i was watching the news the other day(natch) and i see a story about the residents of the ninth ward in new orleans still being in shelters. the reporter visits with them and finds that conspiracy theories are rampant. apparently, those people think that the levies didn't break, but were instead blown up on purpose.

he asks, why would anyone do that?

one answer was "because we're poor black people and they don't want us there."

another lady thinks it's the same people who blew up the world trade center.

the reporter asks, "you mean al queda?"

to which she answers, "i don't know what his name is"

the nation of islam's farrakaan is fueling these rumors and the insinuation of blantant racism this "plot" implies.

i'm sitting in my living room shaking my head in disbelief.

ok, let's break this down slowly.

first scenario, hurrican katrina is racing towards the gulf coast, some rich guy somewhere thinks, "damn, this is my chance to get rid of all those poor ass black people in that one particular ward." so, not wanting to risk his own life, cuz that's not the way rich people operate, he pays someone to do his dirty work for him. chances are, it's some black person who'll blend in. so within a, say, twenty four hour period, he finds someone, gets the materials needed, and they risk death in a hurricane to take the time to rig the levies so they'll blow exactly when the hurricane hits.

yeah, that makes sense, don't it?

second scenario, it's terrorists. ok that's just stupid. it took them two years to plan the world trade center bombings, yet they're gonna throw a plan together in twenty four hours?

my third point is, if some rich person were going to do this, just to get rid of poor black people, he wouldn't pick new orleans. he'd pick compton in la, or new york. while new orleans has some rich folks in it, they're probably only middle class compared to the rich folks in the rest of the country. i mean, anne rice is a rich bitch, but trump, gates and murdock would still own her ass.

and for god's sake, new orleans has a black mayor and black police chief. that's a place that's pretty black friendly.

however, a new yorker reporter stated that conspiracy claims happen in just about every place a castrophe happens. someone else explained that a historically disenfranchised people will often feel this way after such an event.

maybe it can be chalked up to post traumatic stress syndrome. maybe it can be attributed to feeling abandoned by their govenment in a time of need. i dunno, but it never ceases to amaze me the amount of ignorance in this country. the extent people will go to to say, "poor pitiful me"

shut the fuck up, pull yourselves up like the rest of us have to every damn day, and get on with your lives. stop using excuses. this "everyone's keeping me down because i'm black" mentality is bullshit and counterproductive. hispanics are rapidly becoming a majority and moving up. why? because they don't feel sorry for themselves. they don't make excuses. they work together to get ahead in life.

three quarters of america's poor are white for god's sake.

and shame shame on farrakaan. the muslim religion is one of helping those in need and being kind to EVERYONE. shame on him for fueling these rumors to further divide the races. i may not be sure of a lot of things in life, but of this i am, like most religious hypocrits, he'll have to answer for his actions whether it be in life or after death.