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Kanye West has a big mouth, he’ll tell you that in his music. I’m still a fan, but this is too much.

On the other hand, it speaks to the sentiment many are feeling, including myself:

1. Was the reponse too late?
2. Was the response slower than say 9/11? LA riots? Northridge quake?
3. Is the Louisiana response typical for water disasters? What was the response like in Indonesia during the tsunamis?

How can this be racial? Tragedy is tragedy. America would not let people die due to race. But things do seem slow.

Kanye also said that the media calls it looting when they see a black family, but they call it ‘looking for food’ when it’s a white family. I don’t buy that either. During the LA riots, people were looting, not looking for food. Looting is looting. It happended during the Sandinista war in Nicaragua, I remember people (some of our neighbors) walking in front of our home with stolen TVs and radios.

I saw an interview on TV with black leaders calling for race not to become an issue during this disaster. Others in New Orleans said that America is divided racially more than we think or are willing to admit, and this event shows us just how bad things are. He went on to say that it’s good to face the facts so we can keep fixing the problem.

If race is a part of this, let’s talk about it. But when we look at the images on TV, it doesn’t matter what color people are. Let’s look at the need and do something about it.

UPDATE: Today our church took an offering for our association’s (CBA) efforts in the affected areas. The offering is going towards Evangelical organizations serving the victims of hurricane Katrina such as “Samaritan’s Purse.” The need is great, every bit counts.

Into the future,

davidT