Chasing A Katrina Conspiracy: Was There An Attempt To Kill Blacks?

[Nia Imani]

Chasing A Katrina Conspiracy: Was There An Attempt To Kill Blacks?

By Earl Ofari Hutchinson, BlackNews.com Columnist

In the weeks since Katrina hit, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, a slew of activists and bloggers have spun a huge tale of wicked intrigue about the hurricane. Katrina, so the conspiracy theory goes, provided the perfect and long awaited pretext for either the Army Corp of Engineers, secret government agents, the Klan, FEMA operatives, corporate real estate interests, or unnamed forces to blow the levees in New Orleans and send torrents of waters raging through the city's poorest black neighborhoods. The aim of the plot, depending on who spoke, was to kill blacks, protect the white, upper income areas from flooding, gut political strength in New Orleans, or grab black homes and land at fire sale prices and dump pricey condominiums, townhouses, upscale malls and gallerias in their neighborhoods.

To prove their point, the conspiracy theorists cited random remarks made by a handful of tired, distraught and bitter evacuees camped in the Houston Astrodome. They claimed to have heard explosions immediately before the levees broke, and they lambasted Bush and the federal government for their inaction. This conspiracy theory would have been relegated to a fringe corner on obscure websites if Farrakhan hadn't fanned it in a speech in North Carolina a couple of weeks after Katrina struck. A bevy of conservative talk show jocks quickly pounced on it. That gave them yet another foil to use to deflect heat from Bush's bungled relief response. They railed at Farrakhan for stirring black paranoia, and anti-white hatred.

There is absolutely no proof that the levees were deliberately blown. The predominantly black 9th Ward in New Orleans was not the only section of the city flooded. The flood devastated racially mixed residential areas, some white middle-income neighborhoods in New Orleans, and other Gulf Coast towns. The levees broke because of age, poor maintenance, and the millions that Bush slashed from the 2005 budget earmarked for their repair. Experts also note that explosions and sudden noises can occur during maximum force hurricanes. They attribute it to the tremendous build up of water pressure, high winds, and power outages.

During the past two decades, redevelopment agencies, developers, land speculators, and young, white, middle income home buyers have transformed deteriorating inner city neighborhoods into gentrified, upscale residential and business areas complete with lofts, townhouses, and trendy shops. They didn't need a hurricane or natural disaster to do that.

The belief that the Katrina disaster was anything other than a confluence of Bush bungling, budget cutting folly, and nature's wrath, is no surprise. The conspiracy bug has long bit many Americans. There are packs of groups that span the political spectrum that include Aryan Nation racists, Millennium Christian fundamentalists, anti-Semitic crackpots, and fringe left radicals. Their Internet sites bristle with purported official documents that detail and expose alleged plots. These groups and thousands of individuals believe that government, corporate, or international Zionist groups busily hatch secret plots, and concoct hidden plans to wreak havoc on their lives. Hollywood and the TV industry have also horned in on the conspiracy act. They churn out countless movies and TV shows in which shadowy, government groups topple foreign governments, assassinate government leaders, and brainwash operatives to do dirty deeds.

A near textbook example of that was the theory spun by an Idaho meteorologist. He claimed that a Japanese Yakuza crime group used a Russian Cold War era made generator to trigger Katrina. This supposedly was punishment for the Hiroshima atom bomb attack. The theory was fantastic nonsense, but the Associated Press and USA Today took it seriously enough to treat it as a legitimate news item, with quotes from experts to refute it. The conspiracy bug bit many blacks especially hard in the 1960s. They claimed that murky government agencies flooded the ghettoes with drugs, alcohol, gangs, and guns to sow division and disunity among black organizations, eliminate militant black leaders, jail black politicians, and quash black activism.

The racial conspiracy theorists at least had a suspect to point the finger at, and that was the FBI. For years, it waged a disgraceful, relentless, and illegal war against Martin Luther King, Jr. and other civil rights leaders. That was hardly the case in the Katrina catastrophe. There was no single suspect that anyone could blame the disaster on. Farrakhan declined to finger any person or group that he believed blew up the levee. That would have required hard evidence, and the citing of expert testimony, to boost the contention that Katrina was an anti-black plot.

New Orleans was the culmination of a half-decade of the Bush administration's costly, and reckless war and fiscal policies that have resulted in the neglect and deterioration of the nation's roads, bridges, tunnels, and, levees. That neglect forced thousands of poor, blacks in New Orleans to flee for their lives. And there was no hidden hand in that.

Earl Ofari Hutchinson is a columnist for BlackNews.com, an author and political analyst.

For media interviews, contact:
Mr. Hutchinson at 323-296-6331 or hutchinsonreport@aol.com

Source: http://www.blacknews.com/pr/katrina901.html

[Akyeame Kwame]

Chasing A Katrina Conspiracy: Was There An Attempt To Kill Blacks?

By Earl Ofari Hutchinson, BlackNews.com Columnist

In the weeks since Katrina hit, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, a slew of activists and bloggers have spun a huge tale of wicked intrigue about the hurricane. Katrina, so the conspiracy theory goes, provided the perfect and long awaited pretext for either the Army Corp of Engineers, secret government agents, the Klan, FEMA operatives, corporate real estate interests, or unnamed forces to blow the levees in New Orleans and send torrents of waters raging through the city's poorest black neighborhoods. The aim of the plot, depending on who spoke, was to kill blacks, protect the white, upper income areas from flooding, gut political strength in New Orleans, or grab black homes and land at fire sale prices and dump pricey condominiums, townhouses, upscale malls and gallerias in their neighborhoods.

To prove their point, the conspiracy theorists cited random remarks made by a handful of tired, distraught and bitter evacuees camped in the Houston Astrodome. They claimed to have heard explosions immediately before the levees broke, and they lambasted Bush and the federal government for their inaction. This conspiracy theory would have been relegated to a fringe corner on obscure websites if Farrakhan hadn't fanned it in a speech in North Carolina a couple of weeks after Katrina struck. A bevy of conservative talk show jocks quickly pounced on it. That gave them yet another foil to use to deflect heat from Bush's bungled relief response. They railed at Farrakhan for stirring black paranoia, and anti-white hatred.

There is absolutely no proof that the levees were deliberately blown. The predominantly black 9th Ward in New Orleans was not the only section of the city flooded. The flood devastated racially mixed residential areas, some white middle-income neighborhoods in New Orleans, and other Gulf Coast towns. The levees broke because of age, poor maintenance, and the millions that Bush slashed from the 2005 budget earmarked for their repair. Experts also note that explosions and sudden noises can occur during maximum force hurricanes. They attribute it to the tremendous build up of water pressure, high winds, and power outages.

During the past two decades, redevelopment agencies, developers, land speculators, and young, white, middle income home buyers have transformed deteriorating inner city neighborhoods into gentrified, upscale residential and business areas complete with lofts, townhouses, and trendy shops. They didn't need a hurricane or natural disaster to do that.

The belief that the Katrina disaster was anything other than a confluence of Bush bungling, budget cutting folly, and nature's wrath, is no surprise. The conspiracy bug has long bit many Americans. There are packs of groups that span the political spectrum that include Aryan Nation racists, Millennium Christian fundamentalists, anti-Semitic crackpots, and fringe left radicals. Their Internet sites bristle with purported official documents that detail and expose alleged plots. These groups and thousands of individuals believe that government, corporate, or international Zionist groups busily hatch secret plots, and concoct hidden plans to wreak havoc on their lives. Hollywood and the TV industry have also horned in on the conspiracy act. They churn out countless movies and TV shows in which shadowy, government groups topple foreign governments, assassinate government leaders, and brainwash operatives to do dirty deeds.

A near textbook example of that was the theory spun by an Idaho meteorologist. He claimed that a Japanese Yakuza crime group used a Russian Cold War era made generator to trigger Katrina. This supposedly was punishment for the Hiroshima atom bomb attack. The theory was fantastic nonsense, but the Associated Press and USA Today took it seriously enough to treat it as a legitimate news item, with quotes from experts to refute it. The conspiracy bug bit many blacks especially hard in the 1960s. They claimed that murky government agencies flooded the ghettoes with drugs, alcohol, gangs, and guns to sow division and disunity among black organizations, eliminate militant black leaders, jail black politicians, and quash black activism.

The racial conspiracy theorists at least had a suspect to point the finger at, and that was the FBI. For years, it waged a disgraceful, relentless, and illegal war against Martin Luther King, Jr. and other civil rights leaders. That was hardly the case in the Katrina catastrophe. There was no single suspect that anyone could blame the disaster on. Farrakhan declined to finger any person or group that he believed blew up the levee. That would have required hard evidence, and the citing of expert testimony, to boost the contention that Katrina was an anti-black plot.

New Orleans was the culmination of a half-decade of the Bush administration's costly, and reckless war and fiscal policies that have resulted in the neglect and deterioration of the nation's roads, bridges, tunnels, and, levees. That neglect forced thousands of poor, blacks in New Orleans to flee for their lives. And there was no hidden hand in that.

Earl Ofari Hutchinson is a columnist for BlackNews.com, an author and political analyst.

For media interviews, contact:
Mr. Hutchinson at 323-296-6331 or hutchinsonreport@aol.com

Source: http://www.blacknews.com/pr/katrina901.html

whew! now i can rest assured that this government has Our best interests at heart...thanks Earl!

[Akyeame Kwame]

Commentary: Just When and How Did New Orleans’ Levee Break? And Who’s Asking?

Date: Wednesday, September 28, 2005
By: Gregory Kane, BlackAmericaWeb.com

Can I speculate a little? Can I just ask a question?

I’m no wild-eyed conspiracy theorist. I don’t see evil white folks or evil Republicans lurking under every rock or in every closet. Readers of my BlackAmericaWeb.com column know that.

Still, I have to ask the question, since Lord knows the black leaders and spokespersons fretting about the use of the word “refugee” or how much President George W. Bush cares about black people won’t ask it: Are we sure the levee that broke and caused New Orleans to flood was breached as the result of a natural disaster?

I posed the question to a colleague who sent me some stories about a police department in suburban New Orleans whose motto clearly was something other than to protect and serve, at least when it came to residents of The Big Easy.

When people tried to escape from New Orleans -- you know, the city that was flooding — into safety in nearby Gretna, cops were allegedly waiting to stop them. Some witnesses said police pointed shotguns at the crowd and even fired shots over their heads. According to accounts, the police chief of the department not only confirmed the account, he supported what the officers did.

What they did was turn away people from a flooded city, telling them in essence they could go back and drown, for all they cared. Common human decency didn’t kick in. Either these police officers — and I call them that guardedly -- either flunked Human Decency 101 or just never bothered to take the course.

It occurred to me that folks who think that way certainly wouldn’t have a problem with sabotaging one of the levees surrounding New Orleans if they could be assured many residents would drown.

But the reaction of the cops wasn’t the only thing that led to my question. About the same time the colleague was emailing me the stories, I was interviewing a New Orleans woman who’s now staying with a family in Baltimore County. She, her two sisters and three nieces were rescued from the roof of a three-story building and spent three days at the Superdome before being evacuated to Dallas.

The woman told me that on the night of the storm, her family did some praying, and then they all went to sleep. They woke up the next morning and ate breakfast. The only damage Hurricane Katrina had done to the house was to blow some shingles off the roof. The woman I interviewed said she went back to sleep. When she awoke several hours later the water was rising and rising fast.

This family had means to leave New Orleans. The woman I interviewed had a car. So did other members of her family. But they figured they could ride out the storm. And guess what? They -- and thousands of other New Orleans residents -- did ride out the storm.

Was that storm -- which just blew the shingles off the roof of one house -- strong enough to break a levee? I’m no engineering expert. It just might be possible. I just want somebody -- oh, say, members of the Congressional Black Caucus, for instance -- to ask some questions.

Exactly when was that levee breached? During the storm? After the storm? What caused it? Was it, as we’ve been told, a storm surge? And who’s doing the checking?

Now might be the proper time to say who I don’t want doing the checking. The police in Gretna are clearly out of the question.

Others who should not be in the loop are New Orleans government officials. Louisiana state officials can take a walk as well. Ditto for federal government officials. All three levels of government failed the people of New Orleans.

There are no doubt experts on levees -- and what causes them to break -- all over the world. I say black folks here in the United States should hire some. When we’re making donations for Katrina’s victims, we should kick in a little extra to pay the experts on our own “Why’d The Levee Break?” commission.

There should be at least five independent teams of experts, one not from the United States. No government workers allowed. Anyone who doesn’t like the investigation, who feels it’s unnecessary and that it’s just a sign of paranoid conspiracy theorists should remember one thing.

Had it not been for some suburban police officers outside New Orleans, I never would have brought the question up.

(EDITOR'S NOTE: In a story posted earlier this week, black Louisiana State Sen. Ann Duplessis dismissed the Gretna story as untrue, telling BlackAmericaWeb.com “I’m never going to be tired of hearing concerns of people because those concerns can be real. But it is our responsibility to make sure that once we hear something, we do our due diligence and do further investigation.”)

[ShutEmDown]

that exists in the world. When I heard Minister Farrakhan bring this point up in Houston, and many people say they heard a muffled explosion, of course people would be like here they go again with the C-O-N spiracy theories. But, I don't find it hard to believe, because this type of thing happens all the time. It is a matter of Environmental Racism. They did it 4 years ago when we went through tropical storm Allison in Houston, in order to save neighborhoods in the well to do Atascocita area, they diverted the flood waters to dump in the area where Blacks stayed just south of them.

I wish all the crazy things I have been reading in Behold the Pale Horse and Unseen Hand where just theories, but these books are being played out right in front of us. What he said about FEMA is so real, Im getting to see them upclose their total inactivity on both of these hurricaines prove they can't manage any thing but what they where made for Civil disobedience, roundin people up for concentration camps. They are always lookin for and carrying out ways to kill us or to make us powerless.

[Mekeda7]

Greetings Afrikans!

There is no excuse for this fool! People dont
know all the evil that exists in the world, but
they know evil exists. In fact, it's through
selling this belief of "evil" and "terror"
that has gotten Bush the support that he has.
It is the fool who would disregard every so called
"conspiracy theory" without questioning its validity-
whether it's coming from Farrakhan or
Chaka Khan!

Again, I say let us not make excuses for this fool.
This man is just ridiculous, there is plenty of
evidence, including books that show u.s. gov.t
documents, plenty videos interviewing former
agents documenting COINTEL-PRO's plans against
the Black Panthers, and other groups during the sixties.
Beyond that, here at the forums we have thousands
of examples of straight out genocide by yt.

As far as I am concerned this fool is ignor-ant, (meaning he
sees whats up is just not adding 2+2) and/or
a puppet-agent himself. I checked some other
articles written by this fool and he seems con-
sistant in his anti-Afrikan statements regarding
this disaster. The rest of his articles make soft state-
ments about the state of Afrikan people in this country.

Thanks for sharing and allowing me to share!