YG&B's Conclusions on the Looting

I have been doing some thinking about the looting and chaos in New Orleans. After consulting with others, I have come to the following conclusions.

The first is that Hurricane Katrina is the first time we have seen a natural disaster of this magnitude hit a densely populated urban area since the San Francisco earthquake of nearly a century ago in 1906. The Great Midwestern Flood of 1993, Hurricanes Camille and Andrew and the Northridge earthquake of 1994 hit places that were less densely populated and/or more economically affluent than New Orleans. And New Orleans for all of its old-time opulence is broke. In 2003, the Orleans parish of New Orleans had a 34% poverty rate. St. Bernard’s parish, also in New Orleans, had a poverty rate of 17%. In Louisiana, almost 30% of people under 18 live in poverty. The devastation of Katrina hit a population in the worst possible condition to deal with it. Even still, one million people evacuated. Those who had transportation, a place to go, or money for a hotel got out of the city. The others, the poor, ill and addicted stayed behind, all 136,000 of them. My first point is that Katrina is a matter of first impression for us. It is inaccurate to compare the reactions of these victims with the reactions of other victims of different disasters.

The second realization came while watching news footage of people making off with items that were obviously not basic necessities. I could not, and I hope the troops with their shoot-to-kill orders will not, find fault with people who are taking food and other necessities from stores. The inventory is all covered by the owners’ insurance policies and it will only rot or rust in the hot wet New Orleans weather. There are other people though, who are taking more clothes than they can carry, jewelry, electronics (in a city without electricity) and other items that even on a dry day can only be considered luxury goods. Then I took another look at the mostly young people dragging their hauls, and I thought to myself, “Wait a second. I know those kids. I’ve seen those kids before!” Of course I didn’t know them personally, but it dawned on me that this was not the first time that many of these youngsters had stolen. Katrina’s aftermath had not brought out the worst in them. The guys that were looting yesterday had been stealing last month, long before the hurricane! Those who hadn’t stolen before probably wanted to steal, but the bounds of civil society and the threat of jail held them back. With the breakdown of civil society, they were able to steal to their heart’s delight. And what optimism: to be able to look past the squalor and hopelessness of the moment and see a day where you will be walking down a bright, dry street in your fine newly-looted clothes after selling six of ten DVD players you stole during Katrina with a big bright smile on your face. Who says the human spirit isn’t indomitable? But all jokes aside, the second point is that black people and poor people are not innately morally bankrupt. Those who would steal have looted. Those would not, have not.

The final conclusion I reached with the help of Daisy Bates (my friend, the original one has passed). How does one explain the people who sniper shot at hospital workers and shot at rescue helicopters? I am willing to go out on a limb and say those people also exist in any population; they are mentally unstable. Immense stress, readily available firearms (the looted gun shops) and the absence of medication lost in the flood combined to make people who were already mentally unstable a danger to themselves and to others. Once again, the point is that black people and poor people are not inherently given to malfeasance. Had there been some organization, some order, some plan, most if not all of the violence could have been avoided.

These conclusions are not meant to excuse criminal behavior. I only wanted to provide some sort of explanation that will jolt the nation and the federal government out of its disgust at the consequences of bad planning and slow reactions and move us along toward seeing this as one of the biggest challenges we are going to have to face as a nation. We have approximately 30,000 citizens without homes, jobs or any real financial support. And oh yes, they’re black. How we react will speak volumes about our values as a nation. What will we do?