Houston Community News >> Kinky Friedman Criticized for Race Comments
9/12/2006 Austin, TX— A Houston-area lawmaker says she's “vehemently insulted” by independent gubernatorial candidate Kinky Friedman's words about Hurricane Katrina evacuees.
Friedman last week attributed a spike in Houston's crime rate to the “crack heads and thugs” who evacuated New Orleans. Democratic state Representative Senfronia Thompson of Houston said today the author and entertainer “has demonstrated a total lack of human sensitivity.”
She says Katrina evacuees living in Houston “have lost everything and are suffering not only from the loss of loved ones, but the trauma of the event itself.” She blames the crime spike on “behavior that results from a disastrous event.”
Friedman campaign spokeswoman, Laura Stromberg, describes Friedman as “one of the most compassionate people I've ever met.”
Houston police have reported that 59 of the 262 Houston murders in the first eight months of 2006 involved Katrina evacuees, either as victims or suspects.
(Contributed by KFYO)