Nothing was as salient during the katrina debacle as the continued presence of racism in this country. White people in america like to think, and frequently to loudly proclaim, that racism in america is a thing of the past. Nothing in recent memory put the lie to this like the response to hurricane katrina. And the hits keep comin'.
A grand jury will not return an indictment against anyone in a police blockade that kept hundreds of evacuees from crossing a Mississippi River bridge on foot after Hurricane Katrina flooded New Orleans, authorities said Wednesday.
Several hundred people claimed police from suburban Gretna blocked them as they tried to flee New Orleans on Sept. 1, three days after the storm hit.
Many of the evacuees, who had been stranded at the New Orleans convention center without food and water, said they were told to cross the bridge to be evacuated from the city, only to be forced to turn around upon reaching the other side.
Is it bad enough that these unfortunate people were menaced by police when they were at their most vulnerable? When they were in most need of help?
Yes. But it is even worse that there will be no justice for it. Par for the course in america. No justice for wrongs committed by police.
They must have had a good reason for it right? Was it really all that bad?
Police later said they blocked the evacuees because there were no supplies or services for them on the other side of the river. Gretna Police Chief Arthur Lawson also acknowledged that his officers fired shots into the air during the blockade in an attempt to quell what he described as unrest among the evacuees.
Can you imagine fleeing a natural disaster, trying to take care of your family, trying to find food, water, and shelter? And having warning shots fired by police to keep you out of 'their neighborhood'?
Man, that's fucked.
also at disastrophe!