Looking into the future the Pelican feeding its young from a self-induced wound in its own breast (as depicted, mysteriously, on the state flag of Louisiana) is accepted as an appropriate symbol of both self-sacrifice and rebirth. Through his selfless efforts, man is raised from the slavery of ignorance to the condition of freedom conferred by wisdom. Given the current state of affairs in Louisiana, one hopes that the understanding of the Pelican as a symbol shall point the way towards a new consciousness of ourselves as a whole, and lead us to face our futures with strength, grace, wisdom and faith, to learn from our mistakes and carry our successes and zest for living to future generations.

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The Sheik Speaks Out Against Feds Lack of Response After Hurricane Katrina - October 2005

The following racist comments were made by a graduate of Loyola University...

Things we have learned from watching the news on TV during the last two weeks:

1. White folks aren't newsworthy unless they're portrayed as evil.
2. The hurricane only hit black families' property.
3. New Orleans was devastated but no other city was affected.
4. Mississippi is reported to have a tree blown down.
5. New Orleans has no white people.
6. The hurricane blew a limb off a tree in the yard of an Alabama resident.
7. When you are hungry after a hurricane, steal a big screen TV.
8. Looters and gangs from New Orleans roam free in your city while politicians, rescuers, and volunteers are labeled as racist criminals.
9. The rescued bitched because the government hasn't issued them debit cards yet.
10. There will be 23 billion dollars in improvements to New Orleans mostly paid for by evil white folks.

The Sheik responds to these comments:

Here's a thought: Why not give New Orleans' able bodied poor a crash course in basic trades - carpentry, masonry, drywall, etc. - and pay them to help rebuild their city? And when it's over they'll possess marketable skills and no longer have to rely on Government assistance programs.

I know I will get in a "lot of trouble" for saying what follows, but you know what? It's TIME we all stopped putting up with the attitudes and "values" that have held us back as a society for the past 150+ years. If you know me, you know I play it straight. And I am telling you the truth about what really has to be changed in Louisiana. I have included two transcripts of interviews that I think will set the course for the next 100 years in this State. It's something to think about as we contemplate the deaths of so many of our fellow Louisianians.

In hurricane Betsy, the National Guard was on the streets hours after the winds died down and the flood waters rose. I was there in the lower 9th ward and in Chalmette rescuing people from the 15 foot waters for 5 days and saw how a rescue operation should be run.

Somewhere along the way, since 1965, it was decided that if you had a degree in almost anything from some Ivy League College you knew more than those Yats in New Orleans ever could.

Hence the street cars were taken off Canal Street, and what we knew as "Civil Defense" was allowed to die from neglect and funding cuts. I was present when one of those "experts" held up a cell phone and said, "We don't need those amateur radio operators any more, we have CELL PHONES now."

I remember very clearly that in 1965 in every neighborhood there was a school that was a designated shelter which we could walk to in minutes. Each one had a police officer, a red cross nurse, first aid station, cafeteria, dormitories, and emergency generators for communications and some lighting. When the waters came up, everyone went up to the higher floors until the NG could come with 4x4's or ducks to pick everyone up. If it flooded, every person with a boat got it out there and started saving people without any FEMA, or any order from anyone. We just DID it.

The system worked.

But then along came the "experts" with the fancy degrees, briefcases, press conferences, and plans out their asses. And the very first time we had the "real thing" it all collapsed like the levees that have not been maintained for the past 20 years due to funding cuts. In June, Bush signed a 20% cut in the funds ($73 million dollars) and we saw the results on the many levees that failed.

What happened this time is that after the storm the head of FEMA declared a "mission accomplished" and went back to being President of the American Arabian Horse Jumping Association while people died on the sidewalks and in the attics of our City. For 4 days we were completely neglected and ignored. That is, until Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard and Mayor Ray Nagin got up and told the truth.

I have been to New Orleans twice since the storm. The first time was the Monday after the storm, on a Federal Court Ordered entry to investigate an accident involving an NOPD officer who was critically injured. We toured as much of the city as possible with the time and flooded areas being the only limitation. We saw all of uptown, the CBD, Treme and parts of the upper 9th ward. We made a point of looking for looted buildings, bodies, and any houses that were broken into. We found only one house that was burgled, 3 pharmacies that were broken into and one grocery store that had a front door missing. In one case I photographed the merchandise in the store still on the shelves.

I believe that the news media, particularly those who are not from New Orleans, grossly over reported looting, murder, rape, and "Rodney King" type rioting. I spoke to 3 National Guardsmen who were at the Dome from the beginning to the end and they said that there were some incidents, but that it was NOT the bedlam reported on the sensationalistic news media. Eddie Jordan today reported that so far they have 4 confirmed homicides, 1 at the dome, 1 at the convention center, and 2 in the streets. Not exactly the rampage of murder reported on the "mad dog" news reports.

Likewise, reports of the NOPD resigning en masse and Chief Compas running away to Baton Rouge were either completely false or overstated. What I heard over and over from the cops who stayed on was that when all communications went down, most of the vehicles were flooded or out of gas, and no one would assist the NOPD for days on end.........many were threatened by wives with divorce if they did not come home and protect their own. Some got fed up with National Guard refusing to enter the Dome, saying that they "could not go in there." Has anyone thought for a moment that if you lived in Venice, the closest "shelter" was above I-12 in St Tammany Parish? Imagine being without a car and not having a fat bank account and being told to evacuate some 40 miles away to St Tammany.

Lastly, there seems to be a very virulent and ugly throw back to the racism of the 50's and 60's that led to the "white flight" which cut into the tax base and left mostly those who were die-hard New Orleanians or working poor to inhabit the City in the first place.

So much of what went wrong in those first 4 days after the storm could have been prevented with a LOUISIANA National Guard presence on the street immediately after the storm. Thirty-five percent of the Louisiana NG was in Iraq instead of here where they belong, doing the mission they were created for, and, incredibly, units were flown all the way from Iraq before we finally got some support for the NOPD.

I wonder, also, if so many people were shooting at helicopters and rescue boats, why was no one hit, nor any planes shot down? Could it be that after days of watching air boats go blazing by, helicopters flying past and NO ONE coming to help, that some fired shots to either get some attention or say, "If you won't help me, I will shoot at you." From the luxury of our white skins and upscale lives, it's so easy to criticize those who have so little and who generally live very productive lives.

I realize that many people are looking at this entire incident from a racial perspective, and oh how I have heard it all these past 3 weeks. I find racism to be particularly un-American and more the problem than any flood waters or people demanding that they be given water and food by a Government that told them for the past 40 years that we had PLANS and PLANS on top of PLANS!

Mayor Ray Nagin told the truth, and I will forever admire him for it. Had he not gotten up and blown the lid off of the "benign neglect" which is a euphemism for racist policies, we would perhaps still be waiting for the supplies and reinforcements to arrive.

I grew up in a racist society where the legal system was completely in support of segregation. In time I came to realize that racism was an evil and had no place in a democratic society.

So if the message was in jest, I will say what Terry Duverney told me in 1969 at City Hall: "I don't mind "nigger jokes" but they better damned well be funny". Terry was the first black man to graduate from college from Central City, and rose to become head of HUD in Washington.

I do not find the images and video of old people, women, children and babies dying on the streets of New Orleans after surviving the actual hurricane to be funny. I do not find it amusing to see those same people pushing shopping carts with babies in them over the interstates and the Mississippi River Bridge desperately searching for water, food and shelter.

It is one country and one race...........the human race. I make no apologies for these views. In fact, I am very proud that I overcame the racism of my past and now enjoy the incredible multicultural society which makes New Orleans not only unique in the world, but worth every dollar it takes to get her back on her feet.

I have no use for a "looter" nor do I have any respect for a Ken Lay, Cleo Fields, Marc Morial or Edwin Edwards who steal millions and get a free pass because its "white collar crime".

Those people who were out there trying to survive were not animals or criminals. They were doing exactly what you or I would do in the same circumstance.

It's time we put that "good ole racism" to rest. It serves no purpose other than to prolong the agony and deprive us all of a richer, fuller life.

Like ole Satchmo said, "If I got to tell you what soul is, you will never know."

Here are the two finest speeches I have ever heard from any Louisiana politician. One white, one black......both saying the same message...

Sheik

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Transcript of Aaron Broussard on "Meet the Press"

MR. RUSSERT: Jefferson Parish President Broussard, let me start with you. You just heard the director of Homeland Security's explanation of what has happened this last week. What is your reaction?

MR. AARON BROUSSARD: We have been abandoned by our own country. Hurricane Katrina will go down in history as one of the worst storms ever to hit an American coast, but the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina will go down as one of the worst abandonments of Americans on American soil ever in U.S. history. I am personally asking our bipartisan congressional delegation here in Louisiana to immediately begin congressional hearings to find out just what happened here. Why did it happen? Who needs to be fired? And believe me, they need to be fired right away, because we still have weeks to go in this tragedy. We have months to go. We have years to go. And whoever is at the top of this totem pole, that totem pole needs to be chain-sawed off and we've got to start with some new leadership.

It's not just Katrina that caused all these deaths in New Orleans here. Bureaucracy has committed murder here in the greater New Orleans area, and bureaucracy has to stand trial before Congress now. It's so obvious. FEMA needs more congressional funding. It needs more presidential support. It needs to be a Cabinet-level director. It needs to be an independent agency that will be able to fulfill its mission to work in partnership with state and local governments around America. FEMA needs to be empowered to do the things it was created to do. It needs to come somewhere, like New Orleans, with all of its force immediately, without red tape, without bureaucracy, act immediately with common sense and leadership, and save lives. Forget about the property. We can rebuild the property. It's got to be able to come in and save lives.

We need strong leadership at the top of America right now in order to accomplish this and to-- reconstructing FEMA.

MR. RUSSERT: Mr. Broussard, let me ask--I want to ask--should...

MR. BROUSSARD: You know, just some quick examples...

MR. RUSSERT: Hold on. Hold on, sir. Shouldn't the mayor of New Orleans and the governor of New Orleans bear some responsibility? Couldn't they have been much more forceful, much more effective and much more organized in evacuating the area?

MR. BROUSSARD: Sir, they were told like me, every single day, "The cavalry's coming," on a federal level, "the cavalry's coming, the cavalry's coming, the cavalry's coming." I have just begun to hear the hooves of the cavalry. The cavalry's still not here yet, but I've begun to hear the hooves, and we're almost a week out.

Let me give you just three quick examples. We had Wal-Mart deliver three trucks of water, trailer trucks of water. FEMA turned them back. They said we didn't need them. This was a week ago. FEMA--we had 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel on a Coast Guard vessel docked in my parish. The Coast Guard said, "Come get the fuel right away." When we got there with our trucks, they got a word. "FEMA says don't give you the fuel." Yesterday--yesterday--FEMA comes in and cuts all of our emergency communication lines. They cut them without notice. Our sheriff, Harry Lee, goes back in, he reconnects the line. He posts armed guards on our line and says, "No one is getting near these lines." Sheriff Harry Lee said that if America--American government would have responded like Wal-Mart has responded, we wouldn't be in this crisis.

But I want to thank Governor Blanco for all she's done and all her leadership. She sent in the National Guard. I just repaired a breach on my side of the 17th Street canal that the secretary didn't foresee, a 300-foot breach. I just completed it yesterday with convoys of National Guard and local parish workers and levee board people. It took us two and a half days working 24/7. I just closed it.

MR. RUSSERT: All right.

MR. BROUSSARD: I'm telling you most importantly I want to thank my public employees...

MR. RUSSERT: All right.

MR. BROUSSARD: ...that have worked 24/7. They're burned out, the doctors, the nurses. And I want to give you one last story and I'll shut up and let you tell me whatever you want to tell me. The guy who runs this building I'm in, emergency management, he's responsible for everything. His mother was trapped in a St. Bernard nursing home and every day she called him and said, "Are you coming, son? Is somebody coming?" And he said, "Yeah, Mama, somebody's coming to get you. Somebody's coming to get you on Tuesday. Somebody's coming to get you on Wednesday. Somebody's coming to get you on Thursday. Somebody's coming to get you on Friday." And she drowned Friday night. She drowned Friday night.

MR. RUSSERT: Mr. President...

MR. BROUSSARD: Nobody's coming to get us. Nobody's coming to get us. The secretary has promised. Everybody's promised. They've had press conferences. I'm sick of the press conferences. For God sakes, shut up and send us somebody.

MR. RUSSERT: Just take a pause, Mr. President. While you gather yourself in your very emotional times, I understand, let me go to Governor Haley Barbour of Mississippi.

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Mayor To Feds: 'Get Off Your Asses'

Transcript of radio interview with New Orleans' Nagin

Friday, September 2, 2005; Posted: 2:59 p.m. EDT (18:59 GMT)

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin speaks Saturday, before Hurricane Katrina's devastation.

(CNN) -- New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin blasted the slow pace of federal and state relief efforts in an expletive-laced interview with local radio station WWL-AM.

The following is a transcript of WWL correspondent Garland Robinette's interview with Nagin on Thursday night. Robinette asked the mayor about his conversation with President Bush:

NAGIN: I told him we had an incredible crisis here and that his flying over in Air Force One does not do it justice. And that I have been all around this city, and I am very frustrated because we are not able to marshal resources and we're outmanned in just about every respect. (Listen to the mayor express his frustration in this video -- 12:09)

You know the reason why the looters got out of control? Because we had most of our resources saving people, thousands of people that were stuck in attics, man, old ladies. ... You pull off the doggone ventilator vent and you look down there and they're standing in there in water up to their freaking necks.

And they don't have a clue what's going on down here. They flew down here one time two days after the doggone event was over with TV cameras, AP reporters, all kind of goddamn -- excuse my French -- everybody in America, but I am pissed.

WWL: Did you say to the President of the United States, "I need the military in here"?

NAGIN: I said, "I need everything."

Now, I will tell you this -- and I give the President some credit on this -- he sent one John Wayne dude down here that can get some stuff done, and his name is [Lt.] Gen. [Russel] Honore.

And he came off the doggone chopper, and he started cussing and people started moving. And he's getting some stuff done.

They ought to give that guy -- if they don't want to give it to me, give him full authority to get the job done, and we can save some people.

WWL: What do you need right now to get control of this situation?

NAGIN: I need reinforcements, I need troops, man. I need 500 buses, man. We ain't talking about -- you know, one of the briefings we had, they were talking about getting public school bus drivers to come down here and bus people out here.

I'm like, "You got to be kidding me. This is a national disaster. Get every doggone Greyhound bus line in the country and get their asses moving to New Orleans."

That's -- they're thinking small, man. And this is a major, major, major deal. And I can't emphasize it enough, man. This is crazy.

I've got 15,000 to 20,000 people over at the convention center. It's bursting at the seams. The poor people in Plaquemines Parish. ... We don't have anything, and we're sharing with our brothers in Plaquemines Parish.

It's awful down here, man.

WWL: Do you believe that the president is seeing this, holding a news conference on it but can't do anything until [Louisiana Gov.] Kathleen Blanco requested him to do it? And do you know whether or not she has made that request?

NAGIN: I have no idea what they're doing. But I will tell you this: You know, God is looking down on all this, and if they are not doing everything in their power to save people, they are going to pay the price. Because every day that we delay, people are dying and they're dying by the hundreds, I'm willing to bet you.

We're getting reports and calls that are breaking my heart, from people saying, "I've been in my attic. I can't take it anymore. The water is up to my neck. I don't think I can hold out." And that's happening as we speak.

You know what really upsets me, Garland? We told everybody the importance of the 17th Street Canal issue. We said, "Please, please take care of this. We don't care what you do. Figure it out."

WWL: Who'd you say that to?

NAGIN: Everybody: the governor, Homeland Security, FEMA. You name it, we said it.

And they allowed that pumping station next to Pumping Station 6 to go under water. Our sewage and water board people ... stayed there and endangered their lives.

And what happened when that pumping station went down, the water started flowing again in the city, and it starting getting to levels that probably killed more people.

In addition to that, we had water flowing through the pipes in the city. That's a power station over there.

So there's no water flowing anywhere on the east bank of Orleans Parish. So our critical water supply was destroyed because of lack of action.

WWL: Why couldn't they drop the 3,000-pound sandbags or the containers that they were talking about earlier? Was it an engineering feat that just couldn't be done?

NAGIN: They said it was some pulleys that they had to manufacture. But, you know, in a state of emergency, man, you are creative, you figure out ways to get stuff done.

Then they told me that they went overnight, and they built 17 concrete structures and they had the pulleys on them and they were going to drop them.

I flew over that thing yesterday, and it's in the same shape that it was after the storm hit. There is nothing happening. And they're feeding the public a line of bull and they're spinning, and people are dying down here.

WWL: If some of the public called and they're right, that there's a law that the President, that the federal government can't do anything without local or state requests, would you request martial law?

NAGIN: I've already called for martial law in the city of New Orleans. We did that a few days ago.

WWL: Did the governor do that, too?

NAGIN: I don't know. I don't think so.

But we called for martial law when we realized that the looting was getting out of control. And we redirected all of our police officers back to patrolling the streets. They were dead-tired from saving people, but they worked all night because we thought this thing was going to blow wide open last night. And so we redirected all of our resources, and we hold it under check.

I'm not sure if we can do that another night with the current resources.

And I am telling you right now: They're showing all these reports of people looting and doing all that weird stuff, and they are doing that, but people are desperate and they're trying to find food and water, the majority of them.

Now you got some knuckleheads out there, and they are taking advantage of this lawless -- this situation where, you know, we can't really control it, and they're doing some awful, awful things. But that's a small majority of the people. Most people are looking to try and survive.

And one of the things people -- nobody's talked about this. Drugs flowed in and out of New Orleans and the surrounding metropolitan area so freely it was scary to me, and that's why we were having the escalation in murders. People don't want to talk about this, but I'm going to talk about it.

You have drug addicts that are now walking around this city looking for a fix, and that's the reason why they were breaking in hospitals and drugstores. They're looking for something to take the edge off of their jones, if you will.

And right now, they don't have anything to take the edge off. And they've probably found guns. So what you're seeing is drug-starving crazy addicts, drug addicts, that are wreaking havoc. And we don't have the manpower to adequately deal with it. We can only target certain sections of the city and form a perimeter around them and hope to God that we're not overrun.

WWL: Well, you and I must be in the minority. Because apparently there's a section of our citizenry out there that thinks because of a law that says the federal government can't come in unless requested by the proper people, that everything that's going on to this point has been done as good as it can possibly be.

NAGIN: Really?

WWL: I know you don't feel that way.

NAGIN: Well, did the tsunami victims request? Did it go through a formal process to request?

You know, did the Iraqi people request that we go in there? Did they ask us to go in there? What is more important?

And I'll tell you, man, I'm probably going get in a whole bunch of trouble. I'm probably going to get in so much trouble it ain't even funny. You probably won't even want to deal with me after this interview is over.

WWL: You and I will be in the funny place together.

NAGIN: But we authorized $8 billion to go to Iraq lickety-quick. After 9/11, we gave the President unprecedented powers lickety-quick to take care of New York and other places.

Now, you mean to tell me that a place where most of your oil is coming through, a place that is so unique when you mention New Orleans anywhere around the world, everybody's eyes light up -- you mean to tell me that a place where you probably have thousands of people that have died and thousands more that are dying every day, that we can't figure out a way to authorize the resources that we need? Come on, man.

You know, I'm not one of those drug addicts. I am thinking very clearly.

And I don't know whose problem it is. I don't know whether it's the governor's problem. I don't know whether it's the President's problem, but somebody needs to get their ass on a plane and sit down, the two of them, and figure this out right now.

WWL: What can we do here?

NAGIN: Keep talking about it.

WWL: We'll do that. What else can we do?

NAGIN: Organize people to write letters and make calls to their congressmen, to the President, to the governor. Flood their doggone offices with requests to do something. This is ridiculous.

I don't want to see anybody do anymore goddamn press conferences. Put a moratorium on press conferences. Don't do another press conference until the resources are in this city. And then come down to this city and stand with us when there are military trucks and troops that we can't even count.

Don't tell me 40,000 people are coming here. They're not here. It's too doggone late. Now get off your asses and do something, and let's fix the biggest goddamn crisis in the history of this country.

WWL: I'll say it right now, you're the only politician that's called and called for arms like this. And if -- whatever it takes, the governor, President -- whatever law precedent it takes, whatever it takes, I bet that the people listening to you are on your side.

NAGIN: Well, I hope so, Garland. I am just -- I'm at the point now where it don't matter. People are dying. They don't have homes. They don't have jobs. The city of New Orleans will never be the same in this time.

WWL: We're both pretty speechless here.

NAGIN: Yeah, I don't know what to say. I got to go.