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New Orleans Locals Rescue Their Neighbors in Absence of Government
Response
Bush Nominates Roberts to Replace Rehnquist as Chief Justice
African American Residents Tell Tales of Survival, Blast
Racially-Skewed Government Response
Missing in New Orleans: Voices of Those Seeking Loved Ones
New Orleans Locals Rescue Their Neighbors in Absence
of Government Response
Democracy Now! producer John Hamilton spent the past several
days in Louisiana. He filed a report from the flooded streets
of New Orleans as he rode in a boat with locals searching
for survivors in their community.
- Report from Democracy Now! producer John Hamilton.
Bush Nominates Roberts to Replace Rehnquist as Chief
Justice
With the eyes of the nation firmly focused on the devastation
of Hurricane Katrina, there have been major developments in
the battle over the future of the Supreme Court with the death
of Chief Justice William Rehnquist and President Bush's decision
to nominate John Roberts to replace him. We speak with Bruce
Shapiro of The Nation and Michael Ratner of the Center for
Constitutional Rights.
With the eyes of the nation firmly focused on the devastation
of Hurricane Katrina, there have been major developments in
the battle over the future of the Supreme Court. Last weekend,
the ailing Chief Justice, William Rehnquist, passed away leaving
a vacancy at the helm of one of the 3 branches of the government.
President Bush moved quickly in naming his desired replacement
for Rehnquist: Judge John Roberts - the man Bush had already
selected to fill Sandra Day O'Connor's seat. The 50-year-old
Roberts had been set to face Senators this week in what was
expected to be a highly confrontational confirmation hearing.
Senators have just postponed that process. The Supreme Court
now has two vacancies giving President Bush major power to
shape its political composition for decades to come.
African American Residents Tell Tales of Survival,
Blast Racially-Skewed Government Response
Democracy Now! producers get reports from African-American
survivors of hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. We hear from
a woman at the convention center and a record store owner
from the Algiers neighborhood in New Orleans.
One week after Hurricane Katrina smashed into the Gulf Coast,
nearly the entire population of New Orleans has been evacuated.
The streets are deserted and littered with fallen trees and
twisted metal. Nearly 80 percent of the city remains submerged
in water and the number of dead is unknown.
Most of the nearly 500,000 residents of New Orleans have
been driven into what the New York Times calls a "modern-day
Diaspora of biblical proportions."
But before the evacuation, tens of thousands of mostly poor
African-American residents endured days of appalling conditions
as they waited to be rescued. Survivors told horror stories
from inside the SuperDome and the convention center. Others
had stayed at home to avoid the mayhem.
Democracy Now! producers John Hamilton and Sharif Abdel Kouddous
traveled to the convention center on Sunday afternoon. The
site was completely evacuated - well almost. Three people
remained at the site from the tens of thousands that had passed
though over the previous week. They sat alone among the rows
of empty chairs strewn outside. One of them told her story.
- Olivia Johnson McQueen, speaking outside the New Orleans
convention center on Sunday.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, tens of thousands
of poor, overwhelmingly African American residents suffered
the most as rescue operations faltered.
And as troops from the National Guard, marines and coast
guard flooded the city, many black residents pointed to what
they saw as a racially-skewed government policy.
- Henry Alexander, record store owner speaking in the Algiers
neighborhood of New Orleans.
Missing in New Orleans: Voices of Those Seeking Loved
Ones
We get an update from a few people we previously heard from
who are searching for missing loved ones hit by hurricane
Katrina. We are also joined in the studio by a war resister
seeking discharge from the Texas National Guard who has family
missing in New Orleans.
On Monday, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin estimated that 10,000
people may have died in his city following last week's devastating
hurricane. Across the country thousands of people have been
desperately trying to track down loved ones. Last week Democracy
Now interviewed several individuals who were searching for
relatives and friends. We caught up with some of them again
yesterday for an update on their searches.
- Diana Rochon, (773) 613-6608
- Judy Lendsey, (630) 202-6970
- Hilda White-Singleton, (972) 230-7070
And another update -- last week we reported the musician
Alex Chilton was missing in New Orleans. He has since been
located and has reportedly been evacuated from the city. We
speak with a 39-year-old war resister who is seeking a discharge
from the Texas National Guard. His whole family is from New
Orleans and he has not been able to contact them since the
hurricane hit Monday morning.
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, Jeremy Scahill and Parvez Sharma.
Mike Di Filippo is our engineer.
Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Joe Murgio, John Randolph,
Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Eric Rweyemamu,
Jenny Filipazzo and Isis Phillips.
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