Houston Houswives complain about Katrina refugees

[blogslut]

Anyone catch that just now on CNN? Who were they complaining to? Those poor housewives...:sarcasm:

[Submariner]

1. I noticed they changed the term correctly to "EVACUEES"

from the racist-laden refugee term used last week.

[blogslut]

3. refugee is racist?

Golly.

[dipsydoodle]

7. Yes - golly

Not only didn't I know that I don't accept it to be so either. If too many words become no no's we'll be miming to each other.

[crikkett]

12. 'refugee' is person who is not in their home land and not a citizen

therefore calling Katrina survivors 'refugees' diminishes them and is therefore, either classist or racist. Sorry, the English language is one of nuances.

[blogslut]

15. Isn't it possible

that the victims of Katrina are refugees in their own land?

[gkhouston]

16. they aren't seeking shelter from a political enemy. By definition,

a refugee is someone who seeks shelter/asylum in a foreign country, usually from political or religious persecution. In a sense they have sought a kind of refuge, but they aren't true "refugees". To say that it's racist or classist to call them refugees when they're Americans, however, makes it sound like "American" is a class or race.

[uppityperson]

31. How about when there is a famine and people seek help elsewhere?

Are they refugees? Serious question that is.

[gkhouston]

42. I'd say so, but the dictionary probably doesn't and hey,

don't books know everything? :evilgrin:

[LostinVA]

23. No, they CAN'T be refugees in their own country

Words have meanings.

[dipsydoodle]

32. Check out

the displacement of the original Palestinian refugee camps and then compare with land which was originally Palestine.

edit : here's a map for you http://www.palestineremembered.com/Acre/Maps/Story583.html

[stanwyck]

36. The reason the Katrina victims resent

the word "refugees" is the implication that they are not Americans.
And, unfortunately, that's exactly how many Americans do view their fellow Americans...as somehow "lesser" citizens. Undeserving citizens.
People who just shouldn't be here.
As Randy Newman sang about Lousiana back in his early '70's album "Good Ole Boys".."they want to wash us away. They want to wash us away."
And they've succeeded.

[nosillies]

18. I know plenty of Katrina "refugees" personally

We called them "our refs." The called themselves refugees. They probably still do. They didn't give a shit. I think they had bigger things to worry about than semantics. Oh, if only they could sit around pondering literal definitions.

[LostinVA]

25. It is not the same thing as officials and journalists calling them refugee

Nor these Houston housewives. Ugh.

[nosillies]

26. Yeh, good point!

[nadinbrzezinski]

22. Wrong

the term is used to indicate people who have been forced out of their homes

There are two types of refugees recognized by international aide organizations

External refugee, the more or less definition that you gave

and....

INTERNAL refugee, which can be caused or natural disasters.. but in an orwellian age any word changes its meaning in front of us

By the way I worked over the years with plenty of both EXTERNAL and INTERNAL refugees.

[LostinVA]

24. Wrong

[Donald Ian Rankin]

44. No, a refugee is just someone seeking refuge.

The term implies geographical displacement, but not that national boundaries have been crossed - the people who fled North from South Lebanon were refugees.

It's in no way diminishing, classist, or racist.

[LostinVA]

21. People aren't refugees fin their own country

I'm white, and I consider the word very, very pointed... they never talk about "refugees" in South Florida hurricane shelters.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

35. A refugee is a person seeking refuge.

i.e. safety from a calamity.

So technically, the Katrina victims were refugees.

Now, in the vernacular, "refugee" is commonly used to refer to people seeking refuge from other countries. Most commonly Cuban refugees escaping on rafts.

Furthermore, there's a point to be made about how racist the media treated the victims of Katrina. They treated them like they were third world Africans suffering from a famine or some damn thing. Nobody referred to the people crossing the Brooklyn Bridge on 9-11 as "refugees" even though they fit the definition.

[Eric J in MN]

39. "Refugee" is racist! Check out this racist song...

(sarcasm)

http://www.woodyguthrie.org/Lyrics/Dust_Bowl_Refugee.htm

Dust Bowl Refugee

by Woody Guthrie

I'm a dust bowl refugee,
Just a dust bowl refugee,
From that dust bowl to the peach bowl,
Now that peach fuzz is a-killin' me.

'Cross the mountains to the sea,
Come the wife and kids and me.
It's a hot old dusty highway
For a dust bowl refugee.

[JVS]

45. Doesn't Evacuee imply that they were actually evacuated instead...

of being abandoned to die by our lovely government?

[KamaAina]

2. For the last time (I hope): They want to go home!

Trouble is, thanks to bureaucratic bungling at all levels, but primarily the Federal level, they have no home to go back to that they can afford. They do NOT want to "stay in Houston and mooch off the poor housewives" or whatever! :grr:

[opihimoimoi]

29. The Solutions are missing because the First Dufus is stuck on LOLO

His GOP CROP/CRAP do not have solid answers...only weak and poor GUESSES...

They are fakng their way through their RAPING OF AMERICA...smirking as they do it to us...

[rodeodance]

4. DU had a few articles of late--(they are overstaying their welcome was

the jest of the articles)

[Debau2005]

5. "Overstaying their welcome"

implies they are "guests" who have somewhere to return to!

[sable302]

6. My mother-in-law is a Houston Housewife

She gripes about them all the time, how they don't get jobs and mooch off others.

I guess that's somehow different than what she's doing right now.

[KansDem]

11. GOOD ONE!!!

Thanks for the bellylaugh! Best post today :D

[Justitia]

8. Please, tell me that didn't make it to CNN! I am a mortified Houstonian.

Is it the nasty witch inside a CHURCH who said that?

I was hoping this local embarrassment would travel no further.

If it is the same incident I am referring to, there was a collective cringe here in Houston when this crazy person made that remark on TV.

Please, do not think that this is the prevailing feeling in Houston, I assure you it is not.
Nasty, crazy people just make good TV.

We here in Texas already have so much to be ashamed of, Houston's response to the Katrina crisis should not be on that list.

Sorry for our ugly people. :-(

[itsrobert]

9. Is it because Oprah is building them nicer houses in Houston than

the Houston Housewives have? Must be jeoulousy.

[KamaAina]

20. Why doesn't Oprah build them nice houses in New Orleans?!

It is, after all, their home -- and I'll bet she could get it done a LOT faster than the "Road Home" program!

[crikkett]

10. Yes they can cry me a river

:cry:

[Name removed]

13. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Richard Steele]

14. I don't understand why they don't just LEAVE. Laziness?

Why are they sitting around crying for SOMEONE ELSE to help them?

They had PLENTY of warning that those evacuees were headed their way;
if those housewives aren't smart enough to move, then why should I care
about how terrible their living conditions are???


:sarcasm:

[Catherine Vincent]

17. Barbara Bush was complaining a couple of weeks ago

about the evacuees committing crimes in the area that her hairdresser lives because it keeps her from traveling to her home to do her blue hair. :eyes:

[blogslut]

30. I read that!

Poor Babs. Who will slap the Ultra White Minx in her royal tresses if her hairdresser gets mugged?

I loathe that cow.

[tnlefty]

37. Do you ever catch yourself pondering on how Babs and others who

make similar comments and have similar attitudes would make it through a disaster? Imagine how she would do if she had lost everything that she had, no financial records, all of her family lost their stuff, too, and her wealthy friends lost everything, too? And to have so many people mistreating and resenting you to boot!

I don't think that she would've made it for a month much less a year!

[blogslut]

40. Sadly

I think of Babs more often than she thinks of me...or you, or any American for that matter.

[FedUpWithIt All]

19. My 13 yr old said, "They must be the desperate kind." ...

Awesome kid. ;)

[aasleka]

27. haha

"Why are they sitting around crying for SOMEONE ELSE to help them?

They had PLENTY of warning that those evacuees were headed their way;
if those housewives aren't smart enough to move, then why should I care
about how terrible their living conditions are???"

Now that's funny!

[butterfly77]

28. Yes, I saw it ...

they gripe about them but probably won't give them a job if they applied. Some are afraid of them regardless. A lot of it is that they don't like the changing color of the landscape.

[kerstin]

33. Houston is the most international of Texas cities.

Apparently violent crime has markedly increased since Katrina and the Katrina evacuees are being heavily blamed. Undoubtedly some of it is owing to their presence; however the uptick in violent crime began before Hurricane Katrina, and in cities other than the ones where the Katrina victims took refuge.

Houston sacrificed more than any other city in helping those displaced by Katrina. I do not criticize these women for fearing for their safety or that of their families. I just would hope that they would make the connection between what is happening to their city and the criminal negligence of the Bush cabal. It is they who are ultimately responsible for their current predicament.

I find it the height of irony that the home of "Poppy" Bush should bear the brunt of the deliberate inaction of the son's felonious inner circle.

[blogslut]

34. You saw it? Where were they?

A city council meeting or what? Who were they talking to?

[Midlodemocrat]

38. This thread took a remarkable turn further down.

It's been quite enlightening, actually. Thank you for posting this.

[blogslut]

41. Yes

I blame the alliteration I used in the post title. ;)

[pinto]

43. Just a note about keeping it civil.

The administrators of Democratic Underground are working to provide a place where progressives can share ideas and debate in an atmosphere of mutual respect. Despite our best efforts, some of our members often stray from this ideal and cheapen the quality of discourse for everyone else. Unfortunately, it is simply impossible to write a comprehensive set of rules forbidding every type of antisocial behavior. The fact that the rules do not forbid a certain type of post does not automatically make an uncivil post appropriate, nor does it imply that the administrators approve of disrespectful behavior. Every member of this community has a responsibility to participate in a respectful manner, and to help foster an atmosphere of thoughtful discussion. In this regard, we strongly advise that our members exercise a little common decency, rather than trying to parse the message board rules to figure out what type of antisocial behavior is not forbidden.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/forums/rules_detailed.html

Thanks.