Revisiting Katrina

Five years on from Hurricane Katrina and efforts continue to paint the event as the definitive example of modern day black victimhood in the face of white indifference.

President Obama, returning to the centre of his dwindling power base and struggling to shore up the levees protecting his floundering presidency, kept true to this theme when he described the events of August 2005 as not only a “natural disaster, but also "a man-made catastrophe - shameful breakdown in government that left countless men and women and children abandoned and alone"

The Mainstream media also continues to present the disaster in in a manner which fits comfortably into this narrative. The title of the UK Channel 4 documentary “Hurricane Katrina: Caught on Camera” should really have included the words “...and heavily censored”, for this focused almost entirely on innocent African America victims and and the alleged inadequacy of the Bush administration's response. Glossed over almost entirely were the disturbing events which occurred in the immediate aftermath of the event revealing quite how tenuous American society's grasp on civilisation has become.

In America itself, some media outlets have taken the narrative even further. The stiflingly politically correct New York Times (see my recent essay on political correctness) famous for consistently suppressing all news of the atrocities and horrors of Stalin's Russia throughout the 1930, and, more recently, for its factually incorrect and downright dishonest reporting of the Duke Lacrosse (1), which, if only a fraction of it had been true would have seen the three innocent white defendants sent to prison for thirty years, have gone beyond white indifference to allegations of white guilt.

Black journalist Trymaine Lee, writing last Thursday indulges his racist fantasies to the full in an article laughably entitled “Rumour to fact in tales of post Katrina Violence” evokes images of white vigilantes mowing down innocent African Americans. Mr. Lee is certainly on a mission, but some of his reporting certainly stretches credibility. I particularly liked the fact that one interviewee by the name of Malik Rahim, after stating “I done seen bodies lay in the streets for weeks,” is later quoted stating, somewhat more eloquently, “How can you remove the scars from the eyes of all the children who witnessed these atrocities?” suggesting he may have taken a course in English language between quotes.

There will be more of this type of reporting, and we can be guaranteed that even more anti-white bile and hatred will ooze out of main stream media, should the discredited old harlots survive in their present form until the tenth anniversary.

However, for a different and slightly more credible perspective on events during those dark days in New Orleans I would draw your attention to a blog posting yesterday by Nicholas Stix, in which he points out that contrary to the popular myth about Katrina, disproportionately more whites than blacks were killed in the aftermath of the hurricane.

If Nicholas Stix is right, and the high quality of his previous reporting gives me some confidence that he is, then this adds to the conclusion that despite all the attempts by the liberal media to attach their own ideological fables to the disaster, the most accurate account of Hurricane Katrina remains that written by Jared Taylor, two months after the event and entitled AFRICA IN OUR MIDST.

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Hat Tip: Robert

(1) Analysis of the New York Times' disgraceful reporting of the Duke Lacrosse Hoax can be read at the Durham in Wonderland blog or in in the book "Until Proven Innocent" by Stuart Taylor and K.C. Johnson

A truth only a black man can tell

Katrina looters

Occasionally a black person will tell a truth which, if told by a white, person would immediately result in accusations of racism. It is a brave black person who does so as he will face derision and be called traitor and an Uncle Tom, yet he speaks out because he knows his words tell a story which needs to be told. If only more would do so, the black community might begin to face their problems. Here is a rare example of such a truth.

In a 2005 article in the Jamaican Star written in the days following Hurricane Katrina Leighton Levy wrote:

The Dark side of Black People
By Leighton Levy

LET ME START by saying that if I had my life to live over a thousand times, the one thing I would not change would be my race. I am proud to be a black man. There are times however, when I wish that certain people and I did not share that trait.

For the past few days, the whole world ... well, at least those who have access to satellite and cable television, have been seeing pictures of the virtually total devastation of the cities of the U.S. Gulf Coast by Hurricane Katrina. An estimated 90 per cent of homes in New Orleans have been destroyed by flood waters and more than 100 people have been confirmed dead.

We see people standing on the roofs of their submerged homes desperate to be rescued, others being airlifted to safety, and we have heard tear-jerking stories of families losing their loved ones. But in all of this, we have also seen the really dark side of black people.

The day after the hurricane passed, there were reports of looting but network reporters had been saying that people were looting out of desperation, in search of food and water. A lot they knew.

The pictures I have been seeing are of people - black people - stealing shoes, diapers, and television sets. Not food and definitely not water. Not unless the armfuls of clothing, shoes, and appliances I see people wading through the streets with count as food and water.

Now, if all the looters were looting out of desperation, how desperate were the guy and girls I saw toting several boxes of size 13 Nikes? How desperate was the fellow with the stack of diapers? What, is it that he has several babies at home suffering from loose bowels? What am I talking about, what home? Everything is under water and what isn't, has been totally destroyed.

Plasma TV?

And just what are those guys stealing the plasma television sets going to be watching when there is no power in the entire city?

Desperation? Yeah, right. I am beginning to believe that black people, no matter where in the world they are, are cursed with a genetic predisposition to steal, murder, and create mayhem.

The entire firearm department at a Wal-Mart department store, for example, was cleaned out and the looters used the stolen weapons to rob people. How low is that? Everybody is suffering and the black people would seek to rob people who are suffering just like themselves.

No white looters?

And it has nothing to do with poverty. Where are the white people in all this? I am sure there are poor white people living in New Orleans, Biloxi and the other towns affected by what has been going on. Is it that the media are not showing pictures of them looting and robbing? Or is it that they are too busy trying to stay alive, waiting to be rescued, and hiding from the blacks.

And you know what? Even if the poor whites were looting and robbing, wouldn't it be nice if the blacks could have made them the only ones doing it

Just once, I would like for us blacks to take the high road in situations like this, where instead of showing our darkest side, we put our best foot forward. But I guess that would be too much to ask, too much of a case of wishful thinking.

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Link to Leighton Levy's article: The Dark Side of Black People

Related article: Africa in our midst : Lessons from Katrina

Hat Tip: Ne Ultra