Four years on, Katrina remains cursed by rumour, cliche, lies and racism

[Blue_Tires]

Given a choice between their worldview and the facts, it's always interesting how many people toss the facts. Right now, the United States is plagued by an army of "birthers" who claim that because Barack Obama was not really born in America, he's not legitimately president. Their evidence is non-existent, their arguments loopy, but people who find our non-white president unacceptable would rather scour the Hawaiian medical records system and invent bizarre theories than face their own internal turmoil. Or racism.

What people were willing to believe about Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans four years ago is a more serious matter. Of racism. And cliche. The story, as the mainstream media presented it at the time, was about marauding hordes of looters, rapists and murderers swarming through the streets. The descriptions were pretty clearly focused on African-Americans, the great majority left behind in the evacuation of the city (which was then two-thirds black anyway).

There were supposed to be a lot of murder victims and murderers in the Superdome, the sports stadium the city opened up as a refuge of last resort. The rumours were believed so fervently that they were used to turn New Orleans into a prison city, with supplies and would-be rescuers prevented from entering and the victims prevented from evacuating. The belief that a Hobbesian war of all-against-all had broken loose justified treating the place as a crime zone or even a hostile country rather than a place in which grandmothers and toddlers were stranded in hideous conditions, desperately in need of food, water, shelter and medical attention.

Louisiana's governor at the time, Kathleen Blanco, announced as she dispatched National Guard troops: "I have one message for these hoodlums: these troops know how to shoot and kill, and they are more than willing to do so if necessary, and I expect they will." She and the city's mayor had called off the rescue efforts to focus on protecting private property – with lethal force if necessary. The sheriff of the suburb across the Crescent City Connection bridge from downtown New Orleans turned back stranded tourists and locals at gunpoint. "As we approached the bridge," wrote two stranded paramedics, "armed Gretna sheriffs formed a line across the foot of the bridge. Before we were close enough to speak, they began firing their weapons over our heads."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/aug/26/katrina-racism-us-media

[Uncle Joe]

1. This is an outstanding read and considering as the author points out the

the growing looming catastrophe of global warming climate change, vital for everyone to internalize.

<snip>

"Katrina was a fairly terrible natural disaster. But it turned into a horrific social catastrophe because of the response of the people in power, spurred on by their willingness to believe a hysterical, rumour-mongering media. (Journalists on the ground were often fiercely empathic and right on the mark, but those at a remove were all too willing to believe the usual tsunami of cliches about disaster and human nature.

The story that few can wrap their minds around is that ordinary people mostly behaved well – there were six bodies in the Superdome, including four natural deaths and a suicide, not the hundreds that the federal government expected when it sent massive refrigerator trucks to collect the corpses. On the other hand, people in power behaved appallingly, panicking, spreading rumours, and themselves showing an eagerness to kill and a pathological lack of empathy.

<snip>

Most people behave beautifully in disasters (and most Americans, incidentally, believe Obama was born in this country). The majority in Katrina took care of each other, went to great lengths to rescue each other – including the "cajun navy" of white guys with boats who entered the flooded city the day after the levees broke – and were generally humane and resourceful. A minority that included the most powerful believed they were preventing barbarism while they embodied it.

We are entering an era of heightened disaster, thanks to climate change. Being prepared for disaster will mean being prepared to sift truth from rumour, and being prepared to adjust our worldview. There is some incredible ugliness to the truth about Katrina. But, four years on, the lies hide more beauty, and hide where our dangers and our salvation may lie in times of crisis."

Thanks for the thread, Blue_Tires.:thumbsup:

[Blue_Tires]

13. you're welcome...

glad to see some discussion about this...

[Louisiana1976]

15. Well said except that the horrific flooding of New Orleans...

was no "natural" disaster. It was a manmade disaster brought about by the poor construction and maintenance of federally-maintained levees and is thus called by New Orleans bloggers the Federal Flood.

[LuvNewcastle]

2. In the aftermath of the storm,

a lot of my friends and family were saying that it either brought out the very best or the very worst in people.

[philly_bob]

3. Remember the Black gangs that were supposedly shooting at helicopters?

The story spread on talk radio during Katrina. I remember talking to one suburban white neighbor, who said "Animals. Animals. They're shooting at the rescue helicopters."

The story linked in the OP does not discuss that rumor. Anybody have any facts on that? And who was spreading that rumor?

[LuvNewcastle]

4. I know it was reported on Fox News.

I had evacuated to a relative's house in North MS and they had the tv on Fox News the whole time. I saw them report that.

[philly_bob]

5. You're right. Here's a Fox news story with the helicopter-shooting bit

Plus the gang rapes, the tourists being preyed upon, the minister saying "We're out here like animals."

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,168112,00.html

It'd be nice to see New Orleans demand some justice for this slander -- kicking a city when it's down.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

9. The gunshots were trapped people trying to get the attention of rescuers

But of course, they were black, so they were "snipers."

[Louisiana1976]

10. And remember Rita Cosby who said---

blacks were "looting" while whites were "taking what they needed to survive."

[Raster]

6. Thank god for this story and Greg Palast's. Let's really talk about what happened during Katrina.

1. The Bush* administration *KNEW* the levies were inadequate. This is provable fact.
2. The Bush* administration *KNEW* the levies were cracked before the worst of the flooding and *KNEW* cataclysmic flooding was imminent. This is now--god, forbid--provable fact.
3. Once Katrina struck, the Bush* administration severely limited the amount of federal rescue resources, severely limited outside rescue teams, severely limited outside disaster resources and then FUCKING LIED ABOUT IT.
4. The response from FEMA--which under Clinton was an excellent emergency management organization--was so pitiful that still today other countries use the Bush* FEMA as an example of how NOT to do things.
5. Volunteers from around the world flocked to southern Louisiana to help, and were TURNED AWAY by the Bush* administration.
6. Tons of water and ice--badly needed--were refused entry into the disaster area.
7. Bush* was so out-of-touch by the events surrounding Katrina, his own staff had to put together a DVD explaining to the POTUS just how bad things were.
8. Instead of correcting the liars on Faux news and other reich-wing media, the Bush* administration continued to prey upon racial fears, and even encited the rumors and lies to cover their own failings. "You're doing a heckofa job, Brownie."

"She and the city's mayor had called off the rescue efforts to focus on protecting private property – with lethal force if necessary."
The mercenary murderers of Blackwater--yes, that Blackwater--moved into the rich, upper crust neighborhoods of New Orleans and armed with automatic weapons, patrolled to make sure the common and the colored did not reach safety within the gated enclaves.

The sheriff of the suburb across the Crescent City Connection bridge from downtown New Orleans turned back stranded tourists and locals at gunpoint. "As we approached the bridge," wrote two stranded paramedics, "armed Gretna sheriffs formed a line across the foot of the bridge. Before we were close enough to speak, they began firing their weapons over our heads."
Sick, starving Katrina refugees dying of thirst were turned back into the New Orleans hellhole by Gretna sheriffs. Was this reported by the Bush* administration. Of course not. Were these people ever punished. Of course not.

One of the oldest cities in the United States was allowed to drown and it's citizens written off by an administration now deemed the worst ever. Has anyone in the Bush* administration been punished for any of this? No. Sadly, no.
:kick:

[Raster]

7. Greg Palast's story:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=6399142&mesg_id=6399142

[Blue_Tires]

12. thanks for that...

[Cresent City Kid]

14. I heard this play out on local radio during the aftermath

The sheriff of the suburb across the Crescent City Connection bridge from downtown New Orleans turned back stranded tourists and locals at gunpoint.

The sheriff was Harry Lee, an infamous and unapologetic racial profiler. The incident happened just after a shopping mall on the West Bank in Jefferson Parish was burned. What he was reacting to was the loss of a tax base for the Parish. In fact, Harry Lee actually enforced the sales tax collection when he was sheriff (now deceased). But make no mistake, he was a racist who believed and perpetuated sterotypes.

There were some black murderers and drug dealers in New Orleans, but the misconception, even in the city was about the percentage of the black population who were doing these things. From the outside it's easy to say it's "all of 'em", but I've been in the worst New Orleans neighborhoods, and most are hardworking people trying to better their lives, with little or no help. Instead of rescuing them from the few troublemakers, they are walled in with them. The Superdome during Katrina was just a microcosm of their everyday lives. The unwillingness to bring in relief also fits the analogy.

[Raster]

8. Kick for those that died in New Orleans. Kick for those that left.

Kick for a city left to drown!:kick:

[kickysnana]

11. kicking for the ones still missing n/t