Dean: Race played a role in Katrina death toll

"MIAMI - Race was a factor in the rising death toll from Hurricane Katrina, Howard Dean told members of the National Baptist Convention of America on Wednesday at the group's annual meeting. Dean, Democratic party chairman, made the comments to the Baptists' Political and Social Justice Commission. The Baptist Convention has an estimated 3.5 million members representing 3,000 churches and is one of the largest black religious groups in the country.
"We must ... come to terms with the ugly truth that skin color, age and economics played a deadly role in who survived and who did not," Dean said. Dean said Americans have a moral responsibility to not ignore the devastating effects of damage caused by Hurricane Katrina when it struck the Gulf Coast. The former presidential candidate said the government will be judged on how it treats the old, the young and the poor. "People are poor in different parts of the country. They are not refugees. They are Americans," he said. Dean said that instead of considering proposed estate tax breaks, the Senate should channel the $760 billion savings into disaster relief funds. "Shall we give that to the wealthiest people in the country, or should we rebuild New Orleans?" Dean said. He also said the funds that now support the Iraq war could be used to reconstruct New Orleans or to aid the poor and elderly. Dean urged the government to exempt victims of Hurricane Katrina from a stricter new bankruptcy law for one year.

"I hope Chairman Dean will match his rhetoric with his support for reforms that replace bureaucracy and entitlement with hope and opportunity," said Ken Mehlman, Dean's counterpart in the Republican National Committee.

Stephen J. Thurston, president of the Baptist Convention, said there was a lack of response and sensitivity by the government toward the Gulf Coast disaster. Thurston's group and three other Baptist organizations representing 15 million churchgoers will hold a joint meeting in January 2008 before the next presidential election, Thurston said.
The Baptists intend to pursue an aggressive voter registration and participation campaign for 2008 Presidential election, Thurston said. He said that had more blacks voted, the outcome of the 2004 election might have been different. Commission member Joseph Richardson, Sr., of Broadview, Ill., agreed with Thurston.
"I think anyone would want leadership that relates to people's needs," Richardson said. "The mayor (of New Orleans) was crying out for five whole days."-from the AP story.