|
 New
Orleans Didn’t Just Go Nuts
It’s Been Nuts...
[by Mac Johnson] 9/7/05
Where to
even begin in being one more idiot talking about Hurricane
Katrina? I hate the subject. It should be a news item and a
humanitarian cause --a huge recovery and reconstruction effort
joined in by all. It should not a political issue fit for “commentary.”
But the Hurricane
tore at more than just the weaknesses in New Orleans’ inadequate
levees. The shortcomings of the levee system were known to
all who ever lived on the Gulf Coast, and in the end, all the
levees really did was encourage expanded development in a huge
geologic bowl sitting between a large lake, North America’s
mightiest river, and the immense green waters of the Gulf of
Mexico. The whole booby-trap was simply yet another triumph
of government subsidized and directed development. And its
failure was long anticipated.
What was
not anticipated was the way the Hurricane tore at our human
divisions.
Contributor
Mac
Johnson
Mac
Johnson is a freelance writer and biologist in Cambridge,
Mass. Mr. Johnson holds a Doctorate in Molecular and
Cellular Biology from Baylor College of Medicine. He
is a frequent opinion contributor to Human
Events Online. His website can be found at macjohnson.com [go
to Johnson index] |
First out
of the gate were the Holy Men of the Cult of Global Warming,
who couldn’t wait for the first
dead to wash up before they declared the Hurricane irrefutable
proof of Global
Warming and a direct responsibility of George W. Bush.
Next up were the racial ambulance chasers, always
looking for another grievous injury to add to their political
caseload. Looking
at the Sea of Black faces abandoned without transportation, food,
water or protection, they somehow managed to look past the City’s
Black Mayor, Black Police Chief, Black City Council members and
all the other Black office holders that run the 67% Black city,
and found that the whole thing was: white folks’ fault.
Yet another example of racism at its worst.
This opened up a torrent of Bush-bashing, since
he was the closest Republican that had any responsibility for
the City. The Democratic
Governor of Louisiana -- though white -- was merely a victim
of the whole thing it seems, just like the Mayor of New Orleans.
Nobody has any power in this world other than George Bush. Nobody
has any responsibility. George Bush is now the navel of the world
for his enemies. If a butterfly flaps its wings in Central Park,
it’s George Bush’s fault. And the butterfly is racist.
And it was blown there by Global Warming.
And at some point during the disaster, the most
disturbing of all the infighting began. The thugs of New Orleans
turned on
their neighbors like a Mongol horde. Looting erupted, as did
arson and robberies, shootings and beatings. Rape became an organized
crime as gangs preyed on the defenseless stranded girls of New
Orleans. Pharmacies were looted and hospitals were surrounded
and invaded in a manic hunt for drugs. New Orleans Mayor Ray
Nagin couldn’t stop such junkie armies from destroying
much of what was left of the City’s medical infrastructure,
but he could excuse them, explaining that it was all just people “looking
for something to take the edge off their jones, if you will.” Actually,
no, I won’t. (The mayor added a few minutes later in the
same interview: “You know, I'm not one of those drug addicts.
I am thinking very clearly.” And nobody said different,
Mayor.)
Barbarians with an edgy jones shot a cop in the head, shot a
national guardsman, halted life-saving evacuations by firing
on helicopters and humvees. Police had to mow down a gang of
six shooting at contractors who came to repair the levee
breaches.
A group of white civilians that came into the city in private
boats to save as many refugees as they could -- giving lie to
the racism howls of the media -- gave up and turned back because
people began shooting at them, trying to take their boats.
Soldiers who should be concentrating on rescue operations are
carrying full battle gear through the streets of an American
City, opening doors with rifles at the ready. Overnight, it seems,
The Big Easy had become Thunderdome, and Mad Max was nowhere
to be found. In the middle of the worst American natural disaster
in over a century, gang warfare, anti-authority psychosis and
individual malevolence finished off the hope of tens of thousands
that had survived the flood. It did more to demoralize the nation
than the storm had done.
What happened?
The storm may have triggered the violence, but
it did not cause it. What we saw in New Orleans was what happens
in America’s
most murderous city when the criminals realize that all the cops
have left.
It wasn’t desperation, or insanity, or
protest. It was New Orleans, without police.
Many people believe that Washington, D.C., is
the “murder
capital of America.” And indeed it often is, but that is
only because such rankings are limited to “major cities” –those
with a population of 500,000 or more, and New Orleans has (or
had) a population of 485,000. Were it not for this actuarial
accident, Washington, D.C.. wouldn’t even have a shot at
the murder title. The per capita murder rate in New Orleans is
16% higher than in “Murder Capital” Washington, D.C.;
and nearly 10 times the national average. To have a murder rate
equal to that of New York City, New Orleans would need to reduce
its murders by 86%. No, that’s not a typo.
At a time when crime is plummeting in most of
America, it has been steadily increasing in New Orleans. And
one cause is simple:
The New Orleans City Government has run its law enforcement apparatus
into the ground. On a per capita basis, New Orleans has less
than half as many cops as Washington, D.C.: just 3.1 police officers
per 1,000 citizens. Turnover has become a huge issue, as young
cops leave at the first opportunity. A report
conducted for the
city two years ago said that New Orleans was “bleeding
police officers.”
The strain shows. Fewer than one in four murder
cases in New Orleans results in a conviction. 42% of violent
offenders have
their charges dropped by prosecutors because the cases are “not
suitable for court.” Many in New Orleans will not now testify
against the thugs that they know -- more likely than not -- are
going to be released Scot-free. People don’t even bother
calling the police in New Orleans anymore. In 2004, academic
Researchers conducted an experiment in which they had police
fire 700 blank rounds into the air, in a single afternoon, in
one neighborhood. No one -- not one person -- called to report
the gunfire. It was background noise.
The report on police levels mentioned above stated that New
Orleans needs 2,000 cops just to maintain order in normal times.
When Katrina struck, the city had only 1,700. No more than 1,500
are on duty now, after dislocation, desertions, resignations,
and two suicides.
There is
no wonder the place went chaotic. There should be no mystery.
It is barely under control on a good day.
Why are the
cops leaving? They are utterly demoralized. They
face low pay to fight a losing war against crime in a city
that will not commit resources to the battle. “We have to use
our own shotguns," one patrolman was quoted in the New
York Times. "This isn't theirs; this is my personal gun."
They are demoralized because they have to bear
the reputation of working in what is widely acknowledged as
the most corrupt
police department in the country. More than fifty NOPD officers
were sent to prison in the 1990’s, two of them to death
row.
They are demoralized because they have to live
in New Orleans, due to a strict residency requirement for police.
And unless
you are wealthy enough to live in the perpetual party of the
Vieux Carre, New Orleans is not a nice place to live -- especially
for those with children. 84% of officers with children reported
sending them to private or parochial schools, at their own expense.
That’s quite an endorsement of Mayor Nagin’s schools.
So they leave, and are not replaced. It is not
just “white
flight” either, for those that want to see the world through
racial lenses. Most of those leaving are black officers.
All this is not to say that New Orleans has had
no plan to reduce its high crime statistics. For a while, one
police district tried
lying about the statistics. It meant letting some violent thugs
go (and with an edge on their joneses, I’m told), but it
was cheaper than fighting real crime; and it kept the tourists
coming.
Asked if such lying meant that perhaps the NOPD
should have its stats audited by an outside agency, Police
Chief Eddie Compass
stated, “I don't need an outside agency coming in. I think
we have proven that we are capable of taking care of our own
house.”
This is the same Chief that now screams on camera for outside
agencies to just take over. As soon as order is restored, you
can bet the New Orleans City Government will rediscover its need
for independence -- and privacy.
The overnight crisis we saw in New Orleans this week has been
a long time coming. It was just the bursting of a purulent boil
that has been festering for years.
Undoubtedly, that is Bush’s fault as well. Perhaps his
Global Warming has been putting an edge on criminal’s joneses,
unbeknownst to the City Government. tOR
copyright
2005 Mac Johnson
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