Posted on 09/01/2005 5:17:32 AM PDT by AbeKrieger
I knew it would happen - just didn't know when.
I'm talking about television news footage of looters played over and over in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Looting occurs whenever law and order breaks down as a result of disasters natural or manmade. But since the advent of television, looting seems to be a black thing. From the Watts riots in the 1960s to today, you can count on pictures of black folk hightailing it away from some store with electronic appliances, jewelry and furniture.
So while reporters from 24-hour TV news channels poured into the area almost as fast as the rising waters, I didn't have long to wait for the looting story to flash on my television screen. And even though it was expected, I found myself a little sad. But mostly mad.
We journalists have a collective knee-jerk reaction in certain situations, disasters especially. We look for people, things, quotes that will convey what we want or need to convey. But overuse of this practice leads to cliche and stereotype.
In Iowa, where tornadoes are a summertime surety, reporters are always looking for someone to say that the barn-flattening winds sounded like a freight train. At my old newspaper, the first reporter to get that quote was treated to a beer after work.
For television reporters, shots of blacks looting are quick, easy and downright expected.
New Orleans is more than a party-time tourist destination. It's a city where two-thirds of the population is black, so I'm not surprised to see black people looting. Many are poor: The median income for whites is a low $31,971; for blacks it's a subterranean $11,332. Truth is, life in the Big Easy has never been that way for many.
My question is, are blacks really the only looters? Or are they the only ones deemed worthy of camera time? Does 30 seconds of tape, rewound and replayed, tell the whole story? If pictures of looters never made it onto the air, would viewers be deprived of crucial information? Do these images advance the story of the plight of people?
Or do they play to stereotype, prejudice and fear?
Yes, stealing for profit and personal gain is wrong. And I hope those who decided to take advantage of a disaster to haul off flat-screen televisions and DVD players find no way to profit from their theft.
But during a devastating disaster like this, good, law-abiding citizens may do things they would never do normally. On TV I saw people carrying what appeared to be groceries, water, and bags of ice. With no water, power, or way out of town, it looked to me that the "looters" were trying to survive rather than upgrade their stereo system.
Before you say "I would never," just remember that's pretty easy to say and believe as we sit in our comfortable, dry, air-conditioned homes with ice, water and food a few steps away. Hunger to us means we haven't eaten in a couple of hours.
Think about it: Water's at your knees, kids are hungry and thirsty. You'd call 911 if you had a phone and if someone would answer. How could I say that if this were my situation, I wouldn't be one of those people heading out of the Wal-Mart with things that could help my family survive?
So don't draw conclusions about the ways of black people from the few moments of "de rigueur" pictures of looters. Black citizens are also among the weary, the rescuers and the rescued, the resilient, the righteous... and the dead.
They just don't get much airtime.
Don't ever try that with a warship from any country...
How silly of you. Even now shops have begun burning. Most of the commercial properties will be burned to the waterline before anyone can come back to the city.
The war's over.
I defended only the taking of food and other necessities of life.
That is not a crime.
Looting is.
No bible references required.
Yeah,the looters were all black but so were all the folks that were in so much trouble that tears came to my eyes.
Is crying over the miserable situation of a black person
racist? Then why would my feelings of anger towards black looters be racist?
God,will this race stuff ever end?
>>Does 30 seconds of tape, rewound and replayed, tell the whole story? <<
Good question. You also might want to ask the cops that "beat" Rodney King the same question.
It's a war where only one side is allowed to shoot. Who do you suppose has the upper hand in such circumstances?
C'mon guys, shoot to kill already!
Looting is not a racial thing.
The criminal looting is also not a poor person's thing, or the recourse of poor left behind by economic circumstances from opportunities to leave. There were poor people that didn't get out as well as the hospitalized, the infirm and some elderly without a support structure. These poor and the others didn't become looters.
No, the looters were the nasty thugs that stay behind in all such events. Probably many had good vehicles and even a chance to go earlier but they didn't want the cost, inconvience or trouble to follow evacuation notices. Instead they chose to stay and see what OPPORTUNITIES arose.
It is terrible that the leftists see all the poor as potential looters, but that is what we now understand is their view. The poor are their mascots and not their constituates and countrymen.
Its the scum that are looting, black, white, whatever -- not the poor -- not the helpless.
Do you think your stored water and canned and preserved foods would be much help to you if you house no longer existed?
"Looting" is a crime, but "salvage" is not. There's a difference between the two well established in the law if not in the popular mind.
Well then there is the other rule that all sailor know, bigger boats always have the right of way.
Oh, I see you finally got a cynical bone in your body! You think now the nice people might burn everything? ;-D
Yesterday A caller on Dennis Prager's talk radio program said that if he was stuck in this diaster that he would let his children starve before he would steal/loot food/water.
I would steal and loot before I let my children starve.
What I would do, though, is start a little family caravan and start walking north, even if our group of nomads only made 10 miles a day.
I would get out of there.
I'm guessing a TV news cameraman who can capture a white looter on tape would be bought a round of beers by his liberal colleagues.
Typical BS from a liberal asshole. If "blacks" are making $11,332, they are getting at least half that in Earned Income Credit. That's a gift from the American taxpayer. Typical Liberal BS.
I Hope and Pray all of your Family is safe and sound.
No, I think that natural gas and lightning strikes will be sufficient to do the job without further help.
I will grant you that; unfortunately there are going to be alot of accidents along those lines - esp., gas lines. (If indeed they use alot of that.)
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