Many in the country were captivated by Alan Broussard's impassioned pleas on "Meet the Press" three weeks ago. Tim Russert could not respond adequately to Broussard's emotion at the loss of a colleague's mother who drowned in a nursing home waiting for evacuation assistance.
Broussard appeared again on "Meet the Press" today. Russert played for him clips from his segment three weeks ago and Broussard was emotional at seeing himself. He seemed to be irritated and angry at having to revisit his fragile emotional state several days ago. He also did a masterful job of defending himself against Russert's criticism - saying that the real issue isn't about the details of his colleague's mother's death, but that the federal response was lacking.
Other blogs and places on the internet have detailed Broussard's appearance, the real details behind the colleague's mother's death.
What I would like to address is something that I have not seen linked very often:
did Broussard have a role in the Gretna sheriff and police not allowing New Orleans' residents to leave the city of New Orleans right after Hurricane Katrina hit?
Original EMS workers' account of police/sheriffs shooting over their heads on the bridge out of New Orleans
Take this dailykos blog from September 6th that contains a number of quotes about the aftermath of Katrina.
More links about the Gretna sheriff/police response to Katrina survivors:
Dan Abrams interviews the sheriff and viewers deem him to be heartless
Katrina exposes prejudice
the Gretna community backed the sheriff's decision.
Gretna is part of Jefferson Parish. The Parish is a large area, but I would be interested in Broussard's response to the Sheriff and community's actions given how heartless he believes the federal government is.
Tim Russert, so interested in referring back to Broussard's first emotional appearance on "Meet the Press" concentrated on a such a minor issue as the real details behind an elderly woman's death and ignored the real issue of local officials denying aid to evacuees from a neighboring city. Of course, this is a complex issue that perhaps has no clear heroes and villains when everyone is so desperate to survive.
I am an African American woman and I care deeply about issues of racism and class. I am appalled that Russert would ignore these important issues. It is possible, after all, for the federal government to shoulder a great deal of the blame and to have racist local officials (such as those in Gretna) act in ways that worsened the situation for New Orleans residents.