In one of the calmest yet scariest blog posts I’ve ever read, Ethan Brown breaks down elements of policing and crime in New Orleans that convincingly lead to the possibility that New Orleans is facing a much bigger catastrophe than Katrina.
In particular Ethan reveals just how fluid the situation remains by adding his own insights to what he’s gathered to date on NO policing and criminality:
My sense is that criminals of all kinds–from rapists to car thieves to drug dealers–know that the momentum here is running strongly in their direction. They’re well aware that thousands of suspects simply hit the streets soon after being arrested because charges aren’t filed in their cases.
Another theory: based on my experience (and from talking to some cops and criminologists down here), the NOPD has retreated from community policing initiatives. In some cases, the cops are just hunkering down in their patrol cars and not even venturing onto the streets
Finally, there’s the issue of population density. The population in New Orleans post-Katrina is down significantly (from around 500,000 pre-K to about 250,000-300,000). The result of all this–abandoned houses, lots, even entire blocks–provides big opportunities for criminals, from creating stash houses to unlit areas from which armed robbers can attack.
The criminally minded would have recognized the opportunities in New Orleans immediately. Law enforcement should have as well.
Ethan closes with his devastating prediction:
It is profoundly ironic that under the leadership of a Mayor who proudly proclaimed that New Orleans should be re-built as a "Chocolate City," hundreds of black men will be murdered, a blood-letting worse than what’s happening in even apocalyptic urban centers like Compton.
I’ve only been picking up bits and pieces of what’s happening down there but, so far, even the best news doesn’t give me any reason to think that Mr. Brown is the least bit wrong.
Related ProHipHop Coverage:
Ethan Brown Moves to New Orleans
I live down here and work in an office on the side of a 9th Ward levee so I can say with some assurance that I agree with his assesment. I’m sure the National Guard guys I wave to almost daily on my way in probably do as well….
Neither the mayor nor the police bear all the responsibility for the situation in New Orleans.
The parents, the families, the communities are also (and centrally) responsible. Most people who don’t turn out to be plagues on their community attribute the people who raised them for instilling values and structure — and most people with children who don’t want them to be plagues on society, recognize their primary role in what kind of people their children grow up to be.
The government has its role to create a positive municipal environment, supportive of that family structure; the police have their role in protecting families from criminals.
But for the families, communities that are creating, nurturing and endorsing the drug dealers, the murderers, etc. you can’t lay blame on everybody else. If your kid is bopping his head to drug dealing music, if you are the worst role model your kid can have, if you are living off of the proceeds of criminality, if you are making babies, leaving behind babies, raising them in a corrupt and twisted environment, then really look in the mirror and stop blaming everyone else. It is YOUR spawn that are risking the life and well-being, destroying the community for the people who are producing the children, living the lives, that would build the community. And THAT is the biggest catastrophe our community faces.
That some can’t understand this basic reality, is simply a manifestation of how twisted some folks have become that they can’t begin to figure out what is right, what is sane and what constitutes living correctly.
“But for the families, communities that are creating, nurturing and endorsing the drug dealers, the murderers, etc. you can’t lay blame on everybody else”
What the heck are you talking about? Nobody’s described what you’re describing about New Orleans.
You’re just rolling in with your generic rant and wasting people’s time.
Please don’t do that. It doesn’t help move things forward.