New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin's Desperate Plea For Help

Last Thursday night New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin blasted the slow pace of federal and state efforts to rescue the tens of thousands still stranded in flooded New Orleans. Earlier that day, he had issued a desperate S.O.S for help as crowds at the Superdome swelled to 30,000 with another 25,000 at the convention center. The sidewalks were packed with people without food, water or medical care, waiting for buses that did not come. Nagin was interviewed last Thursday night by Garland Robinette on WWL AM a local New Orleans radio station that is reportedly the only radio station that has remained on the air in the city. Nagin demanded that more be done to help the citizens of New Orleans.

* Ray Nagin, Mayor of New Orleans

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New Orleans Activist Malik Rahim Blasts Mayor Nagin

Malik Rahim, veteran of the Black Panther Party in New Orleans, is interviewed in the Algiers neigherborhood by Democracy Now! producers. Rahim talks about what should have been differently.
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We turn to Malik Rahim who had his own critique of Mayor Nagin's response to the devastating Hurricane Katrina. Malik Rahim is a veteran of the Black Panther Party in New Orleans. For decades he has worked as an organizer of public housing tenants both there and in San Francisco. He recently ran for New Orleans City Council on the Green Party ticket. Democracy Now! producers John Hamilton and Sharif Abdel Kouddous met with Malik Rahim on Sunday afternoon in the Algiers neighborhood of New Orleans, which lies on the west bank, and is the only part of the city that is not flooded. They drove with him to get ice, water and food for his community. On the way, Malik began by talking what he would have done differently to deal with the storm.

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