September 10, 2005
Police in Suburbs Blocked Evacuees, Witnesses Report
By GARDINER HARRIS
Police agencies to the south of New Orleans were so fearful of the crowds trying to leave the city after Hurricane Katrina that they sealed a crucial bridge over the Mississippi River and turned back hundreds of desperate evacuees, two paramedics who were in the crowd said.
The paramedics and two other witnesses said officers sometimes shot guns over the heads of fleeing people, who, instead of complying immediately with orders to leave the bridge, pleaded to be let through, the paramedics and two other witnesses said. The witnesses said they had been told by the New Orleans police to cross that same bridge because buses were waiting for them there.
Instead, a suburban police officer angrily ordered about 200 people to abandon an encampment between the highways near the bridge. The officer then confiscated their food and water, the four witnesses said. The incidents took place in the first days after the storm last week, they said.
"The police kept saying, 'We don't want another Superdome,' and 'This isn't New Orleans,' " said Larry Bradshaw, a San Francisco paramedic who was among those fleeing.
Arthur Lawson, chief of the Gretna, La., Police Department, confirmed that his officers, along with those from the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office and the Crescent City Connection Police, sealed the bridge.
"There was no place for them to come on our side," Mr. Lawson said.
He said that he had been asked by reporters about officers threatening victims with guns or shooting over their heads, but he said that he had not yet asked his officers about that.
"As soon as things calm down, we will do an inquiry and find out what happened," he said.
The lawlessness that erupted in New Orleans soon after the hurricane terrified officials throughout Louisiana, and even a week later, law enforcement officers rarely entered the city without heavy weaponry.
While police officers saved countless lives and provided security to medical providers, many victims have complained bitterly about the behavior of some of the police officers in New Orleans in the days following Hurricane Katrina.
Officials in Lafayette, La., reported seeing scores of cruisers from the New Orleans police department in their city in the week after the hurricane. Some evacuees who fled to the Superdome and the convention center say that many police officers refused to patrol those structures after dark.
"It's unbelievable what the police officers did; they just left us," said Harold Veasey, a 66-year-old New Orleans resident who spent two horrific days at the convention center. And in the week after the hurricane, there were persistent rumors in and around New Orleans that police officers in suburban areas refused to help the storm victims.
Mr. Bradshaw and his partner, Lorrie Beth Slonsky, wrote an account about their experiences that has been widely circulated by e-mail and was first printed in The Socialist Worker.
Cathey Golden, a 51-year-old from Boston, and her 13-year-old son, Ramon Golden, yesterday confirmed the account.
The four met at the Hotel Monteleone in the French Quarter. Mr. Bradshaw and Ms. Slonsky had attended a convention for emergency medicine specialists. Ms. Golden and her two children, including 23-year-old Rashida Golden, were there to visit family.
The hotel allowed its guests and nearly 250 residents from the nearby neighborhood to stay until Thursday, Sept 1. With its food exhausted, the hotel's manager finally instructed people to leave. Hotel staff handed out maps to show the way to the city's convention center, to which thousands of other evacuees had fled.
A group of nearly 200 guests gathered to make their way to the center together, the four said. But on the way, they heard that the convention center had become a dangerous, unsanitary pit from which no one was being evacuated. So they stopped in front of a New Orleans police command post near the Harrah's casino on Canal Street.
A New Orleans police commander whom none of the four could identify told the crowd that they could not stay there and later told them that buses were being brought to the Crescent City Connection, a nearby bridge to Jefferson Parish, to carry them to safety.
The crowd cheered and began to move. Suspicious, Mr. Bradshaw said that he asked the commander if he was sure that buses would be there for them. "We'd had so much misinformation by that point," Mr. Bradshaw said.
"He looked all of us in the eye and said, 'I swear to you, there are buses waiting across the bridge,' " Mr. Bradshaw said.
But on the bridge there were four police cruisers parked across some lanes. Between six and eight officers stood with shotguns in their hands, the witnesses said. As the crowd approached, the officers shot over the heads of the crowd, most of whom retreated immediately, Mr. Bradshaw, Ms. Slonsky and Ms. Golden and her son said.
Mr. Bradshaw said the officers were allowing cars to cross the bridge, some of them loaded with passengers. Only pedestrians were being stopped, he said. Chief Lawson said he believed that only emergency vehicles were allowed through.
Mr. Bradshaw said he approached the officers and begged to be allowed through, saying a commander in New Orleans had told them buses were waiting for them on the other side.
"He said that there are no buses and that there is no foot traffic allowed across the bridge," Mr. Bradshaw said.
The remaining evacuees first sought refuge under a nearby highway overpass and then trudged back to New Orleans.
REPORTING FROM NEW ORLEANS -
Rosa Clemente dispatches from the South
After a twenty one hour drive, we, Brad a videographer and King, arrived in New Orleans, as we crossed the border of Mississippi we spoke to folks displaced, white middle class folks who have not seen a FEMA or RED CROSS vehicle since the hurricane hit, many Mexican and Honduran immigrants just wandering, one thing the Latino brothers and sister stressed was the fear they are facing from white vigilantes trying to "move them out the city? and ICE-the federal immigration police who are down here in force, speaking to the white middle class man whom lost everything he told us , "America died to me on Tuesday Aug 30th, I voted for Bush and that rapper was right"(:-) go KANYE!
As we approached New Orleans after two military checkpoints with M16's pointed at us we found our way to Canel Street,
As we went down Canel street the damage was surreal, there was a boat in the street, toxic sludge in the streets, what we immediately noticed, was the number of police, military, contractors, and Blackwater mercenaries protecting property,
We came up on the Convention Center, and after all the clean up, it still looked like a living hell, the smell of dead bodies was overwhelming, what was more crazy and shows the inhumanity, the VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS as defined by the International Convention on Human Rights and the CRIMINAL MISCONDUCT of these devils, and that includes, Condi and Alberto, is that there were plenty of hotels, The Marriot, The Wyndham, The Holiday Inn, that were completely habitable, if this fucking supreme court can take my house on some eminent domain shit, why didn’t they declare eminent domain and take corporate property for the public good,
As Brad stated "This, the Convention center is our modern day slave vessel and our people are in the midst of the Middle Passage" meanwhile five feet from this hell were the castles; The Marriot, The Wyndham, Holiday Inn, If one thing I would like people to know now is that their were four to five hotels within a one block area that were completely intact, these hotels could have housed thousands of people, as we were outside the Convention Center looking in, a man about the age of 40, white man, said "I cant believe they shot these young men as they were trying to get people into the hotel,? as we spoke with him, he said that three young black men, were trying to take over the hotels and make it a makeshift medical center, and evacuate the elderly and babies into safer conditions, as they approached the hotel the were fired upon and murdered, this had not been confirmed by anyone, but we know that this is possible,
Outside all the hotels you could see makeshift camps where people had lived, the conditions were atrocious, as we continued to document and talk to people, we were approached by two military people that said we had to leave now, that we were not official, when we began to question this, and say there are all kinds of people walking around, the entire city of N.O. they informed us we could follow orders or be arrested, as we left we saw a few black man and women still wandering around the city, dazed and physically exhausted, we talked to them and asked them ?Are you leaving and they said no, this is our only home? As we traveled into Algiers, the destruction kept going, as much as folks want to talk about looting, we ran into many white folks who said, "Of coursed we looted, we had to survive,? we saw four different WINN DIXIES and WALMARTS in white communities that were completely destroyed.
We then met up with brother Malik Rahim and Errol Maitland from WBAI, and met up with over 30 organizers that are organizing here, they are committed to staying fro three weeks, so folks need to come and try to spend a couple of days, every skill is needed
Malik Rahim and his wife Sharon are the peoples command center, in Algiers, it is amazing to see the people helping the people, self-determination has manifested here, they have opened up their own media clinic, there are 50 bikes that are being given to anyone who wants them, anyone can come and sleep here, eat, take a shower, etc., Algiers did not have to deal with the flooding but many houses were destroyed, and in a community that numbered in the thousands there are only five kids and about 100 adults left here, but they are refusing to leave, the military is trying to cajole people to leave, by telling them soon electricity will be shut down, there is no gas, so even for the survivors they are being forced out
Algiers is the hub for Black people, and we need to support them, the young cats part of the alternative media world, have set up a community media command center, today the five young people in the neighborhood came and got bikes, crayons, paper, and bubbles, yes bubbles because everyone who is a child should skip rope, blow bubbles and be allowed to be a child
As New Orleans is under marshal law, last night around 6:30pm the military informed us that anyone on the streets would get a warning shot, and after that be shot on the spot, throughout the night, we saw groups of white men riding around in pickup trucks, vigilantes, along with the NOPD and the GODDAMN NYPD, yes, yes yall the NYPD is in the house, this is the battle ground, this is the BATTLE FOR ALGIERS, we are on our way to Baton Rouge, Houston, TX and Jackson, MI, more to come
Well the Central Business District and the historic French Quarter were neighborhoods in New Orleans that saw relatively little damage. This weekend the city will start re-opening those areas and a few others for businesses and residents to return. However, many are concerned about what will happen to the city's poor, black residents whose neighborhoods were mostly destroyed.
Democracy Now correspondent Jeremy Scahill has been in Louisiana this past week. He has been looking into how the city has changed to a militarized zone and what that means for the residents who left.
Jeremy Scahill, Democracy Now! producer and correspondent.
AMY GOODMAN: He joins us on the phone from Baton Rouge. Welcome, Jeremy.
JEREMY SCAHILL: Good to be with you, Amy.
AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk about what you have been seeing, who you’ve been talking to this week?
JEREMY SCAHILL: Well, I mean, in the days that have passed, the week or so since you were here this past weekend, we have seen a real increase in the militarization of the city. It's turned into a much greater state of lockdown. You have more military checkpoints set up. You have less of a civilian presence in large parts of the city and much more of a military presence. I mean in fact, I still have only seen one FEMA vehicle, the entire time I have been here. That wasn't even staffed. It was just a FEMA vehicle parked on a median near the Hyatt hotel where the main headquarters is of the so-called Operational Emergency Command of the military and various branches of the government coordinating their so-called disaster response. But there are soldiers all over the city. What's incredible is that you see them doing almost nothing. They're either just standing around or sitting around. There's very little work being done by the military. You do see units like the 82nd airborne patrolling the streets. It looks like the aftermath of a massacre or war zone where you have soldiers patrolling around. You also see a tremendous increase in the number of private security contractors who have arrived on the scene.
It's interesting, we talked earlier this week about the Blackwater mercenaries and I talked about my hour-long conversation with them when they had first arrived here, and I reported that they were saying they were on contract with the Department of Homeland Security. This, of course, was denied by the federal government. Well, now they have been forced to admit, the federal government, that Blackwater is on federal contract with FEMA to protect -- so-called protect, its rebuilding or reconstruction efforts in Louisiana. This is just one of the firms that is getting now federal money. I think that these firms view the current situation in Louisiana as the biggest pot of federal money to put their hands into since the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. I also, two days ago, had the chance to meet one of the wealthiest of citizens of New Orleans, F. Patrick Quinn III. He is the single greatest owner of private rooms in New Orleans. He owns the largest hotel chain in the state of Louisiana, to cater to hotels. He is currently -- he told me that his hotels are being looked at by FEMA to house the workers for the long haul of the so-called reconstruction. I was talking to him, as his head of security and after he pulled off in his S.U.V., about 30 Mexican workers came out of his hotel, and one of his security guards said that they had been brought in from Texas, and in fact another news report, about Patrick Quinn, said that he had brought in workers from Texas as well. So, we have the reality of these shelters full of people wanting work and then you see Mexican workers being brought in from Texas, and when they're done, doing this dirty work, they will be put on the back of trucks, piled into trucks and they go to wherever it is that they were staying.
This man, Patrick Quinn is bidding for these contracts where FEMA potentially could come in and rent out hundreds and hundreds of rooms in his hotel and other businesses are struggling to simply stay alive or scramble to get federal money to rebuild, he is standing to gain a tremendous amount of money from these lucrative federal contracts. It must be noted that he is a major contributor to the Republican party. In fact, his wife was just elected in the special election to the state Senate. Her name is Julie Quinn. And Amy, he has brought in security from a company called B.A.T.S. in Alabama: Bodyguard And Tactical Services. And I was talking to his head of security, I told him I was from New York, he said, I’ve been to New York during the daily news strike, referring to the strike the at the New York Daily News. Democracy Now! co-host, Juan Gonzalez, is a Daily News columnist was one of the leaders of the strike. I told him that Juan Gonzalez was a colleague of mine and he told me that he spiked Juan Gonzalez's car. He said he had put sugar in the gas tank of Juan Gonzalez's car. The man's name is Michael Montgomery, and he is the head of security for B.A.T.S. Security in Alabama, bragging about spiking the car of Juan Gonzalez and other strike leaders in the New York Daily News strike. He is heading up security for the Decatur Hotel chain, owned by Patrick Quinn, a major businessman in New Orleans, his wife a Republican state senator. This is just one example of cronyism that we see on the ground where the wealthy Republican contributors are being considered now for these tremendous federal contracts.
AMY GOODMAN: We're talking to Jeremy Scahill, he is the Democracy Now! Correspondent on the ground now in New Orleans, Baton Rouge. You also spent time at the jail, which is the converted Greyhound Train Station, is that right? Run by the head of the Angola prison, the largest prison in this country.
JEREMY SCAHILL: Right. One of the things that happened, and it was something we're going to be looking at very closely on democracy now!, continue to in the coming weeks, that is what happened to the prisoners who were inside the Orleans parish prison as well as other facilities as prisoners now start to get released. They're going to be telling their stories, and one of the makeshift places that they took people was the -- they converted the Greyhound and Amtrak terminals into prisons where they brought people, and so they're using the concrete areas where the buses would pull in to house prisoners and they shipped them off to various parts of the country. In that downtown area, it's really sort of desolate and abandoned, and now they call it “Camp Greyhound” where they're running a prison. This is the major question that still looms in the air here, and that is-- what is going to happen to all of these people who were arrested the night before the hurricane struck, for instance, on minor violations who should have been processed in a matter of hours and then released, and they have been shipped all over the country, all over the state. Now you have lawyers scrambling to try to track down where people are, and make sure that they can get out.
One of the great concerns right now in New Orleans is businessmen talking openly of wanting to see New Orleans change, to change it completely in a demographic sense, geographically, politically, racially. You have this overt rhetoric. Well, as residents of New Orleans come back in and they try to go back to the apartments they were rent stabilized, the houses they were renting, they face a city that has repressive laws that do not protect tenants. You have an overt agenda to change the racial makeup of the city, the economic makeup of the city, and you have these very wealthy people hiring private mercenary types to guard their property and their interests. Then you also have the National Guard and the Army inside of the city now, and so the potential for conflict with residents coming back in is very great. A lot of people are very concerned now with this Marshal Law still in effect with the military curfew in effect, that that is going to remain as people come back and live here. It's one thing to have Martial law when you have a depopulated city. It's another thing to have it when you have people who want to go about the business of rebuilding their lives, particularly when they are being told by very wealthy, powerful people backed up by men with guns that they are not welcome in the city that they have lived in their whole life. We have a potential, I think, for serious, overt conflict, hot conflict here in New Orleans as people start coming back in.
AMY GOODMAN: And Jeremy, we all went over to Southern University, a black college in Baton Rouge where some of the evacuees had gathered to talk about how they can be a part of the planning for the reconstruction. Very difficult, because the most disempowered people have been sent off to areas all over the country, from Utah to Cape Cod, often not knowing when they were getting on a bus or perhaps a plane, where they were actually going to land. While they were sent off there, do they have the money even to return, let alone be a part of how this city will be rebuilt?
JEREMY SCAHILL: Right. I was just watching CNN and they were interviewing a guy they're called the pied piper of hurricane Katrina, a guy from Ohio, who has come to the Houston Astrodome to recruit 100 people who are -- who had left New Orleans to try to bring them to settle in Ohio. I mean, what they're really trying to do is to settle the poor and the African-American populations of New Orleans elsewhere. And to make New Orleans a nice, white city, for white, rich businessmen. There's no other way to put it. That's exactly what we're seeing right now. They want to take areas for instance like the ninth ward and turn them into big -- you know, Wal-Mart type neighborhoods. In fact, we heard mayor Nagin talk yesterday about how one of the first things they want to do is set up a gigantic Wal-Mart so people returning can have a place to shop in New Orleans. This hurricane is the greatest thing to happen to Wal-Mart since the superstore. And this is a very serious racist series of actions that we're seeing here right now. This is has everything to do with class and everything to do with race, and it's very, very frightening. And yes, we attended a conference where grassroots activists are talking about a plan for rebuilding New Orleans, but it's on right now, and they're not a part of it. The people that are a part of it are old-time Louisiana white Republican families working in conjunction with their friend, mayor Ray Nagin, and there's no other way to put it. They love Ray Nagin. He's pro-business. He's their guy.
Look at the comments of James Rice, a local businessman, who is one of the leaders of the private Audubon Place, the gated community. The only privately owned in the city of New Orleans. He told The Wall Street Journal, “Those who want to see this city rebuilt want to see it done in a completely different way, demographically, geographically and politically. I'm not just speaking for myself here. The way we have been living is not going to happen again or we’re out.” James Rice has brought in Israeli para-militaries to guard his facility. It's Israeli company that brags about having former members of the Shin Beit, the GSS, the Israeli Defense Forces. He has brought them in. I was talking to them in front of his property. Some of them participated in the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, and these are guys now who are patrolling outside on St. Charles avenue in front of Audubon Place and will potentially come into conflict with residents of New Orleans. What on earth are Israeli paramilitaries doing on the streets of New Orleans? These are the questions that people need to ask right now, defending a man like James Rice who was called for the poor to not be allowed back into New Orleans.
AMY GOODMAN: And Jeremy, as people are -- some people slowly making their way back, reports of the spraying of the city with pesticide that's never been used on urban populations and they're mixing it with blue dye so that the pilots can see where they have sprayed, I think its called something like NALID, have you seen planes dispersing this pesticide?
JEREMY SCAHILL: I remember the other night you called me and you alerted me to this, and just today I had seen what I thought were some sort of spy drones because really, what we have seen here is sort of -- some people are calling it “New Oraq” instead of New Orleans, because of all of the various forces, the Halliburtons, the KBR's, the Blackwaters that are here now, the connections to Iraq are so incredible. The same looters who have raided the federal funds in Iraq, U.S. funds in Iraq, are looting federal funds here in New Orleans. Yes, I saw the drones flying overhead. I'm concerned, very concerned of the toxic waste that they're now dumping on the city in addition to the horribly unsafe waters that flow through the city and continue to flow through the city.
AMY GOODMAN: Jeremy Scahill, thank you for being with us. Jeremy, speaking to us from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. This is democracy now!
FEMA Sends Katrina Survivors to American Gulag
""Taking these ‘useless eaters’ and seditious BOVOBs (Burned Out Victims of Bushonomics) and scattering them across the country in little, out-of-the-way facilities," writes Martin referring to the FEMA policy of taking New Orleans hurricane survivors and transferring them around the country to heavily guarded detainment facilities."The mass movement of Black people like this has never been seen," Martin continues. "There’s never been mass resettlement before, but that’s what’s effectively happening.""We’re taking BOVOBs, getting them out of the media limelight, and quietly transferring them to continuing federal control, so that they’re all going to facilities, controlled by FEMA or some other federal agency. They are de facto detainees since they are not allowed to leave the facility for at least five months."For the rest of this column, subscribe to AlMartin Raw.com for exclusive economic and political analysis Al Martin Raw.com (Political, Economic and Financial Intelligence)AlMartinRaw.com: Political, Economic and Financial Intelligence (http://www.almartinraw.com * AL MARTIN is an independent economic-political analyst with 25 years of experience as a trader on NYMEX, CME, CBOT and CFTC. As a former contributor to the Presidential Council of Economic Advisors, Al Martin is considered to be a source of independent analysis for financially sophisticated and market savvy investors.After working as a broker on Wall Street, Al Martin was involved in the so-called "Iran Contra" Affair as a fundraiser for the Bush Cabal from the covert side of government aka the US Shadow Government.His memoir, "The Conspirators: Secrets of an Iran Contra Insider," (http://www.almartinraw.com) provides an unprecedented look at the frauds of the Bush Cabal during the Iran Contra era. His weekly column, "Behind the Scenes in the Beltway," is published on Al Martin Raw.comAl Martin's new website "Insider Intelligence" Insider Intelligence provides a long term macro-view of world markets and how they are affected by backroom realpolitik, as well as weekly market trading recommendations.
Katrina Survivors Held in FEMA Detention Camp Utah
by GLOBAL NEWS MATRIX
The guards will however instruct one dissident radical pseudo-media personality to turn the car around and get gone post haste. Only officially cleared personnel can access the New Orleans insurgency.Detention Camp Utah is located about 20 miles from downtown civilization. There is no transportation, public or otherwise, for the New Orleans insurgency. Supposedly, it has been reported by one local media concern that there will be twice-daily bus service available to "cleared" insurgents.The armed military guards at the aforementioned closely guarded military gates would answer no questions regarding whether the New Orleans insurgency would be able to clear the gates to access the quickie mart, located down a rather steep hill about three miles from the Detention Camp Utah. Nor would the guards answer questions regarding whether they would allow the New Orleans insurgency to re-enter Detention Camp Utah if somehow they were able to gain an exit.Detention Camp Utah is a windblown and barren military installation atop the foothills of what is known as the Oquirrh (pronounced ochre) Mountains. It is isolated and surely quiet.What a pleasant spot for those that were relocated by the U.S. military and the New Orleans insurgency weren't even told where it was they were being shipped to. Not a one of the refugees/insurgents were told they were being sent to Utah. What a freaking shock that must have been.That is all I was able to ascertain when I paid Detention Camp Utah a short visit on Labor Day. Due to the escalating hostility of the military guards at the armed military gates into Detention Camp Utah, I cut my visit short and also cut my questioning of the armed military guards short. The nice chap with the shiny Colt 45 and the three stripes on his sleeve was growing moderately curt and gave me one last instruction to get away while I still could.That's the way it is, Labor Day 2005.Some refugees unhappy with destinationby Kirsten Stewart, Salt Lake TribuneSept. 5, 2005Jervis Bergeron lost his home to Hurricane Katrina. He lost his dignity looting for food and water. He lost track of his family in the chaos that ensued as rescuers evacuated New Orleans.Now he has lost his bearings."I knew where Utah was, but nobody told me that's where we were going. Nothing personal. It's nice. But I don't know anybody here," said Bergeron, among the first batch of 152 evacuees to arrive at the Camp Williams Utah Army National Guard training site.Like others who arrived in smaller military planes, Bergeron wasn't told where he was headed when he boarded the JetBlue airliner Saturday at the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport. In fact, great pains were taken to keep their destination secret.National Guard officials asked a reporter and photographer aboard two separate military planes not to identify their news organizations or tell the refugees where the planes were going. They explained some refugees on earlier flights complained or refused evacuation when told where they were going.Federal emergency officials said pilots had their passengers' safety in mind. Few evacuees are holding a grudge.But some argue, as a matter of respect and simple courtesy, they should have been told where they were landing."I asked four or five people, but they said they didn't know," said Bergeron, 54. "It wasn't until the airplane doors were shut and the engines started that they told us, Utah."Michael Widomski, spokesman for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), said keeping destinations a secret wasn't an official policy decision, but more likely a last-minute response to trying circumstances.He doesn't know if the practice was unique to Utah-bound flights."This is not a relocation effort. It would be great to provide air service to wherever they want. But that's not logistically possible," said Widomski. He said 13 states currently are sheltering refugees. So far, Utah, Arizona and Colorado are the farthest West."It isn't good or bad policy," said Widomski. "The priority is getting people into a safe, clean environment as fast as we can."Not everyone was dismayed to find themselves thousands of miles from home in foreign surroundings."I was just happy to get out of there," said Antoinette LaFrance. The flight was the 61-year-old's first time on a plane and first visit to Utah."People applauded when they heard it was Utah," said Adolph Dennis, who came on a Sunday morning flight. "We heard it was getting awful crowded in Houston. Everyone has been so hospitable here."At least one volunteer at Camp Williams says the scattershot rescue will make reconnecting families tougher. Violating victims' civil rights also adds insult to injury and reinforces their feelings of helplessness, said Christine Hurst, a certified crisis counselor.Hurst recounted the experience of a young evacuee who on Saturday told a family member in Texas that she was en route to Houston only to wind up in Utah."Now the Red Cross has to send her to Houston. That's where her family is. There's no family here. It's been quite a culture shock for her."All Hurst can do, she says, is "validate their feelings and tell them they have the right to be angry."
Katrina: survivor first-hand account from Charmaine Neville Famed musician and New Orleans native Charmaine Neville's account of being stranded, attempting to rescue others, and "being treated like animals" by the federal authorities who were tasked with protecting and saving citizens. Ms. Neville broke into a school bus, packed it with survivors -- some of whom were disabled persons confined to wheelchairs -- and drove them out of the city.
There were alligators eating people, babies floating in the water, hundreds of bodies of dead people..
"We understood why the police couldn't help us but we didn't understant why the National Guard wouldn't stop and pick us up from the roof...
"Some men came and they were raping our women...
If they hadn't left us out there like animals this wouldn't have happened... there are still thousands of people trapped down there downtown.. old people, young people, babies, pregnant women, nobody's helping them...Link to video from WAFB TV. (Thanks, sponselli)
Katrina: Baghdad on the Bayou Some NOLA evacuees believe the levees were blown up to destroy poor black neighborhoods. Boing Boing readers may recall previous posts here recounting "man-in-the-'dome" comments to that effect, and the rumors appear widespread among some evacuee populations. They also appear in Ben Ehrenreich's LA Weekly story, "Baghdad on the Bayou", excerpt follows. (photo above: evacuees in Astrodome, not persons referenced in this story, by Jacob Appelbaum.)
In the Houston Astrodome last Saturday, I met a man named Robert. He invited me to take a seat beside him on a cot pushed against the wall - his home for the previous three days and the foreseeable future. Robert had lived in New Orleans for all of his 55 years, and was in the St. Bernard projects when Katrina washed it all away. "After the storm," he told me almost as soon as I sat down, "they blew the levees up so they could flood New Orleans." I asked him who "they" were.
"The money people," he answered. "The big money." "Why?" I asked.
Robert shook his head at my naiveté. "They had to get the poor people out so they could get the space." He gestured to the thousands of people in the dome around us, almost all of them African-American, crammed onto cots a few inches apart. "Now they got their space.
"We survived the storm," Robert went on. "We survived the wind and the rain. After the storm passed, the water started rising, and all you heard was 'Boom!' " The explosions, he said, were the levees blowing. "Ask any of these people. The hurricane wasn't that bad, but the opportunity came up."
It was a real estate grab, Robert explained - gentrification with a genocidal edge. And if he was more than slightly paranoid - he didn't want to tell me his last name, and grew visibly nervous when a white stadium employee began sweeping the floor within earshot a few feet away - his theory made a certain kind of sense, far more than any of the official excuses for government inaction. I would later hear similar speculations again and again in New Orleans, and saw them written on the walls. Just across the canal from the flooded 9th Ward, on a corner heavy with the scent of death, these words were scrawled across an abandoned garage: "Fuck Bush They Fucking Left Us Here Them Bitches Flooded Us . . . Them Bitches Killed Our People."
(...)The first time he came across any soldiers, Washington told me, they trained their rifles on him. I heard the same complaint from others, and it was easy to imagine. Squads from the 82nd Airborne patrolled the deserted New Orleans streets as if playing at urban warfare, M-16s at the ready. Of course, they weren't playing. Armored cars bristling with weaponry swerved around the corners. Rifle barrels protruded from the windows of passing SUVs. At the staging ground at the base of Canal Street - the most secure spot in the city if not the entire nation - hundreds of officials milled about lugging shotguns and automatic rifles as if expecting the Mahdi Army. Among thousands of soldiers and police from every imaginable government agency, I twice saw groups of heavily armed men in khaki fatigues wearing T-shirts that read "Blackwater." A city was submerged, hundreds of thousands homeless, and the feds called in the mercenaries.Link (via Ned Sublette)
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