This story came to me via Copyblogger…it’s getting passed around the blogging world and well should be. Here is where the power of the internet can be used for social justice.
According to FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting):
FEMA a Disaster for Freedom of the Press
Katrina victims ‘not allowed’ to talk to media, reporter told
7/21/06
The Federal Emergency Management Agency prohibits journalists from having unsupervised interviews with Hurricane Katrina victims who have been relocated to FEMA trailer parks, according to a report in the Baton Rouge Advocate (7/15/06).
If a resident invites the media to the trailer, they have to be escorted by a FEMA representative who sits in on the interview, FEMA spokesperson Rachel Rodi is quoted in the article. Thats just a policy.
The Advocate report, by reporter Sandy Davis, describes two separate attempts to talk to people displaced by Katrina that were halted by the intervention of a FEMA security guard. In the first incident, in a Morgan City, Louisiana camp, an interview was interrupted by a guard who claimed that residents of the camp are not allowed to talk to the media.
(click on the above FAIR link to read the rest – and prepare to be appalled).
FAIR’s Action Suggestion:
ACTION: FEMAs website urges citizens to report allegations of civil liberties or civil rights abuses to the Department of Homeland Securitys inspector general, who is Richard L. Skinner.
CONTACT:
Inspector General Richard L. Skinner
Department of Homeland Security
Washington, DC 20528
E-mail: DHSOIGHOTLINE@dhs.gov
See Baton Rouge Advocate: Hundreds of FEMA Trailers Stand Empty (7/15/06) by Sandy Davis
See Democracy Now!: FEMA’s Dirty Little Secret: A Rare Look Inside the Renaissance Village Trailer Park, Home to Over 2,000 Hurricane Katrina Evacuees (4/24/06) by Amy Goodman
(the bottom links won’t work, they are copied, but if you want to track them down, just google them).
Think of how you’d feel if you were in the shoes of these people who have not only lost their homes, but now their voice.
Use your power. Harness your compassion. Pass it on.
