Good question - Why isn't New Orleans Mother's Day parade shooting a 'national tragedy'?

[piratefish08]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/may/15/new-orleans-shooting-not-national-news

"So I shouldn't be surprised that the Mother's Day Parade shooting has largely been forgotten. On Sunday, shots were fired into a crowd during a parade in the New Orleans 7th ward. Police said they saw three suspects running from the scene.

This is the largest mass shooting in the United States where the shooters were still at large after the crime was committed. Think about that for a minute. From Columbine to Virginia Tech to Fort Hill to Aurora, all the shooters were either killed or apprehended on site. But the person or people responsible for shooting 19 Americans are still free.

So why am I allowed to go outside? Where's the city quarantine or FBI and Homeland Security presence for this act of "terrorism"?

Because this is an act of domestic terrorism right? Just because the alleged shooter was wearing a white tee and jeans does that suddenly make the shooting a gang-related affair? And we all know how irrelevant gang-related shootings are in America. The Mother's Day shooting is so irrelevant that politicians haven't even bothered to mention it to further their anti-gun agendas. If the shootings aren't even important enough for politicians to spin, then it's truly reached a black hole of irrelevance."

[pintobean]

1. Suspect arrested in New Orleans Mother's Day shooting

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/16/us-usa-shooting-neworleans-idUSBRE94F08320130516

(Reuters) - New Orleans police arrested a man identified in connection with a shooting at a Mother's Day parade in which 19 people were injured, authorities said late on Wednesday.

Akein Scott, 19, was arrested in the Little Wood neighborhood of eastern New Orleans, police spokesman Garry Flot said, adding that no other details would be released until morning.

Seven women, 10 men, a girl and a boy were shot when gunfire erupted at the parade on Sunday, sending shockwaves through the city. The children were grazed, and three of the victims remain hospitalized in a stable to critical condition. The others have been released.

Police identified Scott on Monday as a suspect in the shooting. They did not say how he was apprehended.

Police had released photos earlier on Monday from surveillance video that showed a person they considered a suspect, which led to tips and Scott's identification. Police also announced a $10,000 reward for information that might help find the shooter.

[tularetom]

4. Nobody died and the victims are black

[joshdawg]

25. Unfortunately,

you are correct. No one died and the victims are black.

[Cirque du So-What]

16. I'm glad that a suspect has been identified

but it has fuck-all to do with the OP, which asks the question of why *this* shooting has been relegated to the back pages - if it even shows up there. How many times has this shooting been mentioned on the evening news? In the daily papers? On the corporate media talking-head shows? I'm not just busting your balls here; I'd really like to know, as I don't follow TeeVee news very closely and, when I do, I don't hear jack shit about the NO Mother's Day shooting.

Instead of pointing to the fact that NOPD has a suspect, the issue here is the lack of coverage on the part of corporate media. Couldn't possibly have anything to do with the race of the shooters and victims, I'm sure.

[pintobean]

20. It's updating the info in the article quoted in the OP.

It's unfortunate that you have a problem with that.

[Cirque du So-What]

27. I've got no problem with that

However, a suspect in custody doesn't negate the point of the OP one jot or tittle.

[pintobean]

32. Then, maybe you shouldn't have jumped my shit

for posting it.

[Cirque du So-What]

36. Not jumping your shit for posting it

Whatever floats yer boat, as they say. Some choose to actually address the issue in the OP; some choose to ignore the point - wringing out every last ounce of net-drama for all its worth as opposed to addressing the OP. Whatever the fuck ever. Loss of META is really taking a toll, I see.

[pintobean]

50. 2nd suspect arrested in Mother's Day parade shooting

Police arrested a second suspect Thursday in the New Orleans shooting that injured 20 at a Mother's Day parade, as the city's mayor called on residents to help end violence.

Shawn Scott, 24, is the brother of 19-year-old Akein Scott, who was arrested Wednesday night in the shooting, Police Chief Ronal Serpas said, according to the AP.

Both face 20 counts of attempted second-degree murder, and Serpas said investigators believe the Scotts worked together in the shooting.

"We all came back here to make it clear that the culture of death and violence on the streets of New Orleans is unnatural, it's unacceptable and the people of New Orleans have had enough," Mayor Mitch Landrieu said at a news conference near the city's French Quarter.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/05/16/mothers-day-parade-shooting-suspect-arrest/2165027/

[Cirque du So-What]

54. I guess that's what it takes to make this crime 'newsworthy'

'cause we hadn't heard jack shit since the immediate aftermath until these suspects were arrested today.

[graham4anything]

2. all guns are wmd, all bullets wmd and the 2nd should be reinterpreted

no individual person who is not on duty law enforcement should have a gun and bullet
especially in the street

but then all the hate Eric Holder is specifically because of the NRA/teaparty wanting to keep their guns and bullets

reclassify the nra as a terror org and seize their assets like any other terror org is.

there almost never is a case of a gun in the hand of a private person doing anything but hurting or killing someone or something else when it goes off

just ask Dick Cheney's friend.

this is the new world. Time to bring some order to it. Guns are anarchistic and ancient.

[pipoman]

5. More delusional proclamations..

[Pholus]

7. from someone expert at recognizing them because they make em. nt

[pipoman]

13. LOL..someone actually agrees with that string of disjointed thinking..rofl

[Pholus]

14. No, but I *really* agree with causing foaming mouth responses! ;)

[pipoman]

17. When u see one point it out..lol..you guyz..

[Pholus]

18. Try post 5.

[pipoman]

26. So then you do agree with the nonsense in #2, eh?

weird it is..

[Pholus]

35. When you argue with nonsense, people watching may not be able to tell the difference.

Speaking of which....look at the time....

[cartach]

42. Your fourth sentence is

the main reason why the NRA presently has so much power.There are many thousands of NRA members who are only interested in the safe handling of firearms in the legitimate pursuit of activities such as hunting,target shooting etc., yet feel threatened by the intolerance of people like yourself especially when you make ludicrous statements about what happens when a gun is in the hands of a private person. I would suggest that there are many more thousands who are not NRA members and who are similarly concerned. The politicians are far more interested in losing the voting support of law abiding gun owners,both members and non-members of the NRA if they over react such as you suggest. With your attitude you are part of the problem and one of the main reasons that progress is not being made with this issue.

[graham4anything]

43. I feel threatened like Mr. Trayvon Martin did by a vigilante/anarchist who had a gun.

As I am Jewish,I know- sticks and stones break bones, name calling is bullying,
and guns/bullets will kill me.

Do you agree the Cornyn amendment (poison pill) is the clearest and most dangerous amendment to ever be attached? If that occurs, any state with a good gun control, will lose it.
Clear and Simple.

The NRA has in its life 4.3 million. ONE PERCENT (and most feel the 4.3 includes all the now deceased members, meaning probably less than 1 million active/alive members,
99.9% of them male

And 100% of their support is republicans who call themselves many things and are
fighting AGAINST THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY and president Obama and Hillary Clinton-
that this site supports.

[Pelican]

48. Unicorn bacon!

Chelsea Clinton 2036!

I think you are a graduate thesis experiment...

[Codeine]

53. poster4silliness nt

[Pelican]

3. 1) It's New Orleans...

2) It is perceived, rightly or not, that it is gang violence

Between those two factors it has faded fast...

[ananda]

6. Two reasons: because they're Black and nobody died.

..

[caseymoz]

12. Bingo!

And it's New Orleans. Think of the response to Katrina. Like Detroit, the city gets no respect.

[Dorn]

30. My thoughts exactly

In 2013 this is a very sad reason and I am afraid you are right.

[dembotoz]

8. CNN used up its travel budget in boston

staff would have had to sleep in tents--and they refused.....

[rightsideout]

9. Yep, it was all black folks

So no one really cares.

I can back that up.

On Monday morning, in my neighborhood a man shot and killed his wife and stepdaughter and shot at his son as he tried to run away. Our neighborhood is majority white but this family is black. Although there was some discussion on our neighborhood Yahoo list as the tragedy unfolded, not a single message was posted after it was known who the family was. No messages like, "I can't understand this, they were a nice family." Nada, nothing. I can imagine if the family was white and people knew them, the list would be abuzz with surprise, conjecture and memories of the family. But as soon as news came out, who the family was . . . nothing. No rehashing of the tragedy. No discussion of recently talking with the family members. Crickets.

Maybe people are shocked that it happened and are speechless. I'll give them that.

[Puzzledtraveller]

10. Same for when the news reports on someone missing or kidnapped

Mostly female, white and attractive. As if children and adults do not go missing or are kidnapped everyday who are neither female and white. Am I wrong on this?

[Nye Bevan]

11. For those who were saying "because the victims were black",

how come pretty much everyone in the US knows the name Trayvon Martin?

Obviously the real reason is the zero death toll. Shooting incidents in which nobody is killed do not often make the national news.

[morningfog]

15. Bullshit. If 19 white people, including kids, were shot

and lived during a thanksgiving parade in Colorado it would be a huge fucking story. Your racist apologia is showing again.

[Nye Bevan]

19. So why was Trayvon Martin one of the biggest news stories of the year?

A single shooting with one black victim?

[WinkyDink]

21. Check the accused.

[morningfog]

24. That is a false analogy.

Totally different circumstances. Tell me you honestly believe that 19 white people shot ANYWHERE in the US would not be a huge story.

The question here is not why was Trayvon murder a big story, but why this one is not.

[egduj]

31. Trayvon Martin WAS a big story...

Up until George identified himself as Latino.

[piratefish08]

33. because of the "stand your ground law" = legal murder argument.....

do you TRULY believe that 19 white students shot, but not killed, on a college campus in Somewhere Else, USA wouldn't make the national news for weeks?

[Starry Messenger]

51. It almost wasn't. It got big because people made a stink that the story got buried.

[el_bryanto]

22. It's almost certainly a combination of reasons

Racism almost certainly plays a role. It also happened when the news cycle was already pretty full, and nobody died. But if it happened at a predominantly white event it would probably be a bigger story.

Bryant

[Cirque du So-What]

28. The news cycle was full alright

full in the 'lower end of the alimentary canal' sense. Yesterday, the corporate news toadies should have experienced a partial 'elimination,' seeing that two of the main stories had no 'there' there, but I'm betting that NOPD having a suspect in custody barely causes a ripple in news coverage. We'll see, of course, but I've been wrong in my prognostications before.

[maddezmom]

29. Probably because of the interest in the stand your ground law

Not because he was black.

[Recursion]

23. Race. There was a focus group once...

... where people were shown a headline along the lines of "Three killed in shooting at local college; gunman in custody". They were asked "Do you assume the gunman is mentally ill?" and it was like 80% yes. Then another group was shown the same story with the added information that the school was a local historically black college. Same question about mental illness, the "yes" answers were only like 20%.

[Nye Bevan]

34. I am seeing over 1 million hits on Google News for "New Orleans Shooting".

http://www.google.com/search?hl=&q=new+orleans+shooting&sourceid=navclient-ff&rlz=1B3GGLL_enUS387US388&ie=UTF-8#q=new+orleans+shooting&rlz=1B3GGLL_enUS387US388&source=lnms&tbm=nws&sa=X&ei=fteUUZSfKM230gGx6YCQBw&ved=0CA0Q_AUoBA&bav=on.2,or.r_qf.&bvm=bv.46471029,d.dmQ&fp=77d50f8645eb0a79&biw=1812&bih=854

And also for "mothers day shooting".

http://www.google.com/search?hl=&q=mothers+day+shooting&sourceid=navclient-ff&rlz=1B3GGLL_enUS387US388&ie=UTF-8#q=mothers+day+shooting&rlz=1B3GGLL_enUS387US388&source=lnms&tbm=nws&sa=X&ei=sNeUUcfdMKzh0wHXp4HIDA&ved=0CA0Q_AUoBA&bav=on.2,or.r_qf.&bvm=bv.46471029,d.dmQ&fp=77d50f8645eb0a79&biw=1812&bih=854

So I'm not sure that it's fair to say that the media has ignored this incident.

[ScreamingMeemie]

37. Not nearly as bad as the explosion in West, Texas, being swept under the rug...

Because there's no professional baseball team to sing a stirring rendition of the "Star Spangled Banner."

[Nye Bevan]

38. Yeah, you would think MLB would want to expand into Texas, wouldn't you? (nt)

[ScreamingMeemie]

39. ...and there you are. Typically missing the point. n/t

[graham4anything]

44. Just this week, a rightwing extremist with bomb parts was arrested

and they are attempting to connect the dots to that.

It was no accident, and from day one they said that.

It is minutes from Waco from there.

BTW-the Bush family owned a baseball team near there.

[ScreamingMeemie]

46. It's over an hour to drive from West to Arlington, TX.

Even tragic events seem to operate under a coastal bias as far as the media, and even some DUers, are concerned.

[KamaAina]

49. The explosion itself was hardly swept under the rug

the brooms came out as soon as it became clear that criminal negligence, enabled by lax regulation, was involved, rather then mere tragedy.

[Gman]

40. Why? Because everyone was Black and

It was NOLA. Just like Katrina.

[Purplehazed]

41. There's no winning this one......

If the media kept pressing the Mother's day shooting or called it domestic terrorism I guarantee there would be posts proclaiming racial bias because the shooter was other than white.

[librechik]

45. "pssst--in case you haven't noticed"--Blazing Saddles

"They are so very black. And so very poor."--Wolf Blitzer.

[SoCalDem]

47. 2 reasons

It's New Orleans
No one died

[patrice]

52. Moderates in the RKBA cohort have moved to the Right, so NOLA's just some of that blood for

THEIR "liberty", because, you know, "freedom isn't free".