Farrakhan: ‘FEMA, Red Cross is too white’

Nation of Islam leader Minister Louis Farrakhan addressed a packed audience in the Smith-Brown Memorial Union Sunday to discuss his personal assessment of Hurricane Katrina.
Approximately 300 people filled the Cotillion Ballroom to hear Farrakhan’s speech.
After embarking on a one-day tour of areas devastated by Katrina in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, Farrakhan gave his evaluation, while offering words of encouragement and hope to victims.
“The mayors of the small towns that were devastated by the hurricane have called because they have seen nobody from FEMA,” Farrakhan said. “They have seen nobody from the Red Cross and they wanted us to hear their story because they lost everything and no one seems to care.
“This was indeed a terrible tragedy for the people of Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi,” he said. “But out of great tragedy, God brings triumph.”
Daniel Weber, a 52-year-old survivor from New Orleans, lost everything, including his wife.
“He (Farrakhan) gave a true message,” Weber said. “When he told me the story of Job, he gave me hope. The whole time I was going through what I was going through, I never asked God for help.”
Farrakhan used biblical references to account for the catastrophe brought about by Katrina and conveyed to listeners that sometimes it takes something negative to happen in order to produce something positive.
“The birth of Christianity began at the time of his (Jesus) greatest suffering at the Crucifixion,” Farrakhan said. “It’s after that horrific event that a world savior and redeemer came to us. It seems like very negative things produce new beginnings. There has never been an invention of consequence that didn’t come through under the loss of life.”
“There has never been the discovery of a cure for dreaded disease that it was the loss of life that provoked and brought into existence somebody who would research things enough to find a cure for that disease,” Farrakhan said.
Farrakhan said blacks should unite in this time of need and offer assistance however possible, because whites aren’t trying to help.
“FEMA is too white, the Red Cross is too white,” he said, while the crowd applauded. “You know that there is racism in education, racism in politics, racism in economics, racism in jurisprudence, racism in public policy, racism in international policy –
“… Well then, why wouldn’t racism be a part of FEMA,” he said. “Why wouldn’t racism rear its ugly head in the Red Cross or United Way? Open your door, and you go get your brothers and sisters from where they are and bring them into your house.”
After his speech Farrakhan headed to Jackson, Miss. After he left, a panel of East Baton Rouge Parish and Baton Rouge city officials provided answers for the audience and held a town hall forum. Survivors illustrated their stories of survival and concerns for the future.
Adam Silv, a New Orleans evacuee, expressed his discontent with shelter living conditions and the attitudes of those residing with him.
“We try to stand around in the bathroom to have man talk,” Silv said. “Not little boy talk – And they make us leave. They say we intimidate other people that want to come in,” Silv said.
Silv said shelter residents talk negatively about one another and that it wasn’t helping, but only making things worse. After the meeting, the Nation of Islam provided food for evacuees in attendance that may have missed their prescribed meal times.