Al Roker American Entertainer Quotations

Last year, when we were in Mobile, Al., covering Hurricane Ivan, we heard the stories of poor people, many of them black stranded downtown because they had no way out.

My first college roommate greeted me with a shocked silence followed by, 'So... you're black.'

A massive state and federal effort, the likes of which we've never seen is going to be needed. We can do it for tsunami victims half a world away. We can do it for our own citizens.

I asked him if he ever hung out with black guys in high school and he said, 'Well, no. They always had these angry looks on their faces. Who wouldn't look ticked off having to deal with nitwits like him?

In this case, there is plenty of blame to go around. And the people who pay the price are the ones who can least afford to pay it.

How could this happen? How could the city, the state and the federal governments be some unprepared? it wasn't like there weren't warnings.