Katrina's Hidden Race War

Katrina's Hidden Race War

A.C. Thompson's reporting on New Orleans was directed and underwritten by the Investigative Fund at The Nation Institute. ProPublica provided additional support, as did the Center for Investigative Reporting and New America Media.

The way Donnell Herrington tells it, there was no warning. One second he was trudging through the heat. The next he was lying prostrate on the pavement, his life spilling out of a hole in his throat, his body racked with pain, his vision blurred and distorted.

It was September 1, 2005, some three days after Hurricane Katrina crashed into New Orleans, and somebody had just blasted Herrington, who is African-American, with a shotgun. "I just hit the ground. I didn't even know what happened," recalls Herrington, a burly 32-year-old with a soft drawl.

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  Conyers Responds to Vigilante Revelations
  

• A.C. Thompson:
  Rep. John Conyers expressed concern and a California activist group
  called for investigations of vigilante violence in the wake of
  Hurricane Katrina.
  

  
  
  

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  New Orleans: Victims and Vigilantes

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  The Nation Institute :
  Both the perpetrators and victims of violent attacks in the wake of Hurricane Katrina share their stories in vivid detail
  
  
  

The sudden eruption of gunfire horrified Herrington's companions--his
cousin Marcel Alexander, then 17, and friend Chris Collins, then 18, who
are also black. "I looked at Donnell and he had this big old hole in his
neck," Alexander recalls. "I tried to help him up, and they started
shooting again." Herrington says he was staggering to his feet when a
second shotgun blast struck him from behind; the spray of lead pellets
also caught Collins and Alexander. The buckshot peppered Alexander's
back, arm and buttocks.

Herrington shouted at the other men to run and turned to face his
attackers: three armed white males. Herrington says he hadn't even seen
the men or their weapons before the shooting began. As Alexander and
Collins fled, Herrington ran in the opposite direction, his hand pressed
to the bleeding wound on his throat. Behind him, he says, the gunmen
yelled, "Get him! Get that nigger!"

Racist Violence Against Blacks in the Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina

Thank you Abagond for posting this sad article. How come I wasn't aware of this racially motivated violence in the aftermath of Katrina? Perhaps the mainstream media cover up this one because they don't want people to be outraged by the violence against Black citizens of New Orleans, Louisiana in the aftermath of Katrina. No, they're too busy painting Black citizens as criminals and thieves in the aftermath of the storm. Here's the post below:

The white gunmen of Katrina
Posted by Abagond

In the days after hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005 we heard stories of lawless black people running loose in the city. What we did not hear was that some of the lawless people running loose in the city were white men with guns who shot on blacks at will, even killing some.

They have never been brought to justice. The mainstream press and particularly the police are strikingly incurious.

Most people who died in the days after Katrina died in the waters. But in the Algiers Point part of New Orleans, which was above the water, most died from being shot.

At least 11 were shot and four killed in Algiers Point in the days after Katrina. A nearby doctor says he handled about nine shooting cases, three ending up dead. In all known cases those shot were black and those shooting, as far as we can tell, were white.

The coroner says more than ten were shot dead, but his records from that period are so incomplete that it is hard even to say which ones took place in Algiers Point.

People remember the body of one black man lying on Opelousas Avenue. On one side of Opelousas is Algiers Point: nice houses where mostly white people live. On the other side is the black ghetto of Algiers.

About 15 to 30 white men of Algiers Point banded together shooting on any black person they found in their neighbourhood who they did not know. They were afraid that blacks would come and break into their houses and take everything.

One black man was shot dead trying to break into Daigle’s Grocery. Another, who lived in Algiers Point itself, was told at gunpoint in front of his house to leave the neighbourhood. Three others were shot when they tried to cross Algiers Point to get to the buses going to Texas.

One of those three, Donnell Herrington, was shot in the neck. Blood coming down from his neck, he saw two white men drive by in a black pickup truck and said, “Help me, help me - I’m shot.” They said: “Get away from this truck, nigger. We’re not gonna help you. We’re liable to kill you ourselves.”

The police were no where to be seen in the week after Katrina hit. They told one guman: “If they’re breaking in your property do what you gotta do and leave them [the bodies] on the side of the road.”

The gunmen were seen as holding the neighborhood together until the army arrived.
Not long afterwards one gunman said, “It was great! It was like pheasant season in South Dakota. If it moved, you shot it.”

One woman said they learned what the n-word meant.
Another woman, whose uncle and two cousins were gunmen, said:

"My uncle was very excited that it was a free-for-all - white against black - that he could participate in. For him, the opportunity to hunt black people was a joy."

How satanic and evil her uncle really is. He obviously view Blacks as being less human than nonblacks. He needs help, seriously.

The police have not looked into any of the killings.

This goes to show how little Black lives worth in the eyes of mainstream American society. When it comes to Blacks, our humanity is denied, in life and in death. That's a travesty and it ought to be brought to light.

Ga. judge jails Muslim woman over head scarf - Yahoo! News

Ga. judge jails Muslim woman over head scarf - Yahoo! News: "ATLANTA – A Muslim woman arrested for refusing to take off her head scarf at a courthouse security checkpoint said Wednesday that she felt her human and civil rights were violated.

A judge ordered Lisa Valentine, 40, to serve 10 days in jail for contempt of court, said police in Douglasville, a city of about 20,000 people on Atlanta's west suburban outskirts.

Valentine violated a court policy that prohibits people from wearing any headgear in court, police said after they arrested her Tuesday.

Valentine, who recently moved to Georgia from Connecticut, said the incident reminded her of stories she'd heard of the civil rights-era South.

'I just felt stripped of my civil, my human rights,' she said Wednesday from her home. She said she was unexpectedly released after the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations urged federal authorities to investigate the incident as well as others in Georgia."

Black women struggle in the criminal justice system

..."Black women are caught in the net," Taifa said. "Black women disproportionately are caught up in the criminal justice system because of these bad crack cocaine laws. They are caught up with what I call the 'girlfriend problem'." Many of these women date or have relationships with these men and they get charged along with them to harsh sentences. Basically, they are the wrong person at the wrong time."


Read the entire article by clicking the link below:
http://www.letstalkhonestly.com/blacknewsblackviews.html

Black women struggle in the criminal justice system

..."Black women are caught in the net," Taifa said. "Black women disproportionately are caught up in the criminal justice system because of these bad crack cocaine laws. They are caught up with what I call the 'girlfriend problem'." Many of these women date or have relationships with these men and they get charged along with them to harsh sentences. Basically, they are the wrong person at the wrong time."

Read the entire article by clicking the link below:
http://www.letstalkhonestly.com/blacknewsblackviews.html

Racism still surrounds interracial marriages by Theodore Corbin

Racism still surrounds interracial marriages
By Theodore Corbin

Luis Mireles '89 makes a legitimate point in his letter ["Gay men deserve dignity and respect," May 5]. I think that tolerance should be shown to people who are not harming anyone else and who are merely living their own lifestyle.
Mireles says we should not forget "that it was not too long ago when interracial marriages were viewed by many people as disgusting and revolting." Such things have not become a thing of the past. Such bigotry is alive and well today, whether the media or we ourselves admit it or not. I know because my paternal grandparents are an interracial couple. Being their grandson, I have for many years been the target of racism from people who try to impose their warped, ignorant, racist ideas relating to interracial families on myself and my family.
The first question that people usually ask me after they find out that I am mulatto (part black) is which of my grandparents is black. There is a vicious double standard in this country which says that it is all right for white men to have relationships with women of color, but it is totally unacceptable for men of color, particularly black men, to have relationships with white women. Since many people believe this lie, they believe also that my grandfather, who is black, has "taken" a white woman to be his wife because "white women are more attractive than black women."
Attitudes such as these overwhelm me with a feeling of complete disgust. And the media in this country is actually hypocritical enough to get mad at black leaders when they try to instill in black people a pride in themselves which they deserve to have. These leaders have said that black women are as beautiful as any other women and black men who chase only white women are not doing the black community any good. These things are perfectly true. Black men who honestly believe that white women are superior looking to black women are, like it or not, perpetuating the vile racist ideas which have wreaked untold suffering on black people in this country for centuries. To call pleas to stop such vile ignorance "racism" is to embrace the status quo, which I can assure you is not one of respect and tolerance, but one of hypocrisy, deception, and closet racism.
I do not mind relationships between black men and Caucasian women, but such a relationship must take place between people who have a mutual respect for one another and who do not believe the twisted, perverse lies that this culture promotes about the nature of such relationships. Intolerance of interracial marriages is not a thing of the past, it is a problem which must be dealt with in the future.

Theodore A. Corbin

In Memorium

In Memory of all young people whose lives were taken before their time.

Brandi Henderson
Nixzmary Brown
Kyle Chandler Smith
Elisa Izquierdo
Valencia Michele Jumper
Shawna Denise Hawk
Betty Jean Baucum
Jennifer Levin
Divina Genao
Caroline Love
Tashanda Bethea
Ginelis Jimenez
Alejandra Vasquez
Laci Peterson
Latoyia Figueroa

Our Brother Ridwan Laher could use a Prayer or Two...From all of us...

Fatima and Ahmed's Son Ridwan Laher: Gonna Take Some Time Out
Four days ago I went to see a doctor about what I thought was just an allergy. Less than an hour later I was in an emergency room with very serious faces telling me I had blood clots on my lungs and I was lucky to be alive.

I dodged a medical bullet and now want to take some time to get healthy.

So I am going to stop writing here and want to thank those who read my posts. I am not sure if I will get back on the blog again but I remain very grateful for the friendships that developed here.

OK, no more confessions ;0)

So you can contact me at laher@iname.com and I will respond promptly.

Thanks again for your friendship and for reading me.

Peace and Onward! toward "One World and One People" like my good friend Dade says.

Ridwan

Mumbai Attack

Mumbai attack: Government 'has no evidence of British involvement'
The Government has "no knowledge" of any British suspects being among the terrorists who attacked Mumbai, the Home Secretary has said.

By Jon Swaine, 28 Nov 2008
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1488655367/bctid3460089001 http://www.brightcove.com/channel.jsp?channel=1139053637

Jacqui Smith said that despite reports to the contrary, she had received no information suggesting two British men had been part of a group of eight militants captured by Indian commandos.

"We will do anything we can to help Indian authorities through what is obviously a very difficult time," Miss Smith said. "We will do what is necessary. At the moment the priority is to support the immediate needs.

Vilasrao Deshmukh, the chief minister of Mumbai, was earlier reported to have said that two British-born Pakistanis were among eight gunmen seized by Indian commandos who stormed buildings to free hostages.

The Foreign Office said it was investigating reports on NDTV, a local television news channel, that the terrorists – who swarmed into luxury hotels and other tourist sites in the city – included "British citizens of Pakistani origin".

Earlier on Friday, Gordon Brown said he "would not want to be drawn into early conclusions" over the claims.

The Prime Minister called for international co-ordination to combat terrorism in the wake of the attacks, which he called "atrocious". He said: "We have got to look at how international action against terrorism can be improved."

"Obviously when you have terrorists operating in one country, they may be getting support from another country or coming from another country, and it is very important that we strengthen the co-operation between India and Britain in dealing with these instances of terrorist attacks," he told Sky News.

The Prime Minister's comments came as Indian commando troops cleared the last terrorists from buildings across Mumbai.

The troops killed at least two militants at the Trident Oberoi hotel, where police found 24 bodies. About 93 guests and staff – including two Britons and another clutching a baby – were rushed out and loaded into waiting cars, buses and ambulances.

JK Dutt, the director general of India's National Security Guard, said the hotel had been brought "under our control".

"We have killed two terrorists today," he said. "There was lots of firing, they also lobbed hand grenades. Some of them are unexploded, we are going to defuse them – you may hear some sound of explosions."

It is thought that more than 100 commandos entered the Taj Mahal hotel – in which a hostage situation was thought to have ended on Thursday – and gunfire and explosions have been heard. Police reported finding at least 30 bodies in one hall of the hotel.

Troops also stormed the Nariman House complex in the south of the city, which houses a Jewish group. A woman and a child were seen leaving the building after the commandos, who arrived in helicopters, abseiled down ropes to secure the building.

Mr Brown, who is to talk to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh later on Friday, said he did not believe there were any further Britons among the hostages.

Read more about the terrible situation in Mumbai, please click here.

More on the situation on Mumbai, please follow the links:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122781446844662087.html?mod=special_page_campaign2008_mostpop

http://www.ajc.com/services/content/printedition/2008/11/29/india.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/3535230/Mumbai-attacks-Taj-Mahal-siege-ends-as-total-death-toll-rises-to-195-Bombay-India.html

Take AIDS fight into black communities

Believe it or not It's been 17 years since Magic Johnson was diagnosed with HIV. He has been fighting for more awareness of thw AIDS?HIV Epidemic in black communities. With World AIDS Day coming up Magic Johnson has written a plea for African American Communities to step up and do more in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Read his plea by clicking the link below:

http://www.letstalkhonestly.com/blacknewsblackviews.html

Carmen - Habanera

What Michelle Obama means to us

Check out this great article by Allison Samuels that appears in this weeks NewsWeek Magazine.

Here is an excerpt...The new First Lady will have the chance to knock down ugly stereotypes about black women and educate the world about American black culture more generally. But perhaps more important—even apart from what her husband can do—Michelle has the power to change the way African-Americans see ourselves, our lives and our possibilities. Read the entire article by clicking the link below:

http://www.letstalkhonestly.com/blacknewsblackviews.html