Advertisement

NBC anchor Brian Williams speaks up for care of Haitian evacuees on flight home

Share

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

In an extensive essay posted on the Daily Nightly blog, “NBC Nightly News” anchor Brian Williams writes about the culture shock of returning from Haiti and the immense need gripping that country.

“While we cannot return a dead child to the hands of her mother, the world community has the chance to leave behind a better country,” he writes. “There IS no Haiti right now, as we have come to know it. I saw four police officers in three days, and one uniformed Haitian soldier. We are now Haiti — not just we Americans, but those of us in all the countries in the region, and all the countries that have responded so quickly and generously. We cannot reverse what has happened there, but we can try to restore a country.”

Advertisement

Williams caught a flight home this weekend on a U.S. Air Force jet that was bringing Haitian evacuees to a base in New Jersey. The anchor praised the professionalism of the crew but said he intervened when he realized that the 100-plus Haitians on board could not understand the in-flight announcements in English. He suggested to a media liaison on board that they find a volunteer to translate the announcements into Creole and expressed concern that the evacuees would feel further traumatized by being greeted by bomb-sniffing dogs and pat-downs upon arrival.

“To be fair: The care and comfort of human passengers on a cavernous cargo jet has not been a priority of the Air Force lately,” he wrote, “but now it is.”

-- Matea Gold

Advertisement