http://thinknola.com/post/nagin-brands-with-murder/ A Community Notebook Tue, 09 Feb 2010 13:42:53 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 http://thinknola.com/post/nagin-brands-with-murder/comment-page-1/#comment-62849 Anonymous Sun, 26 Aug 2007 21:37:06 +0000 http://thinknola.com/post/nagin-brands-with-murder/#comment-62849 Nagin's remark was obviously deplorable. How could he even think of saying such a terrible thing? In trying to understand this, I began to wonder if to an extent Nagin's insensitivity is encouraged or fostered by a context of widespread insensitivity to problems of gun violence by leaders in major cities all across the U.S. (Please forgive me, but I guess I am psychoanalyzing Mr. Nagin!...) I mean, even though his remark and his attitude were obviously WAY out of line, was it an extreme maninfestation of an overall blase attitude that urban leaders often have towards gun violence? Granted, I am certain some leaders in some cities have actually made great strides towards this problem; but it seems to me that there is a tendency among elected officials across the U.S. to accept that a certain amount of "gang-related" homicide e.g. "black on black" homicide is both ACCEPTABLE and INEVITABLE in a city or neighborhood. I'm not saying all current NOLA gun violence is gang-related; for instance, the insane man who recently killed a young woman in a bar obviously had no gang affiliation. but it seems to be to some extent, as in all major U.S. cities. And just as in all cities, even when the SHOOTER is a member of a gang, quite often the VICTIMS of homicides have nothing to do with a gang, and just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time... either due to mistaken identity, or just getting hit by a stray bullet. But many urban leaders seem to say -- "this type of gun violence will always be there," to some extent. And some average citizens have the idiotic attitude that people shot in gang violence are NOT often innocent bystanders. Further, for many leaders it seems to be o.k. to fail to solve the problem, as long as it doesn't rise above a certain level or creep out of the "bad" blocks or "bad" neighborhood to affect the rest of a city problem. -- Finally, I really think some white folks, in general, think that the victims of gang violence are NOT innocent bystanders but are involved in something wrong and therefore somehow do "DESERVE" to be victims of this violence. SO... not to excuse Nagin's attitude, but I wonder if he's been bitten by a prevalent bug of cynicism? I can't offer any evidence or references here to back up my many hypotheses about urban leaders across the U.S. or the opinions of some "white folks." My remarks are based on n accumulation of random, anecdotal, off-the-cuff observations, and I know I could easily be very wrong about some of my statements. But just wanted to try to put some ideas out there, and see what anyone thinks. Nagin’s remark was obviously deplorable. How could he even think of saying such a terrible thing? In trying to understand this, I began to wonder if to an extent Nagin’s insensitivity is encouraged or fostered by a context of widespread insensitivity to problems of gun violence by leaders in major cities all across the U.S. (Please forgive me, but I guess I am psychoanalyzing Mr. Nagin!…) I mean, even though his remark and his attitude were obviously WAY out of line, was it an extreme maninfestation of an overall blase attitude that urban leaders often have towards gun violence? Granted, I am certain some leaders in some cities have actually made great strides towards this problem; but it seems to me that there is a tendency among elected officials across the U.S. to accept that a certain amount of “gang-related” homicide e.g. “black on black” homicide is both ACCEPTABLE and INEVITABLE in a city or neighborhood. I’m not saying all current NOLA gun violence is gang-related; for instance, the insane man who recently killed a young woman in a bar obviously had no gang affiliation. but it seems to be to some extent, as in all major U.S. cities. And just as in all cities, even when the SHOOTER is a member of a gang, quite often the VICTIMS of homicides have nothing to do with a gang, and just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time… either due to mistaken identity, or just getting hit by a stray bullet. But many urban leaders seem to say — “this type of gun violence will always be there,” to some extent. And some average citizens have the idiotic attitude that people shot in gang violence are NOT often innocent bystanders. Further, for many leaders it seems to be o.k. to fail to solve the problem, as long as it doesn’t rise above a certain level or creep out of the “bad” blocks or “bad” neighborhood to affect the rest of a city problem. — Finally, I really think some white folks, in general, think that the victims of gang violence are NOT innocent bystanders but are involved in something wrong and therefore somehow do “DESERVE” to be victims of this violence.
SO… not to excuse Nagin’s attitude, but I wonder if he’s been bitten by a prevalent bug of cynicism?
I can’t offer any evidence or references here to back up my many hypotheses about urban leaders across the U.S. or the opinions of some “white folks.” My remarks are based on n accumulation of random, anecdotal, off-the-cuff observations, and I know I could easily be very wrong about some of my statements. But just wanted to try to put some ideas out there, and see what anyone thinks.

]]> http://thinknola.com/post/nagin-brands-with-murder/comment-page-1/#comment-61370 Think New Orleans » Sustainable Outrage for the Criminal Justice System We Deserve Fri, 17 Aug 2007 20:14:55 +0000 http://thinknola.com/post/nagin-brands-with-murder/#comment-61370 [...] This comes a week after our mayor assured us that murder builds the New Orleans brand. [...] [...] This comes a week after our mayor assured us that murder builds the New Orleans brand. [...]

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