Thursday, March 19, 2009

Algiers and Hurricane Katrina (Darci)

YouTube Algiers Damage Video




Algiers was not as severely damaged by the storm as the East Bank part of the city was.  The men at the DryDock cafe kept telling us that although Algiers did not flood, there was plenty of wind damage.  One of the men lost the roof to his house.  The above YouTube link shows a slide show with examples of this wind damage.

Algiers has experienced more of the storm's social aftereffects than physical effects.  As expressed by the men at the bar, more people have been moving to the West Bank.  The men believed that neighborhood demographics are shifting to be more African American and that the white population of moving away.  Algiers population is believed to have increased 15% after the storm, shifting from 59000 to 68000 residents.  According to the BNET linked article, other changes have ensured as well.  These include increased crime and decreased attention to quality of life projects.

The second  linked article is a blog summary of a longer publication, which I am yet to read, about racial conflict in Algiers immediately after the storm.  Apparently there is a bit of spatial segregation between historic (and white) Algiers Point and the surrounding residential areas.  Right after the storm during the chaos and anarchy, the wealthy white residents are said to have been "hunting humans" with shotguns to stop black looters from entering the wealthier homes.  The last link is a video report on these racial vigilante shootings.  Please take the take to watch it, its very informative and includes interviews with black victims, white shooters, and mixed race neighborhood witnesses.  This video holds a few disturbing quotes by two of the white shooters:  "You had to do what you had to do--If you had to shoot somebody, you had to shoot somebody" and "It was great! It was like pheasant season in South Dakota! If it moved we shot it!"  A third consists of a man boasting that he is "not longer a Yankee" and his female friend adding "No, he understands the N-word now."  An estimated 11 black men were shot and to this day no one has been prosecuted.

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