Jesse Gets It

Check out Jesse Jackson's excellent piece in the Chicago Sun-Times, which raises the alarm about the need for progressives to get involved in the fight for Gulf Coast reconstruction:

Americans -- and much of the world -- were appalled when there was no plan to rescue those stranded by Katrina's furies. We watched stunned as incompetence and cronyism had deadly consequences.

Now, Americans -- and much of the world -- are no longer watching, but so far there is no plan to include the survivors in the reconstruction, just as there was no plan to rescue them. There is no plan to bring the survivors, scattered to 40 states, back to their homes, no plan to give them priority on jobs and put them to work rebuilding their city. Cronyism, corruption, incompetence and blind ideology threaten to add to the suffering of those who were abandoned in the first place.

Here's how he ends it:

"If you were appalled by how this administration failed the most vulnerable when Katrina hit, you'd better be alarmed right now. If we stay on the current course, Katrina's survivors are about to be ravaged again.

Amen. It's time for all progressives to make Gulf Reconstruction a top priority.

UPDATE: You may have seen that, on the issue of black removal from New Orleans, Jesse is taking matters into his own hands.