Mississippi's still burning

On the heels of some delayed justice for the victims on the Danziger Bridge, my celebratory feeling, however, is overshadowed by the release of this video of yet another white man - in a pick-up truck:



Post-racial America - what a damned joke!

Shoulda, woulda, coulda ...

**UPDATE** - I didn't watch it in real-time (just couldn't stomach it) but, you can go here for the video:  President Obama: 'We will make BP pay':

"He presented himself Tuesday night as presidential, conveying empathy for the economic hardship facing fishermen and hoteliers on the Gulf Coast and taking the approach of a chief executive by getting tough on BP while making sure the company remains on the hook to pay for the spill." (emphasis mine)

Just had to pull this out of the piece.  White folk - too funny and predictable! (See last graph below)

~#~

I've really been trying not to write jack about the Changeling, but when I read this the other day:  Obama to POLITICO: Some in Congress hypocritical on spill , I just had to shake my damned head - in print  - for a minute.

This "Nero" - after first, veritably "fiddling" while the oil spewed - is now doubling down on visits and media appearances using the spectre of Shrub's, Katrina "fly-over" to make himself look all involved and caring, mainly because he and his, knew full well how perfectly that'd play with the "faithful."  Just peruse the blogosphere and you'll see what I mean.  I know you've heard them:

"Look at how many times he's been down here!"
(You mean, since the handlers told him, "You better get the hell out in front of this thing!?)
Well, at least he's been down here a lot - not like Black-people-hatin'-George Bush!"
(I guess a Black-people-hoodwinkin'-Obama is way better, but I digress.)

As evidenced by this now, old-as-Methusaleh, disingenuous, finger-pointing, adolescent bluster - looks like he needs to brush-up on his hoodwinkin' skills:

“I think it’s fair to say, if six months ago, before this spill had happened, I had gone up to Congress and I had said we need to crack down a lot harder on oil companies and we need to spend more money on technology to respond in case of a catastrophic spill, there are folks up there, who will not be named, who would have said this is classic, big- government overregulation and wasteful spending.” (emphasis mine)

What?  Is he, 12??"  

I think it's fair to say - he SHOULDA "gone up to Congress" - regardless of what WOULDA been said.  He COULDA marched right on over there in his Big Boy pants and said exactly that six months ago - IF, that was indeed, his stand.  Me?  I didn't think it ever was.  Especially with all the masters to whom he has to answer (neither the commoners in NOLA, nor the country, for that matter - are among them).  How could I? The real question is, how could anyone - after this?

"Folks up there, who will not be named???"  Please - grow the hell up!

Fate, God, the gods/goddesses, Mother Earth -  whoever -  has a funny and timely way of jacking people the hell up right?  Not only did this rig blow up 20 days later, it turns out his handlers had him up there strutting around on March 31, naked as a jaybird according to this - Obama overlooked key points in giving OK to offshore drilling!  And th-e-en, THIS hoodwinkin' nonsense happened:  Feds Approve New Gulf Oil Well Off Louisiana. 

Man! He's looking more and more like this guy every day - bend him like you want him! {smdh}

As to accusations that he is not showing enough passion in fighting the oil spill, the president blamed the media.

“You know, what I think I get frustrated with sometimes, as do, I suspect, other members of my team, is that the media specifically is demanding things that the public aren’t demanding,” the president said.  (emphasis mine)  

So-o-o-o, you do this?



"Like you don't KNOW whose ass to kick!" (she said, suckin' her teeth.)

And now we've got to listen to HIS ass tonight, yet again - but from the Oval Office this time.  I heard on NPR today, he'd seem more "presidential" if he spoke to the American people during this time of tragedy from there, rather than on morning shows or on the ground.  White folk sure tickle me with all their faux, copied from England, pomp-and-circumstance.  The emperor has no clothes folks.  Does it matter from where we see his behind?

White privilege strikes yet again...in New Orleans

In June 2006, then 16 year-old, Colorado High School jazz saxophonist, Daniel Weidlein, (Wait!  Let me say that again - 16 years old!!)  placed fourth in a National History Day contest for creating the following short, documentary film detailing the making of  Billie Holiday's, "Strange Fruit" - and the horrific acts of racism upon which it was based.  I needed to begin this post with it, to help organize my thoughts because...

...while the young, should-be-about-20-now, Mr. Weidlein apparently GETS the song's "full-scale musical protest against racism," ending his film with the words:

"Even in today's American culture, "Strange Fruit" is relevant to our struggle for racial equality.  Although lynchings are almost unheard of, we have not eliminated racism.  It is important that we recognize the work of Abel Meeropol and Billie Holiday as an integral part of our American past.  And it is equally important, that we carry their music and its ideas with us now, and into our future..." (emphasis his)

...the all-white staff of OffBeat - the self-described magazine of "Louisiana music and culture" - CLEARLY do not.

When I sat down at the laptop Saturday morning to see what was going on, I came across this Jordan Flaherty piece over at The Huffington Post:  Lynching Reference on Cover of New Orleans Music Magazine Brings Anger and Outrage. 

I looked at the smiling faces of white, young men hanging from monkey bars (Jungle-gym if you prefer.  Either way, not good - given it's implications) with the title, "Strange Fruit" emblazoned across their bodies, followed by a sub-title proclaiming, "MyNameIsJohnMichael is waiting to get picked" and my first response was a visceral, "These stupid-ass white people  have lost their damned minds!" (That I'd stayed up late Friday night watching the History Channel's -  "The Ku Klux Klan: A Secret History" - certainly didn't help.) 

I was at once, disgusted and insulted, that they'd actually thought their little co-option was cute - and in Louisiana no less!  Then I read the short piece which included the standard, laundry list of bullshit, half-assed mea culpas I've come to expect from privileged white folk, when they freely exercise their racism (cuz they can), but never really own it when somebody calls them on it.

I just had to post it - along with two other equally, follow-the-pattern comments which even further belie the "getting-it sincerity" of the "apology."  Kindly indulge my interposed comments on the age-old pattern (trust me, the pattern never changes).

First, came the standard-knee-jerk, even-toned, not-owning-a-damned-thing bullshit apology:

We've heard from many of you about our cover text for the March issue, and if we had the chance to do it again, we'd go in a different direction. In retrospect, it was ill-chosen and we apologize to those who are offended by it...We didn't realize the phrase "strange fruit" has the same power in 2010 that it did when lynching was a more contemporary threat...

We profoundly regret our thoughtlessness and insensitivity, but we believe our history of coverage demonstrates our concern for race-related issues and we are saddened by those who would extrapolate this to speak to our character. The context of the cover text next to an indie rock band suggests that we're not using the phrase in a threatening way, and we believe our mission covering music borne out of slavery suggests that we don't take the issues connected with it--including hate crimes--lightly. We believed that in 2010, the phrase "strange fruit" could be used without automatically evoking the Billie Holiday song and its subject matter. This was an error in judgment for which we apologize. (emphasis mine)

Jesus!  Don't talk about you would have gone in another direction - if you had the chance!  It's your damned magazine!  You always had the chance!  But your obviously, deeply embedded, white privilege allowed you to - brazenly and/or stupidly - run that cover.  Hell, you laud yourselves as a magazine about "Louisiana music and culture" when it's obvious, you know absolutely nothing about either - except how to make money off of them, of course.  The White Supremacist Capitalist Patriarchy (WSCP) always knows about that.

"In retrospect...we apologize to those who were offended by it?"   So you admit, the thought never crossed your damn minds.  It was an after-thought.  Must be nice.  "Those?"  Hell,  YOU should have been damn offended (talkin' 'bout "those").  You didn't "realize" THAT title still had the same power - because it's 2010!?  Really??  You either bought that "post-racial" bullshit -which is ludicrous on its face given what 's going on in that city (Do you even read the local newspaper?), OR - it didn't matter to you in the first place.   

The "privilege" pattern next requires an additional, what's-supposed-to-look-like-an-apology-but-isn't redux, featuring a big - "BUT," - look what we've done for you!  Followed of course, by an expression of "hurt feelings," then - justification sprinkled with a little history lesson.  But it obviously never occurred to any of you, just how absolutely ignorant of our history and culture you really sound.  Screw context!  Your cover "suggests" exactly the opposite of what you purport, your "mission" to be.  Your, "We believed that in 2010, the phrase "strange fruit" could be used without automatically evoking the Billie Holiday song and its subject matter" shows it.

Moving right along in the pattern, we come to the, getting-a-little-warm marginalization stage - "Okay,  we apologized already.  Damn!  Stop takin' shit so personal!"

And true to form, here's another comment from one of their contributors:

Michael Patrick Welch, a white writer who has contributed to OffBeat and also performs music under the name White Bitch, responded to one local blog that critics are "overreacting," saying "It was a poor choice of song title, but they're just sloppily referring to 'famous jazz song' not 'black lynching.' Come on."

Just a "poor" choice, y'all. Come on!

Finally, privilege has enough of people questioning their right to ah - privilege, and gets full-blown pissed off, yelling, "Get over it dammit!" - as did Offbeat publisher and editor, Jan Ramsey here:

Being accused of being racist is blowing this faux pas so out of proportion, it's ridiculous. I resent OffBeat being labeled as racist by anyone. It's obvious to me that you're getting a big kick out of keeping this bullshit going. Ah, the venality of our public. For 23 years, I've busted my butt trying to create something positive about local music in OffBeat...dismissing what we've done with a quickie label of racism is taking a lot for granted and is just plain stupid when you consider 23 years of work...Our "black eye" (oops, was that racist?) is certainly generating more traffic for your blog, now isn't it? Why don't you let us apologize and get on with your blog?

Jan, Jan, Jan - like my Grandmama used to say - "You can get glad, in the same clothes you got mad in" on this one. Especially since you had the nerve to say you've "busted your butt for 23 years trying to "CREATE" something positive about local music." Now there's some obvious and never-ending white privilege for ya!  Demonize other peoples' shit, then co-opt it.  You DO realize, that, "local music" was there lo-o-o-ong before you came on the scene now don't you?  Doesn't seem like it.  Here's a newsflash - All you "created" was an opportunity for you and yours - on the backs of others not similarly situated.

Here's what you DID do Jan:  You took something that meant more than you'll ever know or understand (not that I think you care about that), belittled it by twisting its meaning and then put it out there as your own - for your benefit (and of course, for the benefit of those six, smiling, white male faces).  Because you could.  Because you didn't care.

I'm tired, so let me just say this Jan - NOBODY believes your self-aggrandizing, privileged bullshit m'kay?  And please, stop frontin' like you know so much about our history and our culture.  It's obvious - you don't know jack.  If you did, that cover would've never run in New Orleans of all places.

Can I give you some advice Jan?  Look up young, Mr. Weidlein.  He obviously made way better use of his short, 16 years on this topic, than you did during your 23-yearlong, "creating" stretch.

At last - VINDICATION! - Danziger 7's finally going to jail

When I volunteered in New Orleans with Habitat for Humanity in 2006, I got to sit and talk with a lot of Black New Orleanians who said the shooting on the Danziger Bridge had nothing to do with self-defense.  Their take?  The crooked NOPD was "protecting" the people on the predominantly white, other side of the bridge, scared that the poor and predominantly Black folk were coming to take their shit.

I saved this excellent Matt Taibbi piece among the many I continue to save regarding NOLA, because it was real-time descriptive.  And as I re-read my links for this post, I realized he'd referenced, what I think, was the shooting on the Danziger Bridge:

The very moment we'd arrived, news chimed in over the police radios that cops had shot and killed five looters at a bridge somewhere outside town. The news was met with a high cheer ("That's right, motherfuckers!" was one cry), and the whole crowd was buzzed, like a bar after midnight.

Of course, back then - and until today, everybody and their Mama kept saying they were wrong.  Then, lo and behold!  We hear this:  Former police officer pleads guilty to Danziger Bridge shooting cover-up of stunning breadth.

My Grandmama always said, "Whatever you do in the dark, WILL come to light."  I can't tell you how many times that one little sentence has kept me going.  Today is certainly one of them (She ALSO said, "A guilty conscience needs no accusin'" - but I'm still a little shaky on that one always coming true - despite today's developments.)

Here are a few interesting post-Katrina videos regarding the Danziger Bridge shootings:

Posted January 1, 2007:



This video posted January 3, 2007:



CNN's Sean Callebs exclaimed in the intro:

"But the WAY they turned themselves in really speaks volumes about the way the case is playing out here in New Orleans." (emphasis his)

"As the seven people made their way to the sheriff's office, they were greeted by cheers, applause and chants of NOPD."

It sure does speak volumes, Sean - but not in the way you implied.  The December 5th video below provides a decidedly non-white and rather clear-eyed view of what all that cheering was really about.  And wonder of wonders!  It, and the truths it contains, were out there at least a month before your - "report."  Truth be told, those "truths" were out there much longer - but nobody listened.  Guess it never occurred to you there was a REASON you couldn't get a comment from an NOPD officer huh, Sean?  But I gotta give it to you, Officer Billy Mims (from that other uh-uh unit) spouting the Blue Line meme was a pretty good foil though.

Oh!  And that statement from attorney, Frank DeSalvo about publicity pimp extraordinaire, the Right Rev. Al Sharpton?

"Four of the officers were Black, Rev. Sharpton either can't count or he can't see."

I'll just repeat what I said in my last post on Tiger Woods - "White Americans, and those,"I've-arrived-cuz-I-think-like-them" others - REALLY need to get a grip.  Just because you're Black doesn't mean you do not participate in the White Supremacist Capitalist Patriarchy (DeSalvo, listen to some bell hooks why don't you??).  The reverend, also a card-carrying member, was dead-right on this one.  I just think he let go of it because he felt he couldn't get enough media play with that little "four-Black-officers-wrinkle" - not without exposing his WSCP membership, that is.

Posted December 5, 2007



This piece by Laura Maggi of The Times-Picayune ran on August 13, 2008:  Charges rejected against Danziger 7.  The last paragraph is particularly interesting given todays developments:

Madison said U.S. Attorney Jim Letten has said his office doesn't want to take up the case. Letten on Wednesday said his staff continues to monitor the case, along with the Justice Department's civil rights division, but had declined to step into a matter being handled by the Orleans Parish district attorney's office. (emphasis mine)

ProPublica has had an ongoing and exhaustive series of investigative reports about police misconduct in New Orleans post-Katrina.  To get an understanding of why the Feds were finally forced to investigate, please peruse - "Law & Disorder" After Katrina, New Orleans Police Shot Frequently and Asked Few Questions, paying particular attention to the case in the news today - Case Six:  Danziger Bridge.

And sorry Obots, no props to the Changeling or Holder on this one.  However if it turns out they deserve the props, you can bet - in the interest of honesty and fair play - I will give it.  But according to this August 11, 2009 piece - FBI Investigates New Orleans Police For Katrina Killings - the FBI investigation began before they even took their seats: 

Last September, federal officials announced plans to investigate the officers involved in the Sept. 4, 2005, shootings on the Danziger Bridge that killed two men and injured four. A state court judge has thrown out murder and attempted murder charges against seven current and former officers, but the FBI is investigating if civil rights were violated.  (emphasis mine)

If my calculations are correct, that'd put the opening of the investigation somewhere around September of 2008.

Now what I will say is - there is a possibility that the "fear" of what a society-identified Black, Obama Administration might do (or find) could have hastened the FBI's decision.  But so what?  Until you give me some concrete, Holder-fingerprinted evidence that it was he, who actually caused this investigation to go forth - keep holding your beath.

Instead, I prefer to attribute today's developments to what REAL journalism can do. Hat's off - and my own lowly Pulitzer Prize nomination for Investigative Reporting (if I had one) goes to:

The New Orleans Times-Picayune reporters, Laura Maggi and Brendan McCarthy along with their City Editor, Gordon Russell along with ProPublica , reporter A.C. Thompson and Frontline Producer, Tom Jennings.

Sean Callebs and CNN are you paying attention?

WHO DAT!!!!!!! - THE NFL **CAN'T** OWN THIS!!!!

CONGRATUALTIONS, CLIFF - AND ALL A YA'LLl!!!

(Allow me a little schadenfreude here, Cliff - I told you so!!)

How 'bout dem Saints!!!!

I was ready to write, "Who in the hell punts on 4th and 1 in the first damn quarter of a championship game, UNTIL - the interception.  I am so damn happy and proud of those Saints!  They were able to bring euphoria back to a place that has seen so much pain and suffering.  Perseverance is something else - for the team AND the city.

I'm not even looking past today - I just want to savor this championship win for that team, that city - right now!  Laissez les bon temps rouler!

CONGRATULATIONS CLIFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  (I told you!)

Ruminations...on awards, a premature announcement and justice still denied

Just a few thoughts to purge...



- Okay, after watching the AMAs - I'm officially old.  But, indulge my old behind - I've been a fan of Whitney's music since she came on the scene and for me, this performance was just right.  Just enough clothes, just enough class, just enough emotion - just right.  Forget all the Diane-Opie-and-whoever else tell-all interviews meant to - according to the MSM - "engineer" a comeback.  In quintessential Whitney-style, she powerfully owned her shit - in song.  And what a song it was!  (And no, I do not know, nor do I care, who the "Carol" was that she acknowledged in her comments to her daughter).

- Since Oprah's been "off the air" for me a long time ago given her near 20-year "sell-out" performance for the King conglomerate, I could care less that she's closing down her show.  But can somebody please tell me why, she had to announce THIS YEAR, that she'd be gone in 2011??!!  Please Lawd get over yourself!!!  Maybe she's just putting her order in for one of those ambassadorships the Changeling's doling out in exchange for all the dollar bills that bought him the presidency. 



- In the conclusion of his January 30, 2008 ruling regarding the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Judge Stanwood R. Duval Jr. advised how the law of the land had "tied his hands:"

"While the United States government is immune for legal liability for the defalcations alleged herein, it is not free, nor should it be, from posterity’s judgment concerning its failure to accomplish what was its task. The citizens of each and every city in this great nation have come to depend on their government and its agencies to perform certain tasks which have been assigned to federal agencies by laws passed by Congress and overseen by the Executive Branch.  It should not be unreasonable for those citizens to rely on their agents, whom they pay through their taxes, to perform the tasks assigned in a timely and competent way. However, because of §702c, there is neither incentive, nor punishment to insure that our own government performs these tasks correctly. There is no provision in the law which allows this Court to avoid the immunity provided by § 702c; gross incompetence receives the same treatment as simple mistake."

That February following the ruling, I wrote "No Way Out" for NOLA means No Way Out for Us to express the shame and disgust I felt for a government and a country whose hearts and minds were closed to their own. And later in April, shame and disgust turned to rage as I wrote, Paper rain, Paper rain...St. Bernard and 9th Ward STILL "Bastards of the Party"  because 1) it was discovered that USACE, adding insult to injury, had stuffed newspaper in some of the expansion joints as an "expedient repair" for water seepage the year after the levees broke and 2) no doubt believing they were litigation-proof, USACE openly admitted their negligence.

But apparently, Judge Duval has figured out a way to untie his hands by focusing his new ruling on the navigation channel upon which much of the rest of the country depends whether they know it or not - the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet (MR-GO).  He said:

"Clearly, when there is not a mandate, if the decisions at issue are based on policy, the discretionary function exception generally applies. It is the Court’s opinion that the negligence of the Corps, in this instance by failing to maintain the MRGO properly, was not policy, but insouciance, myopia and shortsightedness. For over forty years, the Corps was aware that the Reach II levee protecting Chalmette and the Lower Ninth Ward was going to be compromised by the continued deterioration of the MRGO, as has been exhaustively discussed in this opinion.  The Corps had an opportunity to take a myriad of actions to alleviate this deterioration or rehabilitate this deterioration and failed to do so. Clearly the expression “talk is cheap” applies here. In the event the gross negligence of the Corps in maintaining the MRGO would be regarded as policy, then the discretionary function exception would swallow the Federal Torts Claim Act leaving it an emasculated statute applying to automobile accidents where government employees are involved or medical malpractice where a government physician is involved. This was clearly not the intent of Congress... Safety concerns are not a talisman in deciding whether to apply the discretionary function exception, but certainly are a very significant consideration. Here, there was no balancing or weighing of countervailing considerations. The failure to maintain the MRGO properly compromised the Reach 2 Levee and created a substantial risk of catastrophic loss of human life and private property due to this malfeasance. Nothing the Corps has introduced into evidence tips the balance in its favor."

Props and much respect to Judge Duval for seeing the wrongness of the thing and staying the course.  But here's where the rubber should meet the road for supporters of the Changeling in general, and those in New Orleans in particular because according to this, Corps' operation of MR-GO doomed homes in St. Bernard, Lower 9th Ward, judge rules, Obama & Co. do not intend to cry uncle any time soon:

Indeed, the Justice Department is expected to appeal the decision to the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, and then to the U.S. Supreme Court, if necessary..."Until such time as the litigation is completed, including the appellate process up to and through the U.S. Supreme Court, no activity is expected to be taken on any of these claims," corps spokesman Ken Holder said.

Please re-read that quote from Ken Holder (no apparent relation to Atty. General Eric Holder, but we'd have to check with Skip Gates on that one).  I could be wrong, but it sounds like "when hell freezes over" to me.  And if that turns out to be the case, I wonder will the response, particularly from his skinfolk - continue to be, "Just give him some more time, you know those white folks don't want him to give us all that money!"  ::Big Sigh::

And finally, in what should be a no-brainer - but apparently isn't - Harry Shearer gives an interesting entrée into just how long doing the right thing for New Orleans will take.  In his, Why Obama Needs to Weigh In With the Corps of Engineers, he writes about the battle brewing between the State and USACE regarding replenishing the wetlands with sediment dredged from MR-GO.  He closes with his usually succint, no-brainer thinking I've come to love:

"Of course, the Corps' Commander in Chief, a gentleman by the name of Obama, could cut short this process, order the Corps to request the money from Congress (if, indeed, the Corps is correct that helping restore the wetlands would cost more than filling a hole at the bottom of the Gulf), and help preserve New Orleans' main buffer against more severe hurricanes (since hurricanes lose force over land). The question is: will he?"

We shall see.

How 'bout dem 7 - 0 Saints!!!

Cliff - Congrats Man!  This one's for you!!!

"Sticktuitiveness"  - definitely the Spirit of all New Orleans!!!

Upcoming Cheney interiew - more racial symbolism over substance

I saw a clip of Wolf Blitzer's upcoming interview with former Vice President Dick Cheney to air Sunday at 11 a.m. In it, Mr. Cheney spoke about how much we've progressed racially since he came to Washington in the 60s.

He said, "When I came to Washington, we'd had Kennedy assassinated, Martin Luther King assassinated and riots in the streets. Things have changed so dramatically that now, we're preparing to swear in Barack Obama as President of the United States. " (emphasis mine)

Let's be clear, I agree with him - things have changed racially in this country. But I'm not lying to myself that Obama's selection is a reflection of that. If you want to feel that way, go right ahead. But rather than showing how far we've come, I think the former Vice President's statement does more to starkly point out how far we still have to go.

The tragic irony of his statement is that, as I sit in Washington:

• It seems 22 year-old, Adolph Grimes III was assassinated on January 1, 2009 - shot by police, twice from the front and 12 times from the back (a total of 48 bullets were fired according to CNN). Grimes did have a gun - with a legal permit to carry. Now you have to ask yourself, what you would do if you're sitting in your car in New Orleans right after the New Year rolled in and plainclothes policemen pulled up in unmarked vehicles and surround your car with guns drawn - and you have a weapon with a permit to carry. Details are sketchy because the NOPD's not answering a lot of questions right now. Good idea since they've given two versions of what happened.
  
  
• It seems 22 year-old, Oscar Grant was assassinated on January 1, 2009 - shot by a Bay Area Transportation police officer in the back.
  
  
• 
  Witnesses say police handcuffed Grant after he'd been shot, but removed the cuffs right before news reporters arrived. The officer has resigned, is at home and will speak to no one on advice of legal counsel. And there was rioting in the streets.
  
  

No, neither of these men were political or spiritual leaders, but their lives mattered - to someone.
UPDATE: I just had to say this. Sitting here watching Don Lemon on CNN as they "focus" on these shootings (and that of Bobby Tolan) in their Special Investigations series. He starts out by saying, "What is going on with all these police shootings!" (emphasis his) as if they just started happening. It took his white guest, B.J. Bernstein (she was Genarlow Wilson's defense attorney), to say, "This is not new, it happens to 1 in 4 African-American males all the time." Then he switches to the Grimes shooting and asks her if given all the crime in New Orleans after Katrina, are the police a little touchy or are the shootings warranted! I guess he realized what he said, because then he added, "not that anybody's death is warranted." Christ!!! Just because CNN just started "focusing" on young Black men being gunned down by police, doesn't mean it just started happening. It's times like these that I just have to holler Zora's words: "All my skinfolks, ain't my kinfolks!!"

Gustav, Katrina and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

As we watch Gustav barrel toward New Orleans on this, the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, Mother Nature will most definitely exact the kind of accountability heretofore avoided by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). The fact Gustav's course is opposite the track taken by Katrina, may well expose further incidents of shoddy work done by USACE - or not. We'll see.
Sending my constant prayers to those in the path of this storm...

New Orleans: The Canary in the mine

When the levees broke in New Orleans, the suffering was attributed to the natural disaster of Hurricane Katrina. Everything, from God's wrath - payback for the host of iniquities in which its residents engaged, to civil engineering shortfalls, has been a reason for this unfathomable, American shame.

Either way, it's a damn shame. Americans, should be in uproar over this major, historical American city's demise (gentrification will take on a whole new meaning as money-grubbers snatch up the remaining real estate for profit or personal gain). But because of the reasons, alleged or real, New Orleans continues to suffer while the Midwest gets immediate attention. Can we say Katrina taught the government a thing or two? Probably. But I don't care. New Orleanians still need, they still have to get out of unsafe, unhealthy FEMA trailers - they still need to come home.

Amid the obvious, commerciality of the clip, the absence of neighbors in this community as the camera pans around is more telling than anything else.

We cannot continue to allow the fox guarding the hen house to dictate what's right or wrong with the hen house! An 8/29 Investigation is paramount!

Paper rain, Paper rain...St. Bernard and 9th Ward STILL "Bastards of the Party"

This draft's been sitting for nearly a month now. Responding to his comment on my 4/30 post, I told Clifton over at Cliff's Crib, "I read how they used newspaper as fill in the levee repair in the 9th Ward – I plan to blog on that today because I need a damn break from this election game!" Well, I did take a break, but as that pesky thing called Life just kept happening, I took a break from all of it - not just the elections. But I'm back now. And after a little catching up, I'll keep moving forward.

The picture above was taken of me standing next to a "repaired" portion of the levee in the Lower 9th Ward during my 2006 volunteer trip to New Orleans. I remember saying to the person taking the picture, "Shit! This is only about twice my height! How much water will this hold back?" Seems that was only one of a couple, more important considerations about which I should have been asking. At least that's what my usual FeedBlitz email update from thinknola.com. said on April 29th. In that update, Alan Gutierrez posted one new article: "Truth Stranger Than Fiction: Army Corps of Engineers Building Levees out of Newspaper." What??!! He was talking about expansion joints - those dark, vertical lines neatly spaced across the floodwall in the photo above (don't some of them look wet?). Who knew?

After reading the post, the comments and following all the links (this April 24th link from a local television station, "4 Investigates: Floodwalls stuffed with newspaper?" had a pretty interesting video showing the actual newspaper, dated May 21, 2006, being pulled from an expansion joint), I just sat back and said, "What the hell else???" It didn't take long for me to get an answer. Two days later, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) scrambled to publicly defend the "leak" (pun definitely intended) in this April 26th article in the Times-Picayune, "Corps explains newspaper's use in floodwall."

Okay, never mind the Corps used unlicensed contractors and paid them a huge chunk of taxpayers' money to do half-assed work. And never mind the Corps said there were only three gaps in which this newspaper-stuffing "repair technique" occurred - I just have to ask, "AND THAT'S OKAY??"

Really now, Hurricane Katrina made landfall in St. Bernard (thanks to MR-GO) and devastated the 9th Ward and it's really okay the three gaps were only in these areas? Jesus!!! Along with impeaching George Bush and indicting every damned member of his administration, can somebody revoke that immunity from prosecution USACE so enjoys so they can feel just a smidgen of the pain and discomfort New Orleanians are still experiencing? Okay I'll admit it -I grew up liking the "The Avengers!"

But as my grandmother used to say when I'd ask her if things would ever change, she'd say, "Yeah, if you sit dey long enuf, it sho' will" (she meant it could get worse if we do nothing). So can enough of us at least get up off our asses and demand that 8/29 investigation? I mean dammit!!

And just as I sat there long enough, here came something else. Hindsight is surely 20-20 isn't it? My earlier question about how much water this will hold back is haunting at best, particularly given this article: "Katrina-Battered New Orleans Levee Leaking." In my February 9th post, I said, "...picture this: You're 6ft. tall standing in a 2ft. hole of mulch. A 6ft. wall of water hits you. Where the hell would you end up? By the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' own admission, areas where the levees broke could not even have withstood storm surges of six feet, forget what Hurricane Katrina threw at them!" Now - more wet spots!

Given the fact outside experts stated in the article, "...the type of seepage spotted at the 17th Street Canal in the Lakeview neighborhood afflicts other New Orleans levees, too, and could cause some of them to collapse during a storm..." isn't it obvious that St. Bernard and the 9th Ward continue to be the pretty much neglected "Bastards of the Party" (you should really check out that documentary!)? USACE, FEMA and a lot of Americans have all just thrown them a bone, still not realizing that the state of their safety remains just as, or even more relevant today as on the day Katrina landed.

If the federal government doesn't own that fact and do something way more significant besides throwing good money after bad - we'll all be holding our collective breaths during this, and every hurricane season from here on out.

I chose not to expound on any of these stories because I'd really prefer you click on the links, read the articles and watch the video for yourselves. After you do all of that, come back and tell me - "it's all good." If you do, idealistic me will know exactly, the kind of "stuff" of which we Americans are made.

RIP Ashley Morris - Wish I Hadda Known You

As I read my weekly "FeedBlitz" update today, I didn't know. I didn't get it. I'd only known him through his contributions to "Ashley Morris: the blog" and "Got that new package." What a spirit! My prayers and protection to his wife and young ones. I will keep his blog on my blog roll because he was my kind of man! Alan Gutierrez paid such a tribute to Ashley today and it never occurred to me why (too tied up in my own shit, if I'm honest). Like Alan, I've decided. I don't really care what is thought of me (okay, I never really cared.). As in Ashley's "FYYFF" post, walk in my damn shoes. People like Ashley were part of why I felt I had to go to NOLA the first time - and why I went back again. I had no "real" money to donate to schools or hospitals or anything - just me - and a proud heart that understood. I gave what I could and I'm so damned glad I did. Ashley had a proud heart too - strong, vocal and unapologetic. The love for his city was alive and palpable. It made me jealous and wanting sometimes. He loved and believed not only in the "rightness of the thing," but he believed in being FROM somewhere, FROM something. For that, there's a place in my heart for him always. He touched a lot of damn people, make no mistake! To Hana - take care Chere.

"Kool-Aid Kids" Really Earning the Moniker

Perusing different blogs, I came upon this article on The Huffington Post, "Obama Skipping African-American Event, Stirs Controversy." I clicked on the title and read the article about the senator declining Tavis Smiley's invitation to attend the annual The State of the Black Union conference held in New Orleans this year. When I went back to read some of the comments, I could not believe the level of vitriol directed at Mr. Smiley from supporters of Sen. Obama. It was like I'd thrown a bloody piece of meat right in the middle of a school of sharks.

The animus expressed towards Tavis Smiley had me scratching my head wondering, "Why in the world can't Obama supporters be FOR their candidate on the issues without caustic attacks on those who may or may not be for him?" I thought "not tearing people down" was one of the keystones of his campaign.

I'd not heard anything about this tiff until I read it on HuffPo. After so many versions of what happened kept popping up - each one larger and larger, I tried to find out if Tavis had addressed it in his own words. And he did. Here's the link: http://www.blackamericaweb.com/tavis/021408.html. I offered it in my comment on HuffPo saying, "At least when you chew him up and swallow him whole, it'll be based on his own words. Whether you like him or not, believe in what he's doing or not, what's going on here is certainly not the best of us - or is it?"

I received an interesting comment to my comment from an on-the-fence Obama supporter. Here's the text:

"I for one am not an Obama supporter...yet, I prefered Edwards. And just looking at the link you posted makes my blood boil. Exactly where is blackamerica located? What is it's population; it's system of government? I checked the CIA factbook and couldn't find it. Apparently it's leaders appoint themselves and include all black people as it's citizens by default without there consent. Put I am quite certain that the present election is no being run to be the president of blackamerica. Besides from what I see it's a dictatorship anyway, always telling it's citizens what to think and do."

I firmly believe in everyone's right to have an opinion and this comment required I have mine. So I replied:

I posted the link as I said, because if you like him or hate him at least complain based on the straight story, not something you heard. Michelle Obama was never offered as a replacement speaker as everybody here keeps saying. That it made your blood boil is totally on you, it is what it is - his explanation.

You checked the CIA factbook - cute. Try the declassified FBI factbook then, there's plenty information there. Black America is in the neighborhoods being gentrified; it's in those stores where they're followed around like they're stealing and they just walked in; it's in those homes where there are two hardworking parents unable to earn a living wage but are accused of being slackers; it's in those homes where single, hardworking mothers are raising their children and being called welfare mothers or worse because there's no "father" in the home; it's in those neighborhoods where decent, affordable housing does not exist; it's in those places of employment where the often over-qualified are seen as affirmative action hires; it's in those places where the go-fast boat owners bringing in the drugs serve less time, if any, than the street hustlers they hire to peddle their dope; it's in those public schools in horrible states of disrepair with old books and 30-40 kids to a class at times; it's in those neighborhoods where Driving While Black will still get you pulled over; it's in those banks where my interest rate will be higher than yours though our credit scores and incomes are the same; it's in those churches which still are the most segregated places in America; etc., etc., etc.

But as has been stated over and over again, we are not a monolith. But it does include all those Black Americans of African descent whose common bond is the color of their skin. Don't misunderstand me, there are some of us who'd prefer to forget the least of us, but it includes them too, don't get it twisted.

There are leaders for some who feel the need for them. That is hardly Black-specific. That what you see is a dictatorship always telling it's "citizens" what to think and do is your right, however I submit that after hundreds of years of slavery followed by Jim Crow and James Crow Esquire, Black America has a right to want to tell their own stories, share their own insights and offer their own solutions just as the immigrants who came to America ON the boat rather than IN the boat.

I preferred Edwards as well, voted for him in my non-primary in FL. Why? Because he at least had the courage to publicly acknowledge all of the above without fear of retribution (though retribution is exactly the reason I feel he's watching this race instead of being in it) and demand accountability for the mistakes that have been made in this country (that demand thing didn't sit too well with the status quo). I agree with the poster who said there are no easy answers and no, a day-long conference will not solve all our problems, but let's not pretend that electing a Black man for president will either.

The comment, along with the hundreds posted under the afore-mentioned article, seems indicative of the thoughts of many of his supporters (and almost-supporters). I came away from their comments feeling they somehow think electing the senator will confirm the irrelevance of "Black America" and the issues many of us still face; like he'll magically stir us all up in that old "melting pot" and Voila! We'll have a nice bowl of soup with everything forgotten and nothing having been done about any of it.

First of all, I prefer a bowl of tossed salad to a bowl of soup any day. I kind of like the distinct taste and look that each of my ingredients brings to the bowl. And secondly? After Jim Jones, that Kool-Aid thing just ain't that great.

New Orleanians Deserve More than Sen. Obama's "Check's in the Mail" Speech

After having listened to Sen. Obama’s speech in New Orleans on Thursday, I came away from it with that “Check’s in the mail” feeling. He was, as usual, long on passion and ambiguity and short on accountability, facts and concrete solutions but he said all the things people with little or nothing want to hear. Hurricane Katrina was the catalyst for the disaster in New Orleans, but it was not the cause. The cause was two-fold: government destroyed wetlands and, government-built levees whose design, construction and maintenance were knowingly flawed. Fearing exactly what happened that horrible day in August of 2005, residents of New Orleans, particularly those in lower St. Bernard Parish, had been demanding the shutdown of the man-made navigation channel – the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet (NOT affectionately referred to as MR-GO) - which connects the Gulf of Mexico to the Port of New Orleans' Inner Harbor Navigation Canal in eastern New Orleans since 1989. Constructed by (you guessed it!) the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, in 1965, its excavation, construction and maintenance (mainly dredging) had a devastating, environmental effect on the virgin wetlands of St. Bernard Parish - wetlands which NATURE provided as a barrier against tidal surge from storms and hurricanes. But of course, MAN came along and (read - “dollar bills ya’ll”) decided that the 40-mile shorter route through St. Bernard” promised a safer and more efficient passage to the Port of New Orleans than the Mississippi River.” I received this primer on MR-GO from an ex-lifelong resident of New Orleans back in September of 2006 when I volunteered with Habitat for Humanity. As we stood on Shell Beach where the monument to Katrina victims of St. Bernard stands, he showed me how the channel had widened from the original 650 ft. to approximately 2,000 ft. since the construction of MR-GO. I need not go into the specifics about the levees again, but just picture this: You're 6ft. tall standing in a 2ft. hole of mulch. A 6ft. wall of water hits you. Where the hell would you end up? By the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' own admission, areas where the levees broke could not even have withstood storm surges of six feet, forget what Hurricane Katrina threw at them! The New Orleans primary is today and I have no doubt that Sen. Obama will win it (call it my profound understanding of the "twoness" of us Black folks). If he goes to Washington, I hope he’s got more in store for New Orleanians than “Check’s in the mail.” Though the Corps is legally "immune" from prosecution or financial accountability for what has been lost, I hope he's got the cojones to use all this charisma and consensus-building to make them plug MR-GO and construct levees that will truly protect New Orleans.

To the Democratic Candidates: "Will You Support the 8/29 Investigation?"

I just had to post this video. A classic "fox guarding the hen house" observation by some high school students!

"No Way Out" for NOLA means No Way Out for Us

Sitting here watching the CBS 48 Hours Mystery program, "No Way Out," about the trial of the Manganos who failed to evacuate St. Rita's Nursing Home in St. Bernard Parish where 35 elderly people drowned as a result. As I watched, memories of homes I helped gut in the parish back in 2006 came rushing back and all I could think was, "Still no way out for New Orleanians."

Council for the Manganos said that but for the failure of the levees, those 35 people would have survived this "man-made" disaster. All the deaths were attributed to the negligence of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) - never mind the Manganos' reckless decision not to evacuate though there were buses ready and waiting to help. He'd made the perfect argument and he knew it, the jury agreed. Mr. and Mrs. Mangano were absolved of all criminal responsibility for the horror of St. Rita's. No judicial way out for the victims' families.

Now, this past Wednesday, Judge Stanwood R. Duval, Jr. dismissed the Katrina Canal Breaches Consolidated Litigation. As it turns out, the U.S. government (read USACE) is "immune" from legal liability for the devastation in New Orleans. So, again - no way out. No governmental agency will ever be held responsible for what happened in New Orleans then, or for what is happening there now. As a country we should be ashamed.

ColorOfChange.org circulated an email just before the last round of debates asking members to vote for the Katrina question" (sorry, after I voted I deleted the email so I cannot provide you with the exact wording) to be asked of both the Democratic and Republican candidates during the debates. The idea was if enough people voted, the question about what will be done about New Orleans would get asked and hopefully answered by the presidential hopefuls. I didn't watch the Republican debate (already know how they felt about Katrina - the Shrub fly-over said it all for me) but I did watch the smarmy Democratic debate and I don't remember hearing "the Katrina question" mentioned - at all.

What happened to New Orleans forever changed me. And as we stand, knocking at the door of what is inarguably the most historic, democratic presidential run in history, I expect - no, I demand, that the candidate who gets my vote has been similarly changed, and even more, realizes the need to do something life-changing about it. Why? Because, New Orleans is a microcosm of the world in which we live. The rightness of the thing trumps everything else. All this bullshit about vote for Obama because he's Black or vote for Hillary because she's a woman means absolutely nothing to me. What they intend to do for New Orleans matters to me because in my mind, as New Orleans goes - so does the country. And the sooner we all realize that, the better off we will be. And if we don't, there will be no way out for any of us.