Truth Comes Out About N.O. "Violence"
The reports of widespread murders and rapes in New Orleans during the Katrina aftermath turn out to be largely fictitious. Not to say I told you so, but I told you so. From the start, I thought that the armed gangs of looters seemed improbable, and the mass rape of women and children in the Superdome was completely unbelievable. I also thought it strange that people would shoot at relief helicopters and as The New York Times said in its September 29 issue:
For military officials, who flew rescue missions around the city, the reports that people were shooting at helicopters turned out to be mistaken. "We investigated one incident and it turned out to have been shooting on the ground, not at the helicopter," said Maj. Mike Young of the Air Force.
That particular piece of misinformation really riles me. Many people around the country said something to the effect of "Stupid n-----s. We're trying to save them and they just shoot at us. Screw them if they don't want help." Part of that blame-the-victim mentality that conservatives fall back on so easily.
People were scared and repeated rumors they heard. Rumors grew more outlandish and circulated widely. Looting of a Wal-Mart and other stores is well documented, but that morphed into imaginary armed gangs of angry black youth rampaging the streets. I expected to see chalk drawings of black tribesmen with spears and loincloths, carrying screaming white girls thrown their shoulders. At the bottom of the screen there would be a tiny scrawl saying "Dramatization, events might not actually have occurred" like the tabloid TV show "Rock Bottom" on The Simpsons.
I blame these rumors on four groups:
1. Irresponsible local officials. N.O. police superintendent Edwin Compass, who just resigned, claimed that tourists were being robbed and raped on the streets. Mayor Ray Nagin, who SHOULD resign, made similar comments. These two African-American city officials should be ashamed of themselves for repeating unverified rumors that slander the mostly black victims of Katrina. I think they were panicked and desperate, trying to get more police and military assistance, so they went with the scariest possible reports, true or not. This does not justify their actions, because it enabled the press to quote them ad infinitum with these exaggerations and outright lies.
The rumors of chaos had the added benefit of making government failures seem more understandable. The local government tried to help, but these gangs out of Escape From New York took over the city and the government was powerless. Uh-huh. The state and federal governments were only happy to accept the rumors for the exact same reason.
2. The Press. Unfortunately all media now, not just Fox News, likes sensationalistic stories, and will repeat them constantly until something more outlandish comes along. What happened to independent verification before airing/printing a story? Like I said above, N.O. officials gave the press some fantastic quotes, but how about looking into them and seeing if they are true? If the streets were so unsafe, how come I saw reporters in New Orleans on live TV throughout the worst of the trouble? The press was there, they could see the lack of "violence" themselves, and should have known better.
3. Scared residents. Hysterical flood victims were often interviewed (only the most out-of-their-minds with panic would do), and they would tell crazy stories of stuff they heard and thought they saw. These people are understandably shaken and terrified, so it is hard to blame them for letting their imaginations run wild. Of course, the TV crews were there to videotape the craziest crazy talk and disseminate it to the world.
4. Scared stupid white people. I mainly refer to tourists, but also reporters, who would see black man walking down the street and think "looter." Two or more black men together was a "gang." I won't say these out-of-towners were racists exactly - they might not dislike black people - but they damn sure categorize them. I doubt many residents of the Ninth Ward were dressed in suits (or Polos and slacks) when they were getting out of the flooded areas. Many white rubes see a young black man with a baseball cap turned to the side and think the worst. I saw tourists huddled on the balconies of their hotels looking down on pedestrians (literally and figuratively), saying to a reporter "See look at that guy! I think I saw him earlier. What is he doing?" Uhh, walking? Looking for help? Trying to find his family?
The way the tourists were acting, you'd think it was the Night of the Living Dead, and they were barricading themselves inside to keep the zombies out (actually that comes full circle, since George Romero's undead movies satirize rich people who live in exclusive enclaves while shutting out the poor).
Katrina was helpful in one respect - it jarred me out of my liberal complacency. I am not SO idiotic as to think we have an egalitarian meritocracy, but I didn't realize how bad things still were. Race relations have a LONG way to go. We are not an assimilated American society at all, but three separate societies (white, black, Latino), intertwined but segregated.
For military officials, who flew rescue missions around the city, the reports that people were shooting at helicopters turned out to be mistaken. "We investigated one incident and it turned out to have been shooting on the ground, not at the helicopter," said Maj. Mike Young of the Air Force.
That particular piece of misinformation really riles me. Many people around the country said something to the effect of "Stupid n-----s. We're trying to save them and they just shoot at us. Screw them if they don't want help." Part of that blame-the-victim mentality that conservatives fall back on so easily.
People were scared and repeated rumors they heard. Rumors grew more outlandish and circulated widely. Looting of a Wal-Mart and other stores is well documented, but that morphed into imaginary armed gangs of angry black youth rampaging the streets. I expected to see chalk drawings of black tribesmen with spears and loincloths, carrying screaming white girls thrown their shoulders. At the bottom of the screen there would be a tiny scrawl saying "Dramatization, events might not actually have occurred" like the tabloid TV show "Rock Bottom" on The Simpsons.
I blame these rumors on four groups:
1. Irresponsible local officials. N.O. police superintendent Edwin Compass, who just resigned, claimed that tourists were being robbed and raped on the streets. Mayor Ray Nagin, who SHOULD resign, made similar comments. These two African-American city officials should be ashamed of themselves for repeating unverified rumors that slander the mostly black victims of Katrina. I think they were panicked and desperate, trying to get more police and military assistance, so they went with the scariest possible reports, true or not. This does not justify their actions, because it enabled the press to quote them ad infinitum with these exaggerations and outright lies.
The rumors of chaos had the added benefit of making government failures seem more understandable. The local government tried to help, but these gangs out of Escape From New York took over the city and the government was powerless. Uh-huh. The state and federal governments were only happy to accept the rumors for the exact same reason.
2. The Press. Unfortunately all media now, not just Fox News, likes sensationalistic stories, and will repeat them constantly until something more outlandish comes along. What happened to independent verification before airing/printing a story? Like I said above, N.O. officials gave the press some fantastic quotes, but how about looking into them and seeing if they are true? If the streets were so unsafe, how come I saw reporters in New Orleans on live TV throughout the worst of the trouble? The press was there, they could see the lack of "violence" themselves, and should have known better.
3. Scared residents. Hysterical flood victims were often interviewed (only the most out-of-their-minds with panic would do), and they would tell crazy stories of stuff they heard and thought they saw. These people are understandably shaken and terrified, so it is hard to blame them for letting their imaginations run wild. Of course, the TV crews were there to videotape the craziest crazy talk and disseminate it to the world.
4. Scared stupid white people. I mainly refer to tourists, but also reporters, who would see black man walking down the street and think "looter." Two or more black men together was a "gang." I won't say these out-of-towners were racists exactly - they might not dislike black people - but they damn sure categorize them. I doubt many residents of the Ninth Ward were dressed in suits (or Polos and slacks) when they were getting out of the flooded areas. Many white rubes see a young black man with a baseball cap turned to the side and think the worst. I saw tourists huddled on the balconies of their hotels looking down on pedestrians (literally and figuratively), saying to a reporter "See look at that guy! I think I saw him earlier. What is he doing?" Uhh, walking? Looking for help? Trying to find his family?
The way the tourists were acting, you'd think it was the Night of the Living Dead, and they were barricading themselves inside to keep the zombies out (actually that comes full circle, since George Romero's undead movies satirize rich people who live in exclusive enclaves while shutting out the poor).
Katrina was helpful in one respect - it jarred me out of my liberal complacency. I am not SO idiotic as to think we have an egalitarian meritocracy, but I didn't realize how bad things still were. Race relations have a LONG way to go. We are not an assimilated American society at all, but three separate societies (white, black, Latino), intertwined but segregated.
posted by David Bowden at 8:39 AM
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