The Nation vs. Algiers Point

[Lodge2004]

Something I stumbled across yesterday. The first article is long and essentially says the citizens of Algiers Point in New Orleans should be investigated and prosecuted because they were a bunch of racist rednecks who used Katrina as an excuse to hunt other people for fun.

For a completly different viewpoint, see "Thank God I Had a Gun: True Accounts of Self-Defense" by Chris Bird. One chapter is dedicated to this neighborhood and what they experienced during Katrina.

Katrina's Hidden Race War - http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090105/thompson" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Conyers Responds to Vigilante Revelations - http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090105/thompson3" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

New Orleans: Victims and Vigilantes - http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090105/h ... ewar_video" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Katrina's Untold Story - http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090105/editors2" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Demand justice in post-Katrina shootings - http://www.colorofchange.org/nation/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[HankB]

What little I know of The Nation makes me more than a little bit skeptical of the story. It sounds really bad if true, but then I'm sure that newspapers in Gaza reporting on Israeli "aggression," "genocide" and such can make their political opponents sound really bad, too.

[JohnHenry]

The Nation story is definitely coming from one angle on this situation, and from their previous and current history, they are ignoring the "rest of the story". I've read Bird's book and it never mentions anything of the "racist redneck" Nation theme, but more that the residents of that neighborhood banded together to keep their neighborhood safe.

I think there are probably some elements of truth to both sides. I believe Bird's recounting of the Algiers Pt. situation, though there may also have been racist rednecks roaming around harassing innocent people. Sorry, anyone who still uses the n***** word is racist to me, and ignorant to boot, be they white or black.

I doubt that the "innocent" people that the Nation talks about were all innocent, and the magazine ignores the looting that certainly went on or was attempted. There is nothing wrong with neighbors being armed and defending their homes, though we have a responsibility to make sure we exercise our 2A rights responsibly, since there are always thousands waiting to use any excuse to try to restrict that right.