| Reports of Violence in Post-Katrina,
New Orleans Overblown
By Mary Annaïse Heglar
We all heard the stories about the wave of violence that went through
New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Babies raped…. People shot
and stabbed…. Rampant looting…. Corpses piled on top of
one another in the Convention Center and Super Dome…. Armed gangs
of men roaming about the streets…. The city plunged into sheer
and utter anarchy.
But all legend is not truth. Now that the skies and streets in New Orleans
have cleared, many of the reports that abounded everywhere from the
Oprah Winfrey Show to the BBC are proving faulty.
The official body count for Hurricane Katrina is 1,281. By far, Louisiana
had the most fatalities with 1035, still far below the 10,000 that New
Orleans Mayor Nagin estimated. The other states reported the following
death counts: Mississippi- 228; Florida- 14; Alabama- 2; and Georgia-
2. Statistics are not yet available as to how many of these people died
in the storm and how many died due to inhumane conditions in the aftermath.
In Katrina’s wake, 249 New Orleans police officers abandoned their
posts, 15% of the force. At the Superdome, there were 30,000 victims
while the Convention Center had between 10,000 and 20,000. The Convention
Center was never designated as a shelter. Neither the Superdome nor
the Convention Center was equipped with supplies to care for even half
of the people there.
As for the piles of bodies at the Ernest P. Morial Convention Center
and the Superdome, there were only 14. At the Superdome, there were
six bodies inside and four outside. None of these corpses appeared to
have been murdered. At the Convention Center, only one of the four bodies
indicated foul play. The body had a bullet wound.
Orleans Parish (which contains New Orleans) District Attorney, Eddie
Jordan said that authorities have confirmed only four murders in Katrina’s
aftermath. In a city that anticipates 200 murders per year, that puts
the week at “normal.”
The New Orleans newspaper, The Times Picayune, conducted its own investigation
of the alleged violence that immersed the city. It found no evidence
that babies were raped or that any gangs were on murderous rampages.
Also, no witnesses have come forth who saw any of the reported atrocities.
According to Lt. Col. Jacques Thibodeaux of the Louisiana National Guard,
“The incidents were highly exaggerated. For the amount of people
in the situation, it was a very stable environment.”
In the same vein, Sgt. 1st Class Jason Lachney said, “I think
99% of it is bullshit. Don’t get me wrong, bad things happened,
but I didn’t see any killing and raping and cutting of throats
or anything…. 99% of the people in the Dome were very well-behaved.”
Lachney played a key role in security and humanitarian work in the Dome.
So how did these myths get started? How was the legend of a violent,
practically underwater city perpetuated by evacuees, the media, and
city officials to reach the international level?
There is one word to answer those questions: rumor.
Keep in mind that New Orleans was crippled, to say the least, after
floodwaters swallowed so much of the city. Power and telephone lines
were down, cutting off all communication. Thus, confirmation of any
crime or report was nearly impossible.
“Everything was embellished,” says New Orleans Deputy Police
Superintendent, “If one guy saw six bodies, then another guy saw
the same six, and another guy saw them—then that became 18.”
Furthermore, in a time of crisis, false reports are quite common because,
in a state of panic, it is easy to exaggerate.
When Mayor Nagin and former Police Chief Eddie Compass told Oprah Winfrey
about the atrocities in New Orleans, including the rape of babies and
murderous sprees, they were relying on second hand reports that turned
out to be false rumors.
City officials have blamed the American media for the international
perception of a chaotic and lawless New Orleans. It is true that professional
journalism requires reporters to verify stories before relating them
to the masses. However, in this situation, most of the reporters were
living on the edge just like the victims and were just as easily excitable.
There is no doubt that New Orleans was not a safe place to be after
Hurricane Katrina. Nonetheless, far too much blame for the unruliness
of the city has been placed on the shoulders of the victims. In the
conditions created by the storm itself and the governmental neglect,
it would be impossible for the city to have been calm. Still, the people
of New Orleans were nowhere near as violent as has been reported.
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