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Tavis: Bruce S. Gordon is the new president and CEO of the NAACP. His history with the nation's oldest and largest civil rights organization dates back to his father who founded the Camden, New Jersey branch of the NAACP. Prior to assuming his new post, he was president of Retail Markets for Verizon Communications. During his tenure there, he was named executive of the year by “Black Enterprise Magazine.” He joins us tonight from Washington. Mr. President, nice to have you on the program, sir.

Bruce Gordon: Tavis, it's great to see you.

Tavis: Great to see you by satellite feed after our trip this weekend, which I want to get to in just second. First though, let me turn to camera one here, if I can, and I, I neglected to mention that Shantrell Talton, who you just saw on this program, is looking for her cousin Jerome Martin. So, if Jerome Martin is watching or you know Jerome Martin, or where he is, please, contact PBS. They know how to get to us through our website, pbs.org. If you know where Jerome Martin is. Jerome Mutin. I'm sorry, M-U-T-I-N. Jerome Mutin, Shantrell's cousin, who I mentioned earlier but forgot to mention his name. And James Silas is looking for his brother, Gregory Anthony Silas. So, if you know where Gregory Anthony Silas is, please, contact us through our website or through PBS and we will get them reconnected. Interesting how television and radio these days become the, become the mediums to try to put families back together, but I can think of nothing more noble or important that we could be doing on radio and television.

That said, Mr. Gordon, again, nice to have you on. Let me start with a pretty simple question, maybe not so simple, maybe it is a bit complex, but I want to just get your initial thoughts here briefly as to what you, what you made of the trip that we took last weekend. I mentioned earlier that I had the pleasure of traveling with you to Mississippi, to Biloxi, and to Gulfport, and to Baton Rouge, and to New Orleans, and on that Black Hawk helicopter we were on to see the damage. But just give me your initial thoughts. I know it's one thing to see it on television, but what did you think when you actually saw it?

Gordon: Well, Tavis, there's no question that we both, when we flew in that helicopter and could see at 200 feet the extent of the devastation, the height of the water, looking at rooftops just peeking out of dark, murky water, it really made it very, very clear just how impossible a situation it appears to be. And as you also know, having somebody on the helicopter with us, the president of New Orleans' branch of the NAACP, who had been evacuated from New Orleans and was seeing his home for the very first time, it was so deflating for him because he was holding some hope that he would return to that home, and he realized that that would be next to impossible. So, that was one reaction.

But the other reaction that I had was when we traveled to Biloxi and Gulfport, some, an area that's obviously very dear to you. It made me realize that, that sort of the drama, the sensationalism of the New Orleans situation with the flood in some ways has kept Biloxi and Gulfport off the television screens for the most part, and just the hurricane itself, forget about floods, there were none, obliterated neighborhoods, particularly neighborhoods in the African American community, in such a way that I think that that community ends up being underserved and under-appreciated in terms of the extent of their experience.

Tavis: Let me ask you, if I might, some blunt questions, or maybe they aren't so blunt, I'm sure you can handle it, but I just am curious about a number of things, a number of notes that I made in my journal as we were moving about. It bothers me personally that I have not heard a single person accept, I don't want to say blame, but responsibility. Everybody, Americans across the board, every poll, study, and survey I have seen suggests that most Americans, no matter where they live, no matter what they look like, no matter who they are, believe that there was a response here that was too slow, and yet I have seen nobody in government take any responsibility, no accountability. President Bush refers to Michael Brown, the head of the FEMA department, as Brownie, and says on location, Brownie, you're doing a good job. I've heard nobody accept any responsibility or accountability here. What's the NAACP going to do about that?

Gordon: Well, we're going to follow up on this big time. Btu as you know, my first priority has been to make sure that all the lives that can be saved are saved, that people are moved not just to these large mega-centers, but to smaller, more intimate, more caring centers where they can at least begin to put their lives back together. So, I want to be very positive and forward-looking in terms of caring for folks. But at the end of the day, we know that the governments at all levels, federal, state, and local, failed this, this group of poor black folks for the most part, but poor people in the Gulf area. And I think that it really is a clear demonstration of incompetence. And there needs, there needs to be someone who steps up and is accountable, and I believe in accountability big time, Tavis.

Someone needs to step up and say, listen, maybe we didn't intend to fail you, but we failed. We did not deliver the services we needed to deliver. We did not evacuate that we needed to, the way we needed to evacuate, and frankly, somebody even needs to say to these folks, and we're sorry that we did this to you, and we're sorry that we treated you as, quote, refugees, and called you refugees when, in fact, you're nothing but American citizens.

Tavis: Let me ask you whether or not you think it really was just incompetence or, as some believe, the malign neglect of these people.

Gordon: Well, first of all, let's, let there be no doubt, if you deal with things that are just not debatable, incompetence is not debatable. You can speculate on motive...

Tavis: Right.

Gordon: ...and I've got points of view, but you can't speculate on whether the response was incompetent. So, I'm inclined to take that particular issue and put it over here and say this is like gravity. You can't defy it.

Tavis: Okay.

Gordon: It is what it is. Now, when you say was it intentional? Let me say this, poor folks are not at the table. Poor folks are not in the center of the radar screen and we've had plenty of evidence of that. And so, poor people were not cared for, and I think there was more consciousness to that than people may want to acknowledge. And it just so happens statistically, if you're poor, there's a higher probability that you're black than that you're not so.

So, I've got to believe that there was clearly some discrimination against poor people for sure.

Tavis: I'm glad you raised that issue because one of the other notes I made in my book, and I've been watching television ad nauseum like everyone else, been reading ad nauseum like everybody else, and while there are some bright spots on the left and on the right, I've heard some people courageously take on these two issues, these twin issues here and there. But by and large, I have not heard the kind of discussion I think that needs to be had in this country about two dimensions of this tragedy. They are race and class. Is that just me or do you feel the same way; that we've not had enough discussion, we've not been forthright about these twin evils of race and class where this tragedy is concerned?

Gordon: I feel that there's not been enough direct confrontation on that issue, but I will say this to you, I actually made some calls today because I'm thinking very seriously, and you know this, about pulling together a group of black leaders within the next 10 days to focus in on Katrina, its aftermath, what we've learned, and what we must do. And in my conversations today, I talked to a fairly wide range of socioeconomic classes and everyone, to a person, black or white, rich or poor, said to me, America failed poor people. And they acknowledge without pause that the highest percentage of those poor people were people of color. So, I didn't find, Tavis, one person that I spoke to who backed away from that reality. They saw it, they were offended by it, and they, too, say, you've got to, Bruce, in your role, you've got to do something about it. And I intend to.

Tavis: Speaking of bipartisanship, today there are a number of senators who have finally gotten around to calling for some serious investigation here, some serious hearings here, the kinds of which we saw after 9/11, if you believe those in fact were effective. But Senators Kyl, and Clinton, and Lieberman, and Collins have called for Senate hearings on this tragedy and what went wrong. I assume you're pleased by that?

Gordon: I'm pleased by that, Tavis. I think that there are several things that have to happen and happen quickly and it starts with Congress, who has to put everything else to the side until they've addressed all of the issues that need to be addressed around Katrina and, and, and the turnaround that's required here. You know that in the case of 9/11, you know that the Victim Compensation Relief Package was approved in 11 days. And that means that the same thing, in my opinion, has to happen here. So, I want Congress to back away from other agendas like the Supreme Court appointment and zero in on what is going to happen for these neglected Americans.

Tavis: Let me ask you two questions on that right quick. To the Victims Assistance Fund, which you brilliantly raise here, that Victims Assistance Fund not only was set up quickly after 9/11, but it distributed government-sponsored, Victims Assistance Fund, distributed $7 billion to the victims, the families of 9/11. I'm not trying to compare tragedies here, but this thing is going to be a whole lot worse than 9/11. Are these black folk going to get, are they entitled to $7 billion in a Victims Assistance Fund?

Gordon: They're, at least that much. And I assure you that the NAACP will be persistent on that issue until the right thing happens. And by the way, Tavis, what's interesting to me is I had the impression that the Victim Relief Fund of 9/11 was sort of a new thing, but the more homework I do I find out that, that government administered victim relief funds go back to the early 1800's. This is, this was not a new phenomena. And so, our expectation that something comparable be delivered to this group of Americans is a reasonable expectation with a whole lot of precedent.

Tavis: Give me just 10 seconds, if you can, on what you make of President Bush's move to make Mr. Roberts now the replacement for Chief Justice Rehnquist, if he gets his way. Number one, right quick. And number two, I know you want to put the web address out for folk who want to know more about what the NAACP is doing on this issue.

Gordon: The NAACP came out last week opposing the nomination of John Roberts to the Supreme Court, so, obviously to have him now bumped up to chief justice, to me, is totally unacceptable and ill-timed. I'm very dissatisfied with that move.

Tavis: And the web address for the NAACP?

Gordon: Web address is naacpdisasterrelieffund, www.naacp.org. We're up and running. Please, Tavis, encourage your viewers, and you've got a lot of them, please help us help our people.

Tavis: Well, I appreciate you coming on the program. Congratulations on the new position and I'm sure we'll be talking more in the coming days and weeks.

Gordon: Count on it. Tomorrow will be soon enough, I think.

Tavis: All the best. Take care, Mr. Gordon.

Gordon: Great. Thank you, Tavis.

Tavis: That's our program for tonight. Thanks for watching and keep the faith.