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September 28, 2005
Looks Like Black People Don't Rape Babies at First Opportunity
Remember all the reports of how babies were being raped in the Dome and the Convention center, and how some conservative commentators were arguing that the "The swiftness of New Orleans' descent from chaos into barbarism" was an indicator in favor of a Hobbesian view of human nature -war of all against all?
Well, guess what? Turns out black people don't turn around and murder each other and rape babies as soon as the po-lice disappear.
Reports of Anarchy at the Superdome OverstatedAs floodwaters forced tens of thousands of evacuees into the Dome and Convention Center, news of unspeakable acts poured out of the nation's media: People firing at helicopters trying to save them; women, children and even babies raped with abandon; people murdered for food and water; a 7-year-old raped and killed at the Convention Center.
Police, according to their chief, Eddie Compass, found themselves in multiple shootouts inside both shelters, and were forced to race toward muzzle flashes through the dark to disarm the criminals; snipers fired at doctors and soldiers from downtown high-rises.
In interviews with Oprah Winfrey, Compass reported rapes of "babies," and Mayor Ray Nagin spoke of "hundreds of armed gang members killing and raping people" inside the Dome. Other unidentified evacuees told of children stepping over so many bodies "we couldn't count."
The picture that emerged was one of the impoverished, overwhelmingly African-American masses of flood victims resorting to utter depravity, randomly attacking each other, as well as the police trying to protect them and the rescue workers trying to save them. The mayor told Winfrey the crowd has descended to an "almost animalistic state."
Four weeks after the storm, few of the widely reported atrocities have been backed with evidence. The piles of murdered bodies never materialized, and soldiers, police officers and rescue personnel on the front lines assert that, while anarchy reigned at times and people suffered indignities, most of the worst crimes reported at the time never happened.
In fact, history is clear on this point. The aftermath of most natural disasters is similar: incredible acts generosity, cooperation and selflessness, punctuated by rarer ugly acts of opportunity and cruelty. And yes, if help does not arrive, things do become more chaotic with time.
I'm not arguing that nothing happened. In fact there was one confirmed murder at the Dome. Maybe a few more will surface with time. And yes, rape is very much underreported so I am sure there were some rapes, as there always are where there are men. But raping babies? In the middle of tens of thousands of people, succeeding in pulling children from their parents and raping them? Please.
Only about black people could we believe such outrageous claims. And as a demonstration of how much they are part of this culture, many black leaders and black victims of Katrina echoed these sentiments.
I would think the Black Congressional Caucus would do much better if they stopped worrying whether referring to people taking refuge from Hurricane Katrina as refugees signified that black people were not seen as part of this country, but rather started worrying about how much black America is part of this country, even internalizing the racism that permeates our culture.
Posted by zeynep at September 28, 2005 12:08 AM
Comments
racism - it's the new black, you know...
http://www.stevegilliard.blogspot.com/2005/09/playing-race-card.html
Posted by: dexter at September 28, 2005 06:21 PM
Of course, the legends of (sexualized) Black violence, though false, fit neatly with racist expectations:
"The only thing we see about these people on the news is what happened in the Superdome," said Philip Devall, 42, a white resident of Greensburg, at a recent meeting of the parish government. "They're rapists and thugs and murderers. I'm telling you, half of them have criminal records. I've worked all my life to have what I have. I can't lose it, and I can't stand guard 24 hours a day."
The full story at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/28/national/nationalspecial/28race.html
Posted by: John Burke at September 29, 2005 07:37 PM
all niggers do is eat, poop, rape babies, and breath my air
Posted by: KKK at October 30, 2005 08:40 PM
Breath your air, jackass? Is that how you feel? How about you stay away from us niggers and our air that we stole from you, because obviously it's limiting you ability to spell. It's BREATHE, you dumb fuck.
Posted by: Lilli at March 15, 2006 02:07 AM