Port Arthur, Texas rapper spoke with Mass Appeal about the devastation in Houston due to Hurricane Harvey, saying, “All the money in the world can’t help these people,” and that what is really needed right now is boats for rescues.
“There are hundreds of families right now as we’re talking, stuck in the attics of their homes and on the roofs of their houses and on the top floors of their buildings right now,” he said, “They’re stuck right now. Phones are dead. Finally the sun is up, so they can get on the roof and get out somewhere and start waving to make people aware. But it’s all about if somebody’s got a boat in your neighborhood.”
Bun B, a Distinguished Lecturer of Hip-Hop and Religion at Rice University, is known for being outspoken on social issues, and the crisis in Houston was no different.
“The warning that most people are seeing in the country, those evacuations are for most of those low-lying counties that are closer to the water. So, the Rockports, the Corpus Christis, those are cities that sit directly on the water… Houston was not given that kind of warning. They didn’t really start prepping shelters for mass amounts of people until after Saturday Opening up the George R. Brown Convention Center didn’t happen until Sunday. I think maybe if they had opened up places for shelters… If more people had known what I think more people in the know were aware of, given the opportunity, I think more people would’ve left the city of Houston.”
While he does point out that now is not the time for blame, he did clarify his statements about donations being made. “I’m not saying that we don’t need money. It’s going to take a lot of money to rebuild the city of Houston… (but) people stuck in an attic, they don’t need money right now. They need someone with a boat to come save their lives. I’m talking right now, real time, what people need.”
