Stephanie Tubbs Jones: “I stand today concerned about what happened on the Gulf Coast from Hurricane Katrina. I hope that apart from this…”

“I stand today concerned about what happened on the Gulf Coast from Hurricane Katrina. I hope that apart from this devastation we can say that Hurricane Katrina has brought to light the atrocities that have been going on for years across our country. Only yesterday in Cleveland, Ohio, we were notified that 400 evacuees would be coming to Cleveland tomorrow that we were supposed to support. Only 2 hours ago, we learned that they were not coming. This is a part of that same situation we are talking about, that FEMA does not know what they are doing. What we are concerned about is people being put on a bus, being told, ``We are going to take you somewhere,'' and the people do not even know where they are going. It is part of denying these evacuees dignity, denying them an opportunity to say that we are Americans and we are entitled to the very same democracy that everyone else is entitled to. Far too long we have neglected the underprivileged of this country, and we are quick to criticize others for not taking care of their own. However, we have all forgotten the poor in our country and we are hoping this will be an opportunity again for this country to address the issue of poverty, the lack of housing, the lack of education, the lack of the ability to create wealth, the lack of opportunity to grow African American and small businesses.…”