Police Chief Says Race Played No Role in Blockade of Bridge to New Orleans

[NNN0LHI]

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBGSKH8PDE.html

Suburban Police Chief Says Race Played No Role in Blockade of Bridge to New Orleans

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - The police chief in a New Orleans suburb is defending himself against accusations of racism for ordering the blockade of a bridge and turning back desperate hurricane refugees.

Gretna, a town of 17,500 across the Mississippi River from New Orleans, was criticized after Police Chief Arthur Lawson Jr. ordered officers to block a bridge leading into the community, which is almost two-thirds white. New Orleans is two-thirds black.

Three days after Hurricane Katrina made landfall, Gretna officials learned that people trapped in downtown New Orleans were being told to make their way over the bridge called the Crescent City Connection.

Gretna officials quickly organized a bus caravan to take 6,000 refugees to an evacuation center about 16 miles away. But they were quickly overwhelmed, as refugees began gathering near a mall just over the bridge.

[SeattleGirl]

1. Was talking about this today with a guy whose wife is from Gretna

They've lived in the Seattle area for years, but she's from Gretna. Says the Sheriff there is the same one who was there when she was a kid. The guy I was talking to is from South Carolina, and the other guy in the conversation was from Alabama. They were talking about the areas in SC, AL, and LA that are "pockets of poverty" and very primative living conditions, like some of the areas hit by Katrina. They too believe that race and class paid a huge part in why the response to Katrina was so long in coming (and why it is still screwed up).

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. yep and we are spupsed to believe you

yuo were hoping you good ol boys were not exposed to them yankeey do gooders... but guess what you were....

[jobycom]

3. That makes no sense. If they had buses to carry 6000 to an evacuation

center, they could have stopped the people on the bridge and then transported as many as they could from there. They didn't have to turn them around.

Somehow I don't believe they'd have turned away the residents if they all looked like Barbie and Ken, so I don't buy that race wasn't a factor. The police chief may not have said "They're black, no way," but race was still a factor.

[applegrove]

4. No - fear played a role. Fear created by Feds standing down and

playing monkey in the middle with the Governor's calls.