Guardsman: New Orleans duty worse than Iraq (Racism, malaise)

Carmel Pine Cone ^ | 12/09/05 | MARY BROWNFIELD

[Libloather]

Locals freely used “the n-word” and addressed the African Americans in Hanson’s platoon as “Boy.”

Sounds like the Guard was taking more than they were supposedly dishing out...

[Bogey78O]

'He found whiskey bottles and condoms in the custodian’s office.'

I wonder what the Custodian was up to...

[ncountylee]

It's those ISMs again.

[Marine_Uncle]

Blanco and Nagin will get off with not even a little slap on the hand.

[Brad from Tennessee]

I was in Tibbodeux, LA working for about a week in an evacuee shelter right after the storm. People told me that families in New Orleans scrape money together anyway they can to send their kids to private or parochial schools. The state employee I worked with at the shelter told me the public schools in New Orleans are so bad that good kids turn bad in the environment. That may be why people aren't lining up to return.

[MikefromOhio]

I don't think this one can be put onto Blanco...

Nagin yes....hell it's his alma mater, but Blanco is a bit too high for this one, unless someone can prove that she was drinking the whiskey and using the condoms....

[Freee-dame]

the neglected state perpetuated by the state and local governments that failed the students.

Students can do a lot to keep their own schools clean. Bolted doors are a different matter.

[caryatid]

But even as they helped, they encountered the racism prevalent in the South. Locals freely used “the n-word” and addressed the African Americans in Hanson’s platoon as “Boy.”

---

Locals freely used “the n-word” and addressed the African Americans in Hanson’s platoon as “Boy.”

And, would these have been black locals ... or, would they have been white locals?

I have read that that word is used far more pervasively in the black community now than it is in the white community.

I lived in New Orleans for decades ... and never saw an example of what he has described as racism prevalent in the South. I will admit that I have been gone a while ... and conditions could have deteriorated in the interim. I would suggest a careful reading of the entire article with particular emphasis on:

“I was trying to tell as many people as I could, ‘This has to change,’” he said. He invited a Times-Picayune reporter to tour the buildings, and the resulting story, entitled “School in shambles,” prompted a vigorous defense.

It sounds to me as though he was on the receiving end of vilification for ripping the scab off of the condition of that school and then calling in the Times Picayune to publicize it.

[Swanks]

Son was in NOLA for 5 weeks with CO Nat'l Guard. Police (those that remained) are totally corrupt. They warn the crack dealers, when the Guard patrols are in the area.

[caryatid]

People told me that families in New Orleans scrape money together anyway they can to send their kids to private or parochial schools. The state employee I worked with at the shelter told me the public schools in New Orleans are so bad that good kids turn bad in the environment.

This has been true for decades. Some people , black as well as white, will do without almost everything in order to keep their children out of the public schools in New Orleans. Not only will they not learn anything in the public schools ... but, also, they may not even survive.

[Marine_Uncle]

"Nagin yes....hell it's his alma mater, but Blanco is a bit too high for this one, unless someone can prove that she was drinking the whiskey and using the condoms...."
I meant of course the general failure in LA in it's public school system. Sounds like they are at the bottom as for as public education goes. This is not the first report we have heard of how shabby their school system in general is managed.

[dixiechick2000]

"People told me that families in New Orleans scrape money together anyway they can to send their kids to private or parochial schools. The state employee I worked with at the shelter told me the public schools in New Orleans are so bad that good kids turn bad in the environment."


This is the truth.
My daughter was in second grade in Jefferson Parish.
Things were better there, but not much.
There was no way I was going to allow her to attend public school.

BTW, this was 26 years ago.
The local and state "leaders" have been falling down on the job for a very long time.

[dixiechick2000]

Good post bump!

[DJ Taylor]

"Prior to the storm, the school district was found to have mislaid $74 million,..."

I'll bet there's an amusing story behind that one.

[MikefromOhio]

man that's ANY state.

It's higher and more prolonged than ANY one governor or administration. The entire system is rotten at it's core.

[operation clinton cleanup]

“The mission affected me more, emotionally, than my whole trip to Iraq — as a parent, as a citizen of the United States, as a taxpayer, and as a soldier and a guardsman,” he said. “I’ll never go back to New Orleans, or Louisiana. Not unless I have to.”

Interesting.... Will Coward Dean suggest we pull out of New Orleans?

[ark_girl]

If they educated their underpriviledged population, they might risk the underpriviledged voting them out of office once they start to know enough to understand how incompetent their local officials really are. We can't have that now can we?

How cares if they can read, hold steady jobs, or improve their economic situation as long as they can be herded onto buses once a year to vote.

[Marine_Uncle]

"It's higher and more prolonged than ANY one governor or administration. The entire system is rotten at it's core."
Yea. Your probably right, as for as any state, and yes I agree the whole system for many many years has been rotten to the core.

[sit-rep]

lol...

[Marine_Uncle]

"How cares if they can read, hold steady jobs, or improve their economic situation as long as they can be herded onto buses once a year to vote."
You certainly have the situation well pegged. And those parking lots full of busses work perfectly well during election time.