Response to Jesse Jackson by Louisiana Anchorman-Truth! & Fiction!

Response to Jesse Jackson by a Louisiana Television Reporter -Truth! & Fiction!

Summary of the eRumor
The alleged comments of TV anchor man George Sell in responding to the Rev. Jesse Jackson saying that not a single black person had been appointed to head up Katrina Relief and yet it was largely blacks who were in the greatest need.

The Truth
TruthOrFiction.com contacted George Sells (not Sell) who is a veteran anchorman at WAFB-TV in Baton Rouge.
He says that only a tiny portion of this email quotes him correctly.

On his TV news cast there was a portion of an interview played that quoted Jesse Jackson as saying that there were no African Americans at the head of the recovery effort.
Sells simply replied by saying "Jackson either doesn't know or doesn't recall that the mayor of New Orleans is black and the general heading the Army forces down there is African American."

That's it.

The rest of the eRumor, both in quoting Jackson and Sells, is embellishment that has been added along the way.

Last updated 9/26/05

A real example of the eRumor as it has appeared on the Internet:

Beautiful!

Cited from TV 9 Anchorman, George Sell in Baton Rouge, La.

"Yesterday the Rev. Jesse Jackson showed up in Baton Rouge, I wished he
would have showed up in Sheriff Harry Lee's office as we would have NEVER
heard from him again, he said, "Bush has NOT appointed a Single Black to
head up this Katrina Relief, the Black Caucus and Black Leaders all over
America are upset with him putting the Black Folks on the side and it is
OUR people who are sitting on their Roof Tops waiting for Rescue, OUR
people who are standing in line at the Superdome waiting on Food, Water and
a Ride to a safe black, OUR people who have been locked down in Poverty and
so on"

George Sell the Anchorman for TV 9 news responded to Jesse,
"Rev. Jackson, the Mayors of New Orleans and Baton Rouge are Black, the
Police Chief's of New Orleans and Baton Rouge are Black, the Head of the LA
State Police is Black, the Head of the Army conducting the Army's operation
on the Ground in New Orleans is Black, the Congressman from New Orleans is
Black and for the last 40 years, the leaders of LA have been members of the
Democratic Party, YOUR Party, don't blame us like you are doing, look in
the Mirror, you pull the Race Card any time you don't get your way, we are
in a Terrible Crisis and right now we need to come together and here you
come to Louisiana and holler Racism, just like you do, it is NEVER EVER your
fault, ALWAYS someone else, but here you are sitting High and Dry, why
don't you go out in to the waters where they are shooting at the Rescue
personnel and help in the Rescue