New York — It began, fittingly enough, with jazz from New Orleans natives Harry Connick Jr. and Wynton Marsalis.

But "A Concert for Hurricane Relief," a heartfelt and dignified benefit aired on NBC and other networks Friday night, took an unexpected turn thanks to the outspoken rapper Kanye West. Appearing two-thirds through the program, he claimed "George Bush doesn't care about black people" and said America is set up "to help the poor, the black people, the less well-off as slow as possible."

Frankly, I'm very impressed that he had the balls to speak out like this. Corporate America doesn't like it when people deviate from scripts, but basically West was only a little bit off the mark. His main statement was that "Bush doesn't care about black people", but it's really got nothing to do with whether the people who are dying in New Orleans are black or not. What matters (or rather, doesn't matter) is that the vast majority of the people still trapped in New Orleans are very, very poor. Which means that, demographically speaking, they don't vote, they don't put money in lobbyists pockets, they don't hold any kind of political power, and their ability to promote political campaigns is limited--so there's very little chance these people are going to be able to impact Bush in any possible way. The political machine has learned that almost any sort of mismanagement can be covered up in just a few months of campaigning and careful spin-doctoring, and at worst, power will simply shift from one faction to the other for a presidential term or two.

In short, it's not that they're black, it's that they're poor. There's plenty of white (and asian and so on) people down there that Bush cares just as little about.

So long as poor people are busy trying to blame each other (blacks versus whites and vice-versa) they're never going to get around to seeing that their real enemy, the people who really are responsible for generation after generation of poverty and ignorance, are Bush and people just like him, who only care about the poor when it comes time to get them to watch the television so they can be told which faction of rich people have the best interests of "America" in mind. They make their rafts of empty promises and smile and shake hands just long enough to keep their power, and then they go back to their ranches and condos and gated communities and have as little as possible to do with the poor until it comes time for the next round of lies and deception.

If West were paying attention, he'd have figured this out by now. Hopefully he will soon because America needs more people to wise up to what's going on.

I agree. Howard Dean said it best when he pissed a bunch of people off - America has CLASS issues. Politicians use race issues to further divide the poor. We've got to go past the race issue and talk about CLASS issues. Its just that poverty in this situation has mainly hit blacks. There are certainly poor white folks in that mess as well as old people of every sex and color. They are all POOR. Also, because they are poor, they are social suspects. I am sick of hearing that 'they are ignorant and only mooch off the government.' None of the people I hear saying these things - and after going out today, I have certainly heard those things said - they don't even KNOW those people...if they have jobs, what they've contributed to society. It is like being poor makes you automatically GUILTY of being dumb and lazy. I have a problem with that.

New York — It began, fittingly enough, with jazz from New Orleans natives Harry Connick Jr. and Wynton Marsalis.

But "A Concert for Hurricane Relief," a heartfelt and dignified benefit aired on NBC and other networks Friday night, took an unexpected turn thanks to the outspoken rapper Kanye West. Appearing two-thirds through the program, he claimed "George Bush doesn't care about black people" and said America is set up "to help the poor, the black people, the less well-off as slow as possible."

Frankly, I'm very impressed that he had the balls to speak out like this. Corporate America doesn't like it when people deviate from scripts, but basically West was only a little bit off the mark. His main statement was that "Bush doesn't care about black people", but it's really got nothing to do with whether the people who are dying in New Orleans are black or not. What matters (or rather, doesn't matter) is that the vast majority of the people still trapped in New Orleans are very, very poor. Which means that, demographically speaking, they don't vote, they don't put money in lobbyists pockets, they don't hold any kind of political power, and their ability to promote political campaigns is limited--so there's very little chance these people are going to be able to impact Bush in any possible way. The political machine has learned that almost any sort of mismanagement can be covered up in just a few months of campaigning and careful spin-doctoring, and at worst, power will simply shift from one faction to the other for a presidential term or two.

In short, it's not that they're black, it's that they're poor. There's plenty of white (and asian and so on) people down there that Bush cares just as little about.

So long as poor people are busy trying to blame each other (blacks versus whites and vice-versa) they're never going to get around to seeing that their real enemy, the people who really are responsible for generation after generation of poverty and ignorance, are Bush and people just like him, who only care about the poor when it comes time to get them to watch the television so they can be told which faction of rich people have the best interests of "America" in mind. They make their rafts of empty promises and smile and shake hands just long enough to keep their power, and then they go back to their ranches and condos and gated communities and have as little as possible to do with the poor until it comes time for the next round of lies and deception.

If West were paying attention, he'd have figured this out by now. Hopefully he will soon because America needs more people to wise up to what's going on.