The aftermath of Hurricane Ike is among us and it has brought out the best in us and the worst in us. Generally speaking, FEMA has shown considerable improvement over its Hurricane Katrina debacle. There has been some sniping between fedeal, stae and local officials, but most of that has been due to communication breakdowns or political posturing. After all, this huge storm devastated an enormous area, the magnitude of which exceeded that of Katrina.
As for the worst of us, here are two examples. One relates to the restoration of power by CenterPoint Energy which owns the elctric transmission system that provides power for much of the Houston-Galveston area. The other one concerns an editorial in the Houston Chronicle which praised the local Black Panther organization.
CenterPoint Energy, with the help of work crews from all over the United States and even as far away as Canada, has done a remarkable job of restoring power so far. But, here is the rub. I'm sure most of you have heard the saying, "Money talks, bullshit walks." It sure does in Houston. Here is how one ordinary subdivision was screwed in favor of a plush neighborhood.
The Timber Lakes Estates, which is located in the Cypress area northwest of Houston, is an ordinary subdivision. It was left without power as a result of the hurricane. Until yesterday, work crews had spent more than two days restoring power to the area. Only a five-block area was left without power when suddenly the workers pulled up stakes and left. It would have taken only a few more hours to finish restoring power to the rest of Timber Lakes Estates.
The workers told shocked residents that they had been ordered by CenterPoint to stop their work and leave immediately for the Bellaire and River Oaks sections of Houston. Well, guess what? River Oaks happens to be the wealthiest neighborhood in the Houston Metropolitan area and is home to many of the city's "movers and shakers." Enron's disgraced top executives used to live there too.
While CenterPoint denies that wealth played any part in the decision to leave Timber Lakes, an "insider" informed a Channel 2 TV reporter that the energy provider did pull out their work crews in response to complaints by affluent River Oaks residents that their service was not being restored fast enough. The Timber Lakes residents are furious, and they have every right to be infuriated.
Now to the Houston Chronicle's editorial "Mutual Defense," which was pulished on September 15th. The eidtorial's byline read, "Black Panthers' protection of shops in face of hurricane is a positive sign of social harmony." What a line of crap!
The editorial noted that "Leaders of Houston's Black Panther Party had hired out nearly 20 of their members at area gas-and-convenience stores, offering protection from the theft and mayhem that sometimes happens in the chaos before and after a storm of Ike's magnitude." The editorial discussed the perceptions, depending on whether you were black or white, of the original Panthers. It went on to praise the new Panthers as, "Standing ready in black and Hispanic neighborhoods to protect stations belonging to owners without regard to ethnic or racial background."
The original "Black Panther Party for Self Defense" was formed in 1966 inside San Quentin prison by a bunch of convicted thugs and thieves, The media portrayed the Panthers as folk heroes - community activists providing free breakfasts to poor black children and protecting blacks from police oppression. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The thuggery and thievery continued once the Panthers left prison. Did they accomplish anything in the fight for justice and civil rights? Absolutely not! When their aura finally faded, the Panthers simply left behind a legacy of unresolved urban conflict, crime, death, and black hatred of whites. That's some legacy!
The current crop of Panthers is a poor imitation of the San Quentin group and was obviously so named in order to capitalize on the notoriety of the original Panthers. If you want to learn more about the orignial group, which at times I personally had to deal with, you can read my December 1, 2006 blog, THE BLACK PANTHER LEGACY.
My beef is not with Houston's Panthers. It is with the Houston Chronicle, which has brought out the worst in journalism by praising a bunch of shake-down artists. In the aftermath of Ike, an army of thousands and thousands of volunteers - whites, blacks, Hispanics and Asians, young and old - has been working all over the storm devastated area, serving people desperate for help. Many of these volunteers are storm victims themselves. They've never asked to be paid a single penny for their services, unlike that small group of intimidating Black Panther mercenaries.
Had the Panthers offered their protective services for free, they would have merited the praise heaped upon them by the Chronicle. Instead, they simply took advantage of, and profited from, an impending disaster. Their "service" sure looks a lot like the old Mafia protection racket to me. And in the process, the Panthers managed to hoodwink the politically correct editorial staff of the Chronicle.
EDITOR'S NOTE: I was mistaken when I originally wrote that the first President Bush resided in River Oaks. Furthermore, I was informed by a reliable source that as of 9-21-08, River Oaks was still without power. The problem appears to be with the many trees that toppled across the power lines. In any event, there was no excuse for pulling the work crews out of Timber Lake Estates only hours before they would have finished the job for the rest of the subdivision.
No comments:
Post a Comment