AP Photo by NOAA Hurricane Katrina

Controversy Continues
in Hurricane Aftermath
By Necie Green, 10.06.05

The clean up across the Gulf Coast is underway. Businesses are reopening. Individuals are returning to their homes. But the cloud of controversy surrounding Hurricane Katrina remains.

Top officials step down

Evacuees were outraged at the four days it took the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to respond in Louisiana. Many applauded the Sept. 12 resignation of former FEMA Director Mike Brown. On Sept. 27 Brown defended his actions as director in front of a Congressional panel.

FEMA did more in Hurricane Katrina than it did in Charley, in Florida and the others…” Brown said. “I guess you want me to be this superhero that is going to step in there and suddenly take everybody out of New Orleans.”

Brown stated that the blame should be directed at New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco.
Republican Congressman Christopher Shays disagreed. “That’s why I’m happy you left - because that kind of look in the llights like a deer tells me that you weren’t capable to do the job,” he said to Brown.

Brown isn’t the only official who has resigned in the aftermath of the hurricane. Eddie Compass, superintendent of New Orleans announced his retirement on Sept. 27.

“Every man in leadership positions must know when it’s time to hand over the reigns to someone else,” Compass said during a press conference. “I will be going on in another direction God has for me.”

Refugee – what’s in a word

From the beginning there was concern regarding the language used to describe Hurricane Katrina victims. Media coined the term “refugee” and leaders in the Black community took offense.

“It is racist to call American citizens refugees,” the Rev. Jesse Jackson said on camera while visiting evacuees in the Houston Astrodome.

In a statement on its website, the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) offered guidance to media. “Because of its iimprecise connotation and more specific application in the context of those seeking political refuge, the association encourages editors to instead choose more accurate terms such as evacuees, victims or survivors.”

Media outlets such as National Public Radio (NPR), “The Washington Post,” and the “Miami Herald,” chose to avoid using “refugee.” The Associated Press and “The New York Times” did not.

Kathleen Carroll, executive editor of the Associated Press (AP) offered the AP’s viewpoint on its website. "Several hundred thousand people have been uprooted from their homes and communities and forced to seek refuge in more than 30 different states across America. Until such time as they are able to take up new lives in their new communities or return to their former homes, they will be refugees."

Exaggerated reports of mayhem

Police are now investigating the alleged accounts of murder, rape, and shootings in the Superdome. On Sept. 26 “The Times-Picayune” of New Orleans described these reports as “scores of myths about the dome and Convention Center treated as fact by evacuees, the media and even some of New Orleans' top officials.”

Reports on “USA Today” estimate the latest death toll from the Superdome at 10 and four from the New Orleans convention center. Conflicting reports estimate one to two of these deaths as homicides. No official reports of rape or sexual assault have been made.

“It was a chaotic time for the city,” said police Captain Marlon Defillo to CNN. “Now that we've had a chance to reflect back on that situation, we're able to say right now that things were not the way they appeared."

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