MetalBoy
02-27-2004, 04:29 AM
http://www.jacksonville.com/images/022604/23445_200.jpg
Rep. Corrine Brown
Brown: Haiti policy 'racist'
She calls Bush's representatives 'a bunch of white men'
From staff and wire reports
U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown verbally attacked a top Bush administration official during a Washington briefing on the Haiti crisis Wednesday, calling the president's policy on the beleaguered nation ''racist'' and his representatives ''a bunch of white men.''
Her outburst was directed at Assistant Secretary of State Roger Noriega during a closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill. Noriega, a Mexican-American, is the State Department's top official for Latin America.
Corrine Brown issued a tongue-lashing at meeting on Haiti with a State Department official.
''I think it was an emotional response of her frustration with the administration,'' said David Simon, a spokesman for the Jacksonville Democrat. He noted that Brown, who is black, is ''very passionate about Haiti.''
Brown sat directly across the table from Noriega and yelled into a microphone. Her comments sent a hush over the hourlong meeting, which was attended by about 30 people, including several members of Congress and Bush administration officials.
Noriega later told Brown: ''As a Mexican-American, I deeply resent being called a racist and branded a white man,'' according to three participants.
Brown then told him ''you all look alike to me,'' the participants said.
Rebels opposing President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's government have seized large parts of the country, demanding that he resign.
Brown told the Times-Union late Wednesday night she went to the meeting expecting it to be a gathering of the delegation, but found administration officials there, too. She accused Noriega of "an attitude" against the Haitian people, and blamed them for decades of poor hospitals and other problems.
"The meeting was about the Haitian people. They're getting ready to be slaughtered and we're not doing anything about it," Brown said.
After her comments about white men, Noriega said he would ''relay that to [Secretary of State] Colin Powell and [national security adviser] Condoleezza Rice the next time I run into them,'' participants said. Powell and Rice are black.
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U.S. Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., who organized the meeting, called the comments ''disappointing.''
''To sit there and browbeat this man who is a Mexican-American and call him names, it was inappropriate,'' Foley said.
She adamantly rejected any apology or second thoughts about her words: "Absolutely not. I just want to save the Haitian people."
Brown said she later attended a White House meeting with the Congressional Black Caucus and said nothing was mentioned of her strong words.
"My constituents know me and the issue is about how our government will go around the world to Iraq and help them go into a democracy, but right off our shores we let a country go to waste," Brown said. "I speak for them."
She faulted the Bush administration for not sending a better team to help Haiti, saying the team didn't reflect the island's ethnic makeup. One official had ties to conservative former Sen. Jesse Helms, which was part of the problem, she said. She also noted Republican legislation allowed for visa for other Carribean nations, but not Haitians.
Duval County GOP Chairman Mike Hightower, a major Bush fund-raiser, said, "I am disappointed and surprised that type of language and behavior would be expressed in a public policy forum. It's not productive during a humanitarian crisis."
Asked if it would hurt her in the district, however, he said, "That's up to her constituents
Why is there no media backlash against this woman? Oh, that's right, she's black, don't wanna seem intolerant.
Rep. Corrine Brown
Brown: Haiti policy 'racist'
She calls Bush's representatives 'a bunch of white men'
From staff and wire reports
U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown verbally attacked a top Bush administration official during a Washington briefing on the Haiti crisis Wednesday, calling the president's policy on the beleaguered nation ''racist'' and his representatives ''a bunch of white men.''
Her outburst was directed at Assistant Secretary of State Roger Noriega during a closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill. Noriega, a Mexican-American, is the State Department's top official for Latin America.
Corrine Brown issued a tongue-lashing at meeting on Haiti with a State Department official.
''I think it was an emotional response of her frustration with the administration,'' said David Simon, a spokesman for the Jacksonville Democrat. He noted that Brown, who is black, is ''very passionate about Haiti.''
Brown sat directly across the table from Noriega and yelled into a microphone. Her comments sent a hush over the hourlong meeting, which was attended by about 30 people, including several members of Congress and Bush administration officials.
Noriega later told Brown: ''As a Mexican-American, I deeply resent being called a racist and branded a white man,'' according to three participants.
Brown then told him ''you all look alike to me,'' the participants said.
Rebels opposing President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's government have seized large parts of the country, demanding that he resign.
Brown told the Times-Union late Wednesday night she went to the meeting expecting it to be a gathering of the delegation, but found administration officials there, too. She accused Noriega of "an attitude" against the Haitian people, and blamed them for decades of poor hospitals and other problems.
"The meeting was about the Haitian people. They're getting ready to be slaughtered and we're not doing anything about it," Brown said.
After her comments about white men, Noriega said he would ''relay that to [Secretary of State] Colin Powell and [national security adviser] Condoleezza Rice the next time I run into them,'' participants said. Powell and Rice are black.
woot woot woot woot
U.S. Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., who organized the meeting, called the comments ''disappointing.''
''To sit there and browbeat this man who is a Mexican-American and call him names, it was inappropriate,'' Foley said.
She adamantly rejected any apology or second thoughts about her words: "Absolutely not. I just want to save the Haitian people."
Brown said she later attended a White House meeting with the Congressional Black Caucus and said nothing was mentioned of her strong words.
"My constituents know me and the issue is about how our government will go around the world to Iraq and help them go into a democracy, but right off our shores we let a country go to waste," Brown said. "I speak for them."
She faulted the Bush administration for not sending a better team to help Haiti, saying the team didn't reflect the island's ethnic makeup. One official had ties to conservative former Sen. Jesse Helms, which was part of the problem, she said. She also noted Republican legislation allowed for visa for other Carribean nations, but not Haitians.
Duval County GOP Chairman Mike Hightower, a major Bush fund-raiser, said, "I am disappointed and surprised that type of language and behavior would be expressed in a public policy forum. It's not productive during a humanitarian crisis."
Asked if it would hurt her in the district, however, he said, "That's up to her constituents
Why is there no media backlash against this woman? Oh, that's right, she's black, don't wanna seem intolerant.