or the other one dead, or something else, and then it was a mistake to begin with? No no no... tolerance does not start from thinking we are all equal. It starts from growing some self esteem and being ready to understand that it's too complex to be handled wisely. We can't agree ... with anything, people, us, so this matter is too complex for us to handle, so it is best to move on unless it's impossible, or very very direct.

Forgive and you shall be forgiven. That's a good action model.

[Drake Tungsten]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara
Really? I could go buy some, put it in a container with dry ice, and overnight it to you . . . C.O.D.

Nah, I think I'll survive. KFC, while not as good as Popeye's, is only ten minutes away. Thanks for the offer, though.

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
Pekka should stop writing altogether, it's bad for us .

Fixed.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Dr Strangelove
Oh gee UR golly, I hardly ever see "fringe elements" in my work. You reckon they even exist? I bet you work with "fringe elements" in your line of work than I do.

Tell me about it.

Gee Doc, did you miss the "volunteer" part?

[Mao]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara


Really? I could go buy some, put it in a container with dry ice, and overnight it to you . . . C.O.D.

duuuuuuude...I would pay you handsomely for Popeye's/KFC/chickawhatsitsname to be overnighted to me...

[Gatekeeper]

Originally posted by Lefty Scaevola
Illuminati are not very fond of it. It clogs the brain

Take the skin off. That's what I do.

[Kaak]

i'm really sick of people using slavery as an excuse too. Was it horrible thing? yes. Would the black people currently in america be better off if there hadn't been slavery? Signs point to no. Their anscestors most likely never would have made it out of africa, and I think most people can agree that there aren't many parts of africa where the situation is all that great.