"The Nation" Re-Writes Katrina: "White Militia" Murders of Innocent Refugees

[techres]

I am putting this in the Politics section because it is obviously timed to have a political impact: i.e. take Katrina away as a rallying point for firearms ownership and communal preparedness.

That being said, the thrust of the article, and the cover of their magazine, is that in the chaos of Katrina white militias sought to murder innocent black people who only wanted to get on evacuation buses while the police were unaware and unable to stop the rampaging butchery of rich white gun owners.

Katrina's Hidden Race War

Facing an influx of refugees, the residents of Algiers Point could have pulled together food, water and medical supplies for the flood victims. Instead, a group of white residents, convinced that crime would arrive with the human exodus, sought to seal off the area, blocking the roads in and out of the neighborhood by dragging lumber and downed trees into the streets. They stockpiled handguns, assault rifles, shotguns and at least one Uzi and began patrolling the streets in pickup trucks and SUVs. The newly formed militia, a loose band of about fifteen to thirty residents, most of them men, all of them white, was looking for thieves, outlaws or, as one member put it, anyone who simply "didn't belong."

The existence of this little army isn't a secret--in 2005 a few newspaper reporters wrote up the group's activities in glowing terms in articles that showed up on an array of pro-gun blogs; one Cox News story called it "the ultimate neighborhood watch." Herrington, for his part, recounted his ordeal in Spike Lee's documentary When the Levees Broke. But until now no one has ever seriously scrutinized what happened in Algiers Point during those days, and nobody has asked the obvious questions. Were the gunmen, as they claim, just trying to fend off looters? Or does Herrington's experience point to a different, far uglier truth?

Read the article for more. I don't want to repeat it. And to be clear, anyone who did murder another should be brought to justice. And racially motivated violence also needs to be taken and tried. But in reading this article about a neighborhood setting up roadblocks, running patrols, and keeping out strangers - I find nothing strange in that. And amassing an arsenal of 40 guns (including one AK and one Uzi), sounds like they only had two gun nuts on the block...

While the article has me FUMING from it's extreme slant, I would advise EVERYONE to read it carefully because it is going to be latched on to as the new refutation of the Katrina gun owner story.

Too bad they did not come up with the gangs of Korean shop owners running amok and killing innocent gang members in LA as a story years back...

AND PLEASE DO NOT TAKE THE BAIT AND TURN THIS INTO A RACE STORY, THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT THEY WANT YOU TO DO!!!

This is an attack on self sufficiency and gun ownership with gun owners being the evil ones and the good police unable to stop them.

 

[10ring]

Something like this from "The Nation" comes as a surprise? I would rather go to the dentist than read anything they print.

 

[NateIU10]

Hell, I WISH I had neighbors I know I could trust and rely on to help out like this in a time of natural disaster

 

[Blue Tile Spook]

Nate,

If the story is true then we are talking about individuals who killed individuals walking through their neighborhood solely because of the color of their skin, or because of the color of their skin and because they had baseball hats and tennis shoes on (according to the story).

If it is true and people were murdered, I wouldn't want the men in the story in my neighborhood.

If it is not? Yeah, I would like to see my neighbors band together with me to protect all of our possessions from looters.

 

[JPBrown]

Just think, that reporter kisses his mother with that mouth.

 

[NateIU10]

Nate,

If the story is true then we are talking about individuals who killed individuals walking through their neighborhood solely because of the color of their skin, or because of the color of their skin and because they had baseball hats and tennis shoes on (according to the story).

If it is true and people were murdered, I wouldn't want the men in the story in my neighborhood.

If it is not? Yeah, I would like to see my neighbors band together with me to protect all of our possessions from looters.

I didn't read the story. I tend to lend more credit to the multiple news stories previous to this one from "The Nation." That being said, I agree wholeheartedly, murder is murder and that should be prosecuted.

 

[techres]

Nate,

If the story is true then we are talking about individuals who killed individuals walking through their neighborhood solely because of the color of their skin, or because of the color of their skin and because they had baseball hats and tennis shoes on (according to the story).

If it is true and people were murdered, I wouldn't want the men in the story in my neighborhood.

If it is not? Yeah, I would like to see my neighbors band together with me to protect all of our possessions from looters.

I agree with you Blue, but the real question is the veracity of the story and the position of the reporter as neutral. Nate points out the fact that he trusts other, numerous reports as sounding far closer to the truth.

Personally, I am guessing some of the people at those barracades were in fact yelling racist things. And some bad shoots may have happened. But I find facinating the absolute lack of any threat that the "militia" faced other than poor blacks in their nice neighborhood wandering around looking for a bus.

That description fails in the deluge of reporting that came out during and post katrina supporting the atmosphere of violence and danger that ran for months. The very fact that the reporter downplays that reality begins my disbelief in all that follows.

Again, I urge everyone (even completely overworked IU students) to read the entire article for yourselves. See what you think.

 

[BloodEclipse]

These people were Evil for only one reason.
They were self sufficienct.
They did not depend upon the Government.

I stopped reading the article when I came to this point:

"We saw a couple of other shotgun wounds, some handgun shootings and somebody who was shot with a high-velocity missile [an assault-rifle round]." The surgeon remembers handling "five or six nonfatal gunshot wounds" as well as three lethal gunshot cases.
In addition, state death records show that at least four people died in and around Algiers Point, a suspicious number, given that most Katrina fatalities were the result of drowning, and that the community never flooded. Neighborhood residents, black and white, remember seeing corpses lying out in the open that appeared to have been shot.

 

[Blue Tile Spook]

Techres,

I read the whole article based on the advice of someone that I trust that knows the reporter personally. I still don't know if it is true, but it was sure a long read!

BloodEclipse, that isn't what I "took" from the article. According to the author in the story, the "Point" was used for an emergency staging area to get refugees onto buses and get them out of the area. If the quotes from the homeowners that live there in that neighborhood (the point) have not been taken out of context then they themselves admit that there were at least three murders there, one only footsteps from the front door of one of the residents there. One person kept a trophy from one of the murders, a bloody shirt. The coroner and some of the police admit that there were several bodies picked up that should have been investigated as homicides because the persons died of gunshot wounds.

I don't have a dog in this fight as I do not know the author and I don't think that I have read anything written by him before this. If you have read the article, and I'm not accusing you of not reading it, then you and I just are reading different things in the story. Hell, I've been up nearly 24 hours so maybe my circuits are all crossed.

 

[Bill of Rights]

Techres,

You're correct throughout, but for a single point:

...And racially motivated violence also needs to be taken and tried....

Whether the motivation for the violence was racial or not is immaterial. Does the violent action (not defensive violence) need to be taken to trial? No doubt, but let's leave race out of it. Does it really matter that the assailant and the victim are of the same or different skin color? I don't think it does.

Blessings,
B

 

[NateIU10]

Techres,

You're correct throughout, but for a single point:



Whether the motivation for the violence was racial or not is immaterial. Does the violent action (not defensive violence) need to be taken to trial? No doubt, but let's leave race out of it. Does it really matter that the assailant and the victim are of the same or different skin color? I don't think it does.

Blessings,
B

Excellent point Bill! Person should fry the same if they kill for personal gain or racial intolerance. Murder is murder.

 

[BloodEclipse]

BloodEclipse, that isn't what I "took" from the article. According to the author in the story, the "Point" was used for an emergency staging area to get refugees onto buses and get them out of the area. If the quotes from the homeowners that live there in that neighborhood (the point) have not been taken out of context then they themselves admit that there were at least three murders there, one only footsteps from the front door of one of the residents there.

I stopped reading here because it became clear that facts were not a part of this story. These statements are vague and leading.

The surgeon remembers handling "five or six nonfatal gunshot wounds" as well as three lethal gunshot cases.

So 3 dead and 5 or 6 wounded. It does not mention where they came from. The writer wants you to believe they ALL came from Algiers Point.

In addition, state death records show that at least four people died in and around Algiers Point, a suspicious number, given that most Katrina fatalities were the result of drowning, and that the community never flooded.

We know from reading the story that:
A nationally recognized historic area, Algiers Point is largely white, while the rest of Algiers is predominantly black. It's a "white enclave" whose residents have "a kind of siege mentality,"
So what are we defining as "Around" Algiers Point?
Blocks, miles?
Also it doesn't say how they died. The writer wants you to believe that they were ALL shot dead by White people.

Neighborhood residents, black and white, remember seeing corpses lying out in the open that appeared to have been shot.

How many would that be? It says corpses so it must be plural. What also is missing from the racially based story is what are the races of all these dead and wounded? I refuse to buy into this kind of dishonest writing.

 

[Blue Tile Spook]

I stopped reading here because it became clear that facts were not a part of this story. These statements are vague and leading.

Mine or the author's?

 

[BloodEclipse]

Mine or the author's?

The authors
The sections I quoted.

 

[DodgebyDave]

Let's start with the opening statement in the article

The way Donnell Herrington tells it

So from the very beginning the author admits that this is one man's statement, and may or may not be an article based on the FACTS.

Now lets examine another statement, this one made by the author

Facing an influx of refugees, the residents of Algiers Point could have pulled together food, water and medical supplies for the flood victims.

Refugees? I suppose he is referring to:

Curious, Aren't these Algiers Point residents victims too?

Curious, The article doesn't have any position as to why these refugees don't need to collect food water and medical supplies TO HELP EACH OTHER AND THEMSELVES.

God I could keep going but there are 7 pages of this crap. One was enough to give me a headache.

Pay attention younger folks. This deal here should be a lesson in how to spot double talk/Double speak 101

 

[4sarge]

This article is total BS I have been a long time visitor to New Orleans and Louisiana and have many friends who reside there. Louisiana is a very culturally diverse state and racial harmony does exist. Does that mean there is no violence - no, but doesn't indicate to me that it was racially motivated. I would not cross a Cajun or Creole but they do not indiscriminately shoot their neighbors. Would they shoot Looters, probably. I'd probably shoot looters in my neighborhood. NOLA is a very dangerous place for the naive black or white. Algiers and the Ninth Ward are dangerous in the day time but at night hey have a life all of their own. This FICTION article was penned to fan the flames of racism and to further the Liberals Anti Gun Agenda.

 

[SigSense]

I was on-the-ground, living in Miami during the August 1992 Hurricane Andrew. Lawlessness was everywhere. If you had guns, and generators you protected your property. As always, I guess I could have been considered a "vigilante" for challenging looters in my neighborhood....and being shot at. But where were the police? The liberal media advised me that the police were sworn to protect us residents.....but they were nowhere to be found. Was I lied to by the all-knowing, always-correct liberal media? What should I have done? Trusted that the Metro-Dade PD would be there for me in my time of need? I think not. I landed in New Orleans four hours after Katrina struck, as part of a search and rescue team.....and saw the lawlessness all over again. Where was the NOPD? Oh wait, they were disarming the citizens and looting! The above story disturbs me because it paints people who take care of their property as being somehow a militia? Militia's are how this country was formed and preserved it's freedom's.....or have we forgotten our history?

 

[10ring]

Yes, we have completely forgotten, or totally ignore our history.

 

[SavageEagle]

Techres,

Whether the motivation for the violence was racial or not is immaterial. Does the violent action (not defensive violence) need to be taken to trial? No doubt, but let's leave race out of it. Does it really matter that the assailant and the victim are of the same or different skin color? I don't think it does.

It doesn't matter if they were black white or tan. Gang members and criminals come in all shapes and sizes. I've read many articles and eyewitness accounts from Algiers and many other places in NO. Most shooting that happened at Algiers were, in fact, in self defense from gangs. There was speculation of two murders but no investigations.

Most roving bands of people were "refugees" if you can call them that. But the gang members were mostly easy to spot. Wearing their bandannas and such. Had I been at Algiers, knowing help wasn't coming, I'd have done the same given all the valuables they all couldn't carry. Driving would have been pointless because not only did devastation block roads, so did FEMA. Nobody in, nobody out but "authorized personnel". The whole aftermath of Katrina was a poor attempt at "cultural cleansing", IMO, and an excuse for the largest gun grab in American History. By "CC" I mean at gangs, poor, and "nuts". What they failed to realize was that some very sane, very prepared people would not evacuate as ordered. I also don't think they expected the out-pore of goodwill that the other 49 states gave. Katrina was a Natural Disaster, but it was also an excuse. An Excuse to try new "methods", and for greedy power to test it's will. This article (quit reading after a couple pages as my stomach started turn. I will read it all though) is just a testament to that and will be ammunition (as techres says) against us. These "arguements and observations" will be the they try to lay their Foundation on.

Fool is those who build their house upon the sand.

Yes, we have completely forgotten, or totally ignore our history.

Welcome to Public School.

 

[NateIU10]

The above story disturbs me because it paints people who take care of their property as being somehow a militia? Militia's are how this country was formed and preserved it's freedom's.....or have we forgotten our history?

Self-reliance is looked down upon. The leftists wants you to be reliant upon the government. They call people militias and vigilantes, all to make us seem evil to the public. Next, they will deem us all "domestic terrorists," all in the name of mass compliance...