MedLawPlus.com®
|
Article Archives (09-11-2005)
Did Katrina Blow Off A Few Hoods?
My wife and I are an interracial couple. When we enter a town, you might say we are something of a racial tolerance (both black and white) inspection team. You see, prejudice is not just a white disease. Where were we? Right, Katrina and the hoods. My wife and I have visited both New Orleans and Baton Rouge (and, prior to marriage, I made many other trips to the Big Easy). One does not sense racial tension in either location when wandering around the streets. It's all "laissez les bonne temps roulez" (let the good times roll). New Orleans has it poor black ghettos and Baton Rouge is conspicuous by its absence of poor people of any variety but, by and large, the races appear amicable to one another. Then again, we're just visitors passing through. One never knows what lurks behind the superficial smile. Unfortunately, hurricane Katrina has done more than expose the incompetence of Bush's FEMA director, Mike Brown. FN1.
First off, all the wealthy and middle-class people of New Orleans got into their SUVs and pickup trucks (as the case may be) and drove out of the city ahead of the storm leaving the poor, predominately black, residents to fend for themselves. Those left behind ended up mostly in the Superdome or the convention center, the "shelters" of last resort. That's bad enough, however, the real tragedy was just starting for these people. The police did not have sufficient numbers on duty to control the crowds inside either location, therefore, their brilliant solution was to essentially lock the people inside turning the Superdome into one massive ghetto jail. The days drag on. There are roads open into New Orleans but still very little help arrives. The power goes out in the Superdome, the bathrooms no longer work, food runs out, then no water. There are very few medical personnel to care for these people as the elderly begin to die, their bodies unceremoniously pushed into corners. With no police protection, the thugs begin raping women. It's hell. Five days elapse in this hell before government agencies (state and federal) pull their collective heads out and manage to evacuate the majority of the people from the New Orleans Superdome and convention center. While waiting for rescue, 10 people died at the Superdome, and 24 died at the convention center. Link.
Television pictures of this preventable tragedy shock the senses. However, one could charitably blame it on bureaucratic incompetence (something the Bush Administration does in fact have a track record for) as opposed to pure racial indifference. Singer Kanye West was unwilling to be so charitable in his assessment of the Bush Administration and, in all fairness, I don't blame him.
On the periphery of the media, since confirmed by my sister, reports came of some backlash against the evacuees in Baton Rouge (the closest city to New Orleans of any size). Here is what my sister, a resident of Baton Rouge, wrote a few days after the hurricane:
"OK, it is late and I am too tired to sleep so here are some interesting bits
of info: In addition to there being little or no real estate, apartments to rent,
gas, food ... there was just a piece on the local news that there are no more guns to be bought in Baton Rouge, all gun stores are sold out. On the same
subject, there is a large sign down the street propped against a tree that
says, 'looters will be shot'."
I'm proud of my sister and her husband for all their volunteer work helping the evacuees at the shelter. However, the generosity of the people of Baton Rouge was mixed with a fear at having so many poor black souls close at hand. In a later telephone conversation, my sister stated (maybe with a bit of hyperbole) that all her neighbors were sitting on their front lawns with shotguns ready to shoot looters (Joe's interpretation: "looters" being code for poor blacks). I think my wife and I shall wait awhile before making another visit to Baton Rouge (they might also be shooting strange northerners who are a shade too tan).
That brings us to the grand-daddy of racist reactions against the New Orleans evacuees: the city of Gretna in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana. As the downtrodden poor of New Orleans sat and waited for a rescue that was many days late in coming, many decided to try and just walk out of the city. The easiest and quickest way out for them was east over the US 90 bridge that crosses the Mississippi River from New Orleans into Gretna. Gretna was relatively unscathed by the hurricane with water and power restored rather quickly. Here is a report that appeared in the Washington Times:
Police from surrounding jurisdictions shut down several access points to one of the only ways out of New Orleans last week, effectively trapping victims of Hurricane Katrina in the flooded and devastated city. * * * "We shut down the bridge," Arthur Lawson, chief of the City of Gretna Police Department, confirmed to United Press International, adding that his jurisdiction had been "a closed and secure location" since before the storm hit. * * * "If we had opened the bridge, our city would have looked like New Orleans does now: looted, burned and pillaged."
The two paramedics, who were trapped in the city while attending a convention, joined a group of people who had been turned out by the hotels that they were staying in on Wednesday. When the group attempted to get to the Superdome -- designated by city authorities as a shelter for those unable to evacuate -- they were turned away by the National Guard. "Quite naturally, we asked ... 'What was our alternative?' The guards told us that was our problem, and 'no', they did not have extra water to give to us." * * * "This would be the start of our numerous encounters with callous and hostile law enforcement." As they made their way to the bridge in order to leave the city "armed Gretna sheriffs (sic) formed a line across the foot of the bridge. Before we were close enough to speak, they began firing their weapons over our heads." (emphasis added.)
Link to Washington Times Story and Link 2. I think its important to publicize the ugliness along with the heroism. Times of crisis bring out the best and worst in human nature. In my opinion, a police force that shoots over the heads of evacuees in obvious distress has committed a crime. The city of Gretna, LA should be investigated and those responsible duly punished.
JJR
9-11-2005
Comments (0)
Update: Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! did an interview with Lorrie Beth Slonsky, a retired paramedic from the San Francisco Fire Department, who was quoted in the above story about getting shot at by the Gretna Police. Link to Slonsky interview. She adds a few sad details to the incident.
Footnote 1: Mr. Brown is the former commissioner of judges and stewards for the International Arabian Horse Association (a job he was fired from) and apparently got the job of FEMA director through his college roommate who was Bush's 2000 presidential campaign chairman.
|
|
|
