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First Hand Accounts From New Orleans On "This American Life"
"This American Life" has interviewed many different people who tried to get out of New Orleans and it's one of the most revealing accounts as to what happened and perhaps why. If you think the problem was just poverty take a listen and its revealing how much race played in the response and how racism was perhaps one of the major reasons for the response.
The first account is a woman who tried to get out and ended up at the Convention Center. She details on how they were not allowed to leave as they were lined up and lied to about busses for several days. The only people who brought them food where groups of young "gangsters" who broke into pharmacies and got water and medicine for the old people and babies while the media and government was talking about shooting these same people for being "looters".
The second account is about tourists who made it to the bridge out but when they got there they were stuck in a large crowd of locals prevented from getting across. The crowd was shot at and essentially told they coudn't get out because they didnt want the dry neighborhood to turn into "another Superdome". The message was essentially that the National Guard didnt want black people to enter a white neighborhood even if that meant that many people would die due to lack of water and food. Eventually racist local police shot at the crowd to push them back but told the white tourists they could get out with their immediate familly; they ended up having to lie to get some of their nonwhite friends out with them.
The third account is a woman describing what it is like to almost starve to death.
The fourth account is from a woman who got out of New Orleans to Baton Rouge describing the racism even among many of those helping with relief (with false rumors of looting and peopele talking about needing weapons to protect themselves from "those" people).
The last account is from a FEMA trailer park in Florida where people are still living after their homes were destroyed by Hurricane Charlie and the treatment of those living there received by FEMA.
The current episode of This American Life is not uploaded yet (as of 12:36PST 9/10) but when it is, it will be at
http://www.thislife.org/pages/descriptions/05/296.html
The second account is about tourists who made it to the bridge out but when they got there they were stuck in a large crowd of locals prevented from getting across. The crowd was shot at and essentially told they coudn't get out because they didnt want the dry neighborhood to turn into "another Superdome". The message was essentially that the National Guard didnt want black people to enter a white neighborhood even if that meant that many people would die due to lack of water and food. Eventually racist local police shot at the crowd to push them back but told the white tourists they could get out with their immediate familly; they ended up having to lie to get some of their nonwhite friends out with them.
The third account is a woman describing what it is like to almost starve to death.
The fourth account is from a woman who got out of New Orleans to Baton Rouge describing the racism even among many of those helping with relief (with false rumors of looting and peopele talking about needing weapons to protect themselves from "those" people).
The last account is from a FEMA trailer park in Florida where people are still living after their homes were destroyed by Hurricane Charlie and the treatment of those living there received by FEMA.
The current episode of This American Life is not uploaded yet (as of 12:36PST 9/10) but when it is, it will be at
http://www.thislife.org/pages/descriptions/05/296.html
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It was quite good.
They brought the two paramedics who had been given threatening overhead shots while trying to cross the bridge out of New Orleans, and then the Sheriff of the suburb of Gretna, on MSNBC. It would be classist to automatically call a police officer over there 'Buford T. Justice' like out of a Burt Reynolds movie, or a Dukes of Hazard sheriff. But that is very much what he resembled. He kept saying that he backed up the decision to not let people cross the bridge 'because they weren't prepared for them', even though the town didn't experience flooding, yet that doesn't explain shooting and screaming at the people trying to walk out of town, then destroying their property and stealing their water.
They brought the two paramedics who had been given threatening overhead shots while trying to cross the bridge out of New Orleans, and then the Sheriff of the suburb of Gretna, on MSNBC. It would be classist to automatically call a police officer over there 'Buford T. Justice' like out of a Burt Reynolds movie, or a Dukes of Hazard sheriff. But that is very much what he resembled. He kept saying that he backed up the decision to not let people cross the bridge 'because they weren't prepared for them', even though the town didn't experience flooding, yet that doesn't explain shooting and screaming at the people trying to walk out of town, then destroying their property and stealing their water.
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