Revolution #017, October 9, 2005, posted at revcom.us
After Hurricane Katrina there was a whole flood of lurid and completely fabricated stories depicting the people abandoned by the authorities and struggling to survive as, in George Bush’s words, "criminals who had no mercy." It was like a mass murderer emerging from the scene of his latest crime, dripping with the blood of his victims, pointing at someone who had somehow escaped his rampage, and crying out, "He’s the one! Get him!"
In many cases, the campaign of deliberate lies against the people directly affected rescue efforts. The New York Times reported that a team of paramedics was barred from entering one area for nearly 10 hours based on a state trooper’s report that a mob of armed, marauding people had commandeered boats. It turned out to be two men escaping from their flooded streets. In another case, a company’s ambulances were locked down after word came that a firehouse in Covington had been looted by armed robbers of all its water--a report that proved totally untrue. People trapped by the floods were taunted and mocked by military forces prowling through the city as nothing was done to rescue them. People fired off guns and set fires to attract the attention of those they thought were there to rescue them --and this was used to say rescues weren’t possible because medical personnel were under attack. While people went into stores to get food, water, and medical supplies, gangs of New Orleans police looted stores in the business districts of the city, and even a hospital, stashing their goods in hotel rooms.
In one instance a deputy sheriff radioed for help, saying he was pinned down by a sniper, and National Guard troops and a SWAT team surrounded the area. The "shots" turned out to be the relief valve on a gas tank that popped open every few minutes. It’s not hard to imagine how, with all the racist rumors about "looters running wild," this incident could have ended up with a lot of Black people getting gunned down.