wwp@yahoogroups.com:
Re: Panos from Katrina
Are Flågan 2005-Sep-07 10:45:00
On Sep 6, 2005, at 8:37 PM, G. Donald Bain wrote:
> I am getting all kinds of contradictory information about criminal
> activity. It is certainly to be expected, New Orleans has always had a
> very high crime rate. Nobody was surprised to see looting break out.
> But people firing at rescue helicopters and bridge repair crews?
> Amazing. I knew a lot of law enforcement people when I was down there
> (I administered a criminal justice program, among other things), and I
> will be interested to hear what they have to say.
>
> Two of the blog reports had completely different views on the crime
> situation, both first-hand accounts on the same day in the same areas.
> One reported groups of dangerous looking armed men, which they
> avoided,
> another said there were lots of armed men but they all seemed to be
> "good guys". Both of these reports were within unflooded or shallowly
> flooded areas. There are lots of other accounts of serious crime - the
> hotel the mayor was staying in was broken into by armed men, and he
> and
> his staff had to run up 28 floors to safety.
The Guardian ran an article about this yesterday. In the case of the
many horror stories about the Convention Center, for example, police
stated that no one had come forward to file a complaint. Who knows
what did or did not happen here or there: chaos still rules. What is
telling, however, is how those stories made it from vague word of
mouth to live CNN coverage. As the rescue operation dragged on for
days and not hours, the focus shifted to people murdering and raping
and shooting at the rescuers. Watching CNN for a day or two after the
scope of the disaster became apparent, you'd think that getting the
survivors out was more like an ill-advised prison break. Obviously,
bad things went down with the water rising, but it appears that it
became a strategy of sorts to paint those left behind in a certain
light to, perhaps, better excuse the weak federal response to the(ir)
disaster. Why ferry a murdering rapist and his Wal-Mart loot to
safety, right?
>
> I think the racial angle is being exaggerated also. The city is 67%
> black, and some of the worst flooded areas are more like 90%. Class
> aligns largely with race, and the poorest people, the ones without
> means to get themselves out of the city, are also mostly black.
> This is
> the deepest of the Deep South, and I am sure there is some racism
> involved, but it wrongs the people working so bravely to deal with
> this
> catastrophe to accuse them of racial bias. Bureaucratic ineptitude
> is a
> more telling accusation.
That's missing the point most frequently made. No one I have heard or
read has accused anyone working 24/7 on the ground of any kind of
bias, quite the opposite. It is first and foremost an institutional
critique. First, people without adequate means were left to cater for
themselves and deal with whatever hand the hurricane dealt them.
Secondly, the same people were then subject to, should we say, an
uninspired federal rescue effort and belated offer of the most basic
help, even getting to dry land. Thirdly, what happens to these people
next in terms of assistance is another question. Most of these people
were and are black.
What follows from this is a clear divide, most visible along racial
lines, where the free market of humanity serves the fittest and
leaves others to literally drown. That's the overwhelming story of
New Orleans, not the revival of white pointy hats. It leaves the
social glue of providing the most basic security and protection to
those that desperately need it to soak in the toxic stew that now
inhabits the city. Hence the story, cited above, also quickly became
one of logically having to protect "us" from this menace of a largely
black and poor mob trying to stay afloat by any means necessary. It's
the same story played out every single day on a smaller and less
Biblical scale. The question now facing the so called American Dream,
in soggy ruins, is if eveyone will get some room onboard or if more
and more people will be thrown overboard to ensure continued smooth
sailing for the yacht club. A rising tide clearly does not lift
everyone.
If it's any consolation to those you perceive to be "wronged" by
accusations of racism, The Guardian also ran an article about British
tourists who were left behind when police evacuated US citizens only
from their hotel. They survived in a windowless bathroom on one of
the upper floors. Bureaucratic "ineptitude" comes in many colors.
Anyways, the situation has more urgent needs than words thrown at it.
Your post, however, was very inforamtive on the issues that locals
have faced for as long as they can remember and talking heads now
call entirely unimaginable.